A Master of the Woodcut: The Life and Legacy of Michael Ostendorfer In the vibrant, transformative era of the German High Renaissance, few artists captured the spiritual fervor and technical precision of the age quite like Michael Ostendorfer. Born around 1490 or 1494 in the quiet surroundings of Ostendorf near Hemau, Bavaria, his life unfolded against the backdrop of a shifting Europe, where the profound theological debates of the Reformation met the burgeoning humanist ideals of the Renaissance. While the archival footprints of his early years remain somewhat obscured by the mists of time,…