Nicodemus and Sculptors: Self-Reflexivity in Works by Adam Kraft and Tilman Riemenschneider

Abstract

Self-portraits integrated within narrative scenes by Adam Kraft and Tilman Riemenschneider show a pious identification between the sculptor and the holy person Nicodemus, an association based on the notion that Nicodemus had carved a crucifix. This dual referencing was expanded in the Middle Ages, when artists developed strategies for self-fashioning that were in keeping with the provisions of their commissions and their own concept of self. By presenting themselves as commentator and interlocutor, Kraft and Riemenschneider negotiated their places within the various discourses in which their sculpture participated.