Meit, Conrad

(c. 1480-1550)

   German sculptor who from 1506 until 1510 worked in the court of Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, in Wittenberg. In 1514, Meit entered in the service of Margaret of Austria, creating for her large- and small-scale statues and over-seeing the execution of her tomb and that of her husband Philibert II, Duke of Savoy, in the Church of Brou, Bourg-en-Bresse (1526-1532). Meit is thought to have been trained by Lucas Cranach the Elder who worked alongside him and Albrecht Dürer in Frederick's court. Meit is best known for his small-scale freestanding sensuous nude figures inspired by Italian and ancient prototypes. Among them are his Judith with the Head of Holofernes (1510-1515; Munich, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum), Lucretia (c. 1510; Braunschweig, Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum), Mars and Venus (1520; Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum), and Eve (c. 1520; Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum).