Tilman Riemenschneider

Tilman Riemenschneider , c.1460-1531, German Renaissance sculptor, who worked in stone and wood. He was in Würzburg by 1483. In 1520 he was made burgomaster, but he was imprisoned in 1525 because of participation in the peasant insurrection, and little is known about his work in later years. He created slender figures with delicately carved, expressive faces, all arranged in clearly ordered, though not static, compositions. His stone tombs of Bishop Rudolf von Scherenberg in the cathedral at Würzburg and of Emperor Henry II and his wife in the cathedral at Bamberg are well known, as are his stone Adam and Eve (Würzburg Mus.) and his wooden altar in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Examples of his work are in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and in the Metropolitan and Cleveland museums.

Riemenschneider, Tilman (c.1460–1531), German wood-carver and sculptor. In his altar-pieces he secured unity by focusing the design on a central point. In place of colour he achieved his effects by the play of light, the texture of his material, and the highly expressive faces of his figures.