KRAFFT, ADAM, a celebrated sculptor and architect of Ntirnberg, where he was born about 1435; he married in 1470. There are Reve rs] of his performances still extant in the city and churches of NUrn• berg, but the principal Ls the remarkable tabernacle in stone, fixed against one of the columns of the choir of the church of St. Lawrence, Lorenairche. It is in the form of a square open Gothic spire, and is 64 feet high, the pinnacle being turned downwards like the crook of the crosier or an episcopal staff, to avoid the arch of the church. The ciborium is placed immediately upon a low platform which is supported partly by the kneeling figures of Adam Krafft and his two assistants; the rail or baluster of the platform is richly carved, and is orna mented with the figures of eight saints. The whole tabernacle is also profusely ornamented with small figures in the round and bassi rilievi :—immediately above the cibonum, on three sides, are repre sentations in basso-riliovo of ' Christ taking leave of his Mother,' the Last Supper,' and ' Christ on the Mount of Olives ;' high above these are—' Christ before Caiaphas, the 'Crowning with Thorns,' and the `Scourging;' above there Is the Crucifixion ;' and lastly, above that is the ' Resurrection,' all in the round. This elaborate work was exe
cuted by Krafft for a citizen of the name of Hans Imhof, and for the small sum of 770 florins ; if the ordinary florin, about 701. sterling. There is a print of this tabernacle in Doppelmayr's work on the artists of Nurnberg. Recent writers have indulged in various conjectures regarding the time and works of Krafft, but the circumstances of both are still involved in their former uncertainty. He is suppoeed to have died in the hospital of Schwabach in 1507. Sandrart has inserted the portrait of Krafft in his ' Academy,' from the figure mentioned above, under tho tabernacle.
(Sandrart. Tessedie Academie, de.; Doppelmayr, Ilistorische Nisch richt eon den Narnbergischen Kiinsikrn, &a. ; Fussli, Aligemeines lanstler-Le.rukan ; Nagler, AUgemeines Kfineler-Le.eikon.)