Tilman Riemenschneider (1468-1531) was the most famous of all German late-Gothic sculptors. His style of carving is beautifully refined, with nervous, crackling drapery folds and superb surface finish of the alabaster, sandstone, or lindenwood with which he worked.

Tilman Riemenschneider was born in Osterode, Saxony. After traveling in the Rhineland and Swabia, he settled in the prince-bishopric of Würzburg in 1483. He became a citizen 2 years later and was mayor of the city in 1520-1521. As a Würzburg councilor, in 1525 he came into conflict with the Church authorities during the Peasants' War--an expression of the Reformation--and was imprisoned and tortured. He died in Würzburg on July 7, 1531.

Like his contemporaries at Nuremberg, notably Veit Stoss, Riemenschneider combined realism with picturesqueness. The figure groups on his altarpieces are crowded and expressively posed, and the folds of their garments are deep-cut and crisp. He developed a...