Master Paul of Levoča


Master Paul of Levoča was a medieval carver and sculptor of the 15th and 16th century, active mostly in the town of Levoča in the Kingdom of Hungary.

History

Most documents about him vanished at the Lőcse fire in 1550. So, 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 and 1542.
He probably started working in Kraków, Sabinov, Banská Bystrica until he settled in Lőcse around 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 Spišská Sobota 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.
In 1527 he became a member of the Lőcse town council, but he became famous only after his death. Even art historians started to mention his name only in the 1870s in discussions about the creator of the altar in Lőcse.