Gerhaert van Leyden, Nicolaus (c. 1430-1473)

Netherlands sculptor. He worked mostly in Germany and brought a new degree of naturalism to German sculpture. His best-known works are a sandstone crucifix (1467) in Baden-Baden parish church, and his astonishingly realistic and expressive Head of a Man (Musée de l'Oeuvre Notre-Dame, Strasbourg), widely thought to be a self-portrait.

Gerhaert's works possess an entirely novel dynamism and expansiveness combined with profound characterization. The widespread diffusion of his style was stimulated both by his extensive travels, from Holland to Austria, and by numerous prints influenced by his work.

Born at Leyden, Gerhaert was first documented in 1462 as executing the vigorously carved tomb of Archbishop von Sierck in Trier. Between 1463 and 1467 he was in Strasbourg, after which he moved to Wiener Neustadt, where he died.

An assessment of Gerhaert's development is difficult because of the destruction both of his early sculptures in the Netherlands and also of his chief work, the high altarpiece of Constance Cathedral (1465-67). The latter, in particular, had a deep influence on south German sculptors. Only three fragments survive from his sandstone portal (c. 1464) for the new chancellery in Strasbourg (one of them being his presumed self-portrait). His last years were spent working on the flamboyant and expressive red marble tomb effigy of Frederick III in Vienna Cathedral.