Jakob
Grimm

Jakob Grimm came from a long-established Nuremberg family of stonemasons. In 1451 he took over the construction of the Gnadenberg monastery church, which he supervised until about 1487. He worked together with the Nuremberg carpenter Eucharius Gaßner, who built the roof truss of the monastery church around 1477. In 1457, Grimm was commissioned by the Nuremberg City Council to build the first stone bridge over the Pegnitz River at the Siechenhaus (Weinstadel), the predecessor of today's Maxbrücke. From 1466 he was master builder of St. Lorenz; he supervised the vaulting of the new choir building until its completion in 1477. In addition, he carried out commissions for the Landgrave of Leuchtenberg and in 1476 for the Bishop of Würzburg (cf. Grieb, Nürnberger Künstlerlexikon).

Jakob Grimm became a master workman in bridge and vault building and construction in Nuremberg in 1484 at the time of the Late Gothic. His oeuvre comprises the west gable of the choir of St. Lorenz church and the vaulting of the choir both of which being genial works.

In the Late Gothic period he made a decisive contribution to the development of complex vaults (ribbed net vaults), possibly for the first time the ribs directly are set on without capitals at different heights and partly with considerable overlaps (Stefan Bürger 2007). Thus the traditional relationship of pillar and vault was inverted and determined in a new way.

Dr. Pablo de la Riestra