Tomb of King Casimir IV

religious

The red marble tomb of King Casimir IV is inside the funerary chapel of Casimir IV and his wife. It is a masterpiece by Veit Stoss, who followed the example of four earlier royal tombs in the nave of the cathedral and placed the recumbent effigy of the King on the sarcophagus, beneath an intricately carved canopy. Casimir IV, byname Casimir Jagiellonian (Kazimierz Jagiellonczyk, 1427-1492), was grand duke of Lithuania (1440-92) and king of Poland (1447-92).

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About the Artist

Veit Stoss

1438 – 1533

German Gothic sculptor, born in Swabia, and trained in art in Nuremberg. Stoss executed the spectacular high altar for Saint Mary's Church in Kraków, Poland, between 1477 and 1489, and the sculptured red marble tomb of King Casimir IV of Poland, in the cathedral of Kraków in 1492. In 1499 he carved three stone reliefs, based on the life of Christ, in the Church of Saint Sebaldus in Nuremberg. His best-known sculpture is the Annunciation (1518) in the Church of Saint Lorenz, Nuremberg, carved in wood on a heroic scale and suspended from the vault. The sculptures of Stoss are renowned for their dramatic realism. Although Gothic in style, they also contain Renaissance elements.

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