( fl c. 1225–37). German sculptor and architect. Name conferred by Wilhelm Boeck on the artist in charge of work on Bamberg Cathedral in the period after 1230 (see BAMBERG, §2(ii)). It arises from the desire to attribute important works of the so-called younger sculpture workshop to a specific artist. Apart from smaller works, Boeck attributed the sculptures of the Rider (see BAMBERG, fig. 3), an Old Woman, the Synagogue and Eve (Bamberg, Diözmus.) to the Master. The Virgin and the general conception of the Princes’ Portal, however, should be seen as being executed to his designs in collaboration with three independent, younger sculptors and their assistants. By this theory, he would have been schooled artistically on older works in the cathedral, such as the choir-screen reliefs, and then spent time at the Reims Cathedral workshops, where he became acquainted with the assimilation of antique art, before returning to Franconia.

Part of the Masters, anonymous, and monogrammists family