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 ART FROM THE RENASCENCE were the work of the king's cabinetmaker, Erasmus Kuncz, or of another man. Among the Polish and German artists who then dwelt at Cracow besides the Italians, one only rises above the common level: John Michalowicz of Urzedów, architect and sculptor, called "the Polish Praxiteles" by his admiring contemporaries. He came to Cracow about 1565 and found himself

in the middle of the Italians' activity, then at the height of its vigour. Of course, he was soon powerfully influenced by them, and his chisel got used to the forms they taught him to employ almost exclusively. Both tendencies, however, the German and the Italian one, find a representative in him, and are united in his works.

The cathedral contains two monumental productions of his: