Rzezba Nagrobna Wita Stwosza by Piotr Skubiszewski.
Published in 1957 in Poland by PIW with 162 excellent full page photographs
of the artist's work. 121 pages of text in POLISH LANGUAGE ONLY.
Book is in very good condition with an inscription in Polish? on the front
free endpaper dated 1957. Beneath the inscription is a "gift not for sale"
stamp, possibly a government gift.
Size is about 8 and 1/2 by 12 inches.

Veit Stoss, Wita Stwosza in Polish, was a German sculptor working in wood,
his career covered the transition between late Gothic and Northern Renaissance. 

His style emphasized pathos and emotion, it has been called "late Gothic Baroque". 

He is best known for the altarpiece in St. Mary's Basilica at Krakow, Poland. 

Stoss was born at Horb am Neckar sometime before 1450. 

In 1473 he moved to Nuremberg and in 1477 to Krakow, the royal capital

of Poland, where he was commissioned to produce the enormous wooden altar

at St. Mary's church. Veit Stoss lived and worked in Krakow, Poland
for the next twenty years. The altar in Kraków was completed in 1489, 

and was the largest triptych of its time. Like Stoss' other large works,

it required a large workshop including specialized painters and gilders.  

During World War II, on the order of Hans Frank, the Governor General of

that region of Nazi occupied Poland, the dismantled Altar was shipped to

Germany around 1941. It was rediscovered in 1945 in Bavaria, hidden in

the basement of the heavily bombed Nuremberg Castle.
The Veit Stoss altar underwent major restoration work in Poland

and was restored to Krakow's St. Mary's Basilica ten years later. This book

was published shortly thereafter.
The history of this artist is fascinating, though little is known of how and from
whom he learned his craft in Germany before arriving in Nuremberg.