Master MZ

Matthäus Zasinger, born 1477 in Munich, where he was active from 1500–1503

The master MZ, alias Matthäus Zasinger, is an artistic figure whose life and work were long shrouded in mystery. Active in southern Germany, in all probability in Munich, he produced a printed oeuvre encompassing twenty-two engravings, six of which date to between 1500 and 1503. As an artist Zasinger straddles two worlds. His works reveal similarities with outstanding 15th century predecessors, such as Israhel van Meckenem, as well as stylistic and iconographical borrowings from Albrecht Dürer, the great artist and luminary from Nuremberg at the onset of the 16th century.