Master Niklaus is another major influence on the life of Goldmund. He teaches Goldmund how to be a master sculptor. Master Niklaus has carved a beautiful wooden statue of the madonna that
Goldmund sees in a chapel, which immediately convinces him that he must seek out the artist to become his apprentice. Master Niklaus, who is wealthy and renowned, neither needs nor wants an apprentice who is already a young man rather than a boy, but he sees from a drawing Goldmund does that this young man is unusually talented. His decision to train Goldmund comes from an allegiance to art itself rather than from any personal need or desire, but after Goldmund reaches the status of a master, Niklaus wants him to becomes his successor. When Goldmund elects instead to return to his wandering, Niklaus is angered and disappointed. He no doubt realizes that he has compromised his own art by taking many frivolous commissions for the money and recognition they would bring, just as Goldmund has suggested, yet Niklaus also revels in his stature within the community, and believes he has offered Goldmund a priceless opportunity. The character of Niklaus, like other characters in the novel, is representative of a personality type. He is the man who neglects his highest ideals and principles in favor of pursuing worldly success. To do this, he must live in partial blindness, ignoring the calls of his deeper nature to risk or sacrifice wealth and fame in favor of creating the best art of which he capable. In making this practical decision, Master Niklaus represents the choices of many people in countless types of work throughout the ages.
