WOHLGEMUTH, MICHAEL German painter, was born at Nuremberg in 1434. In 1472 he married the widow of the painter Hans Pleydenwurff, whose son Wilhelm worked as an assistant to his stepfather. Wohlgemuth was the head of a large workshop, in which many different branches of the fine arts were carried on by a great number of pupil-assistants, including Albert Duren In this atelier not only large altar-pieces and other sacred paintings were executed, but also elaborate retables in carved wood, consisting of crowded subjects in high relief, richly decorated with gold and colour. Wood-engraving was also carried on in the same workshop, the blocks being cut from Wohlgemuth's designs. The Schatzbehalter der wahren
Reichthiimer des Heils, printed by Koburger in 1491; and the Historia mundi, by Schedel, usually known as the Nuremberg Chronicle, are both illustrated by woodcuts by Wohl gemuth and Pleydenwurff.
By Wohlgemuth are the retable dated 1465, now in the Munich gallery; the retable of the high altar in the church of St. Mary at Zwickau ; and the great retable painted for the Austin friars at Nuremberg, now in the museum. This last consists of a great many panels. He died at Nuremberg in 1519.
See Burger Schmitz Beth, Die deutsche Malerei der Renaissance (1919) .