Master Paul of Levoča

Master Paul of Levoča (Hungarian: Lőcsei Pál mester; Slovak: Majster Pavol z Levoče) was a medieval carver and sculptor of the 15th and 16th century, active mostly in the town of Lőcse, Kingdom of Hungary (German: Leutschau, today Levoča, Slovakia).

"Madonna and Child", detail of the retable in the Church of the Assumption, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia

The Last Supper scene from Master Paul's altar in Levoča

History

Most documents about him seem to have perished in the Lőcse fire of 1550. Thus neither his surname, nor dates or places of birth and death, are known. It is assumed that he was born between 1470 and 1480. He must have died between 1537 (when he is still mentioned on record) and 1542 (when his widow is mentioned).[1]

He probably started working in Kraków; from the connections of this city with Levoča at that time and from similarity of styles he may have been a student of Veit Stoss. He also worked in Kisszeben and Besztercebánya (today Sabinov, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia), until he settled in Lőcse in 1500 and married a daughter of an influential citizen. In 1506 he established a carving workshop. A list of some of his works includes an altar of St. Barbara in Banská Bystrica from 1509, an altar of St. George in Szepesszombat (Spišská Sobota, today a part of Poprad) from 1516, and his most famous work, completed in 1517, an altar in the Basilica of St. James in Lőcse. This late Gothic altar is the highest in Europe, with 18.62 meters of height. It is carved in wood and decorated with gold. The Madonna from this altar was also depicted in the former issue of 100 SKK banknotes (before Slovakia's adoption of the Euro on 1 January 2009).[2]

In 1527 he became a member of the Lőcse town council, but he became famous only after his death. Art historians began to mention his name only in the 1870s in discussions about the creator of the altar in Levoča.

References
  1. "Master Paul biography". referaty.atlas.sk. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  2. Ivan Chalupecký (7 May 2003). "Who was Master Pavol of Levoca?". pinkwart.pl. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  • Hleb, E.: Levoča in history. Prešov 1995.
  • CHALUPECKÝ, I.: St. James' Church. Martin 1991.
  • CHALUPECKÝ, I.: Contribution to the biography of Master Paul. In: Writings - homeland Proceedings I. Ves, 1967, p. 181 - 187
  • Kluber, Š.: Master Paul in Szepes towns. In: Levoča - provincial seat of Szepes (1271-1971). Levoča 1971 p. 23 - 25
  • Master Paul of Levoča - life, work time. Proceedings of seminar. Levoča 1991.
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