PAINTING IN COLOGNE

STEFAN LOCHNER

As we have seen, it was typical of Cologne painters not to sign their work, and Stefan Lochner was no exception. Indeed, it is only thanks to Albrecht Dürer ‘s travel diary (1520-21) that we know his name. Dürer paid 3 "white pennies" to have the wings of Lochner's Altarpiece of the Patron Saints opened, noting that "Meister Stefan" had painted it. A check with the painters' guild records showed that Stefan Lochner was the only possible candidate of the right age. To have painted this work, which was then still in the City Hall.

Lochner was not a nativeof Cologne, but was born at Meersburg, on Lake Canstance, not earlier than 1410-15, the son of Georg and Alhet Lochner, and was probably apprenticed there. His work in some ways resembles that of the anonymous artist who painted the Madonna and Child with Saints in a Paradise Garden:

Anonymous: The Frankfurt Paradise Garden. (Frankfurt, Staedelsches Kunstinstitut.) ca. 1410-20

This painter worked in the south of Germany near Lake Constance, and may have influenced young Lochner. The scene is set in a walled flower garden–the "garden enclosed" of the Song of Songs, which medieval theologians believed to be symbolic of Mary's virginity. The Madonna herself sits on a cushion, reading, with a table with a basket of apples at her side. St. Dorothy picks fruit from a tree; a second lady saint draws water from a spring; and a third–St. Cecilia–teaches the Christ Child to play the zither. Three male saints–George, Michael and Sebastian are clustered at the foot of another tree (right), as St. George's small, parakeet-colored dragon lies dead nearby, and a monkey, representing the sinful aspects of humanity, is chained near them.

Flower gardens, purely for pleasure as this one is, were unknown in Europe until the Crusades, when European knights discovered them in Islamic lands. They recall the feminine, courtly world of the Minnesingers and the Romance of the Rose. This garden is filled with flowers and other plants which are symbolic of Mary and/or Christ.–irises (the sword-lily in German), referring to Mary's sorrows; white lilies for her purity, violets for her humility, etc. The apples refer to the roles of Mary and Christ as "the new Eve" and "the new Adam".

It has also been suggested that Lochner may have traveled or worked as a journeyman in the Netherlands after his initial training in the south. If so, however, he was never taught to work in oils, for all of his known works are in tempera.

He is documented as a resident of Cologne between 1442 and his death in 1451:

June 1442 - commission from the City Council of Cologne for decorations for the entry of the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick III.

October 1442 - Lochner and his wife Lisbeth buy a house

October 1444 and September 1448 - notes of indebtedness

1447 and 1450 - elected to the City Council (as alderman)

Dies, probably of the plague, sometime between September 22, 1451 and January 7, 1452. Both parents had also died in 1451, in Meersburg. Also ominous is the fact that a new cemetery for plague victims was opened next door to Lochner's house in Cologne.

Unfortunately there are no records dealing with his monumental works, other than Dürer's remark: "Item: hab 3 weiss Pfennig, item, hab 2 weiss pfennig geben von der taffel auffzusperren geben, die Meister Steffan zu Coeln gemacht hat." (October 1520).

Dürer regarded this as the most important panel painting in Cologne: the Altarpiece of the Patron Saints (commonly known today as the "Dombild" because it has been kept in the Cathedral since 1810.

Goethe, who erroneously dated the Dombild 1410 when he saw it in the Boisserée Collection praised Lochner's work highly, as did Friedrich Schlegel, who compared him to Raphael.

The Altarpiece of the Last Judgment
ca. 4' x 5 1/2 '

Exterior wings: The Martyrdoms of the Twelve Apostles (Munich, Alte Pinakothek; Frankfurt, Staedel.)

Center panel: The Last Judgment (Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz Mus.)

This rather large altarpiece, which came from the church of St. Lorenz in Cologne, is thought to be Lochner's ear;iest surviving work, In many ways, however it is also his most "modern" in its concern for naturalism: note the treatment of naked bodies, strong handling of space and light that link Lochner with such contemporaries as Moser and Witz. The angels (at left, around the gothic palace that represents Heaven) are playing the newfangled instrumental music approved by the Council of Constance ca. 1414. His "democratic " inclusion of popes, bishops and kings in Hell is also reminiscent of the populist tone of the great church Councils at Constance and Basel.

On the exterior wings (now each in a different museum), the martydom of each of the 12 Apostles is depicted in 15" individual squares. Most notable perhaps are the martyrdoms of St. Andrew (crucified sidewise, and giving a sermon as he dies), and St. Bartholomew (a well-constructed male nude being flayed alive.) There was a considerable cult of the Apostles in Cologne, where one of the city's Romanesque churches was dedicated to all twelve of them (the original eleven, plus St. Matthias, the replacement chosen for Judas Iscariot after the Crucifixion.)

The Madonna with the Violet (Cologne, Erzbischofliches Museum). Before 1443
Oak panel 212 x 102 cm (approx. 6 feet tall) Tempera

A huge standing Madonna in a rose-red cloak, holding the Christ Child on her right arm, and a violet (for humility) in her left hand–a type based on the Byzantine Hodegetria-icon, in which she "shows" the Infant to the public. At the top of the painting, God the Father appears, saying "In caritate perpetua dilexi te" (In perpetual love, or charity, I have chosen you). The Holy Spirit appears as a white dove, saying "Here I rest myself". A kneeling female donor, whose coat-of-arms identifies her as Elizabeth von Reichenstein, kneels at the Virgin's feet.. In 1443, we know that this woman was named Abbess of St. Cecilia's convent in Cologne ; she is dressed here in the latest fashions, however, indicating that the painting must have been done before she took office. Perhaps it may have been done as her gift to St. Cecilia's.

Jan van Eyck's Madonna by the Fountain (Antwerp, 1439) is sometimes mentioned as a possible prototype for this painting. However, the Van Eyck is one of his smallest pictures, displaying a Madonna dressed in blue and a "fountain sealed" (symbol of the Virgin from the Song of Songs.) Moreover, it is painted in oil, unlike this work.

Altarpiece of the Patron Saints (Stadtspatronen). Also known as the "Dombild".
Height 7' x 16' wide. Tempera on oak

Lochner's most important work, this huge altarpiece was done, not for the Cathedral where it has been displayed since 1810, but for the chapel in the old City Hall (destroyed by bombs in 1945). Authorities differ as to its probable date: 1435-40 seems most likely, however.

The patron saints of Cologne are many, and include the Virgin, as well as the Three Holy Kings (Magi) whose alleged remains were abtained from Milan in 1164, to be enclosed in the huge gold shrine by Nicholas of Verdun that rests in the Cathedral chancel; St. Ursula a supposed 6th-century martyr whose remains and those of her 11,000 martyred companions were found in a mass grave in the 7th century by St. Cunibert, then Bishop of Cologne. (St. Ursula has her own church in the city, where an elaborate arrangement of human bones and skulls decorates the sacristy). Another local martyr, St. Gereon, was slain at Cologne with his companions from the Theban Legion. Ursula, her companions, St. Cunibert, and Ursula's bridegroom appear on the dexter wing of the altarpiece; St. Gereon and his men on the sinister wing; and thAdoration of the Magi in the central panel.

The altarpiece, easily the most splendid work of 15th century painting in Germany, is remarkable for its fine figures, textures and sophisticated color choices. The influence of Jan van Eyck is often suggested, but it should be noted that Lochner, unlike Jan van Eyck, does not paint in oils, and has both a compulsion for symmetry and formality, and a greater idealism than his Flemish contemporary.

He shares with the Van Eycks an elaborate use of botanical symbolism, however. The St. Ursula panel contains the heart-shaped leaves and blue blossoms of the plant known in English as pennyroyal (Gundermann), an herb recommended by Hildegard of Bingen as an antidote for pain in the breast (St. U., it will be remembered, was shot to death by an archer). The same panel contains the speckled, lung-shaped leaves of lungwort (Lungenkraut), good for treating lung disease. St. Gereon's panel has purple columbines, popularly supposed to be good for treating bleeding head wounds, as well as being a well-known symbol of the 7 sorrows of the Virgin Mary. Gereon's foot is also sinking into a wild strawberry patch–a plant thought to grow in Paradise. The central panel, near the Virgin, contains several "Mary flowers", including the plant known in English as cowslip, but in German by the more romantic name of "keys of Heaven" (Himmelschlüssel). Konrad of Mengenberg thought that this flower might be the one identified in the Bible as "flos campi".

Wings of a lost Altarpiece:

SS. Matthew, Catherine and John the Evangelist (London, National Gallery)
SS. Mark, Barbara and Luke (Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz Mus.)

These two panels form the inside wings of a dismembered altarpiece. On the reverse side of the London panel two Knights of Malta appear as donors; on the reverse of Cologne's panel is the coat-of-arms of Andreas von Dallem, who died in 1439.

(Was this altarpiece a memorial for him ? Or did he commission it himself well before he died?? We don't know. The London panel has been cut down and the gold background totally renewed; Cologne's panel still has its original tracery at top and bottom and its tooled goldwork.

What we have here, basically, is a depiction of the Four Evangelists (Matthew, with his angel; John, with his eagle; Mark with his lion, and Luke with his winged ox.), plus Catherine and Barbara, the two most popular female saints of the 15th century. St. Luke also holds a small painting of the Virgin and Child–quite similar to a Byzantine icon–in deference to his position as the patron saint of painters (he was actually a doctor, but supposedly had artistic gifts and is credited with having painted or drawn a portrait of the Virgin Mary "from life")

The altarpiece originally seems to have been done for the church of SS John and Cordula in Cologne–the church of the Order of the Knights of Malta (or of St. John of Jerusalem, as the Order was formally called.) The London wing can be traced to the Boisserée Collection (1814) to that of Prince Albert (1848). His wife, Queen Victoria donated it to the new National Gallery in 1863.

The Rose Arbor Madonna (Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz) ca. 1440-50
19" x 17"

This is a small panel for private devotion. An "Andachtsbild" (piture to meditate on), it does not represent a historic event. Christ is forever a child in his Mother's lap, the two of them as the New Adam and the New Eve, in a paradise garden where young angels offer them apples and flowers. The rose trellis behind the Virgin may allude to her name as "the Rose without thorns", as well as to its usual love symbolism. The garden has a golden sky, and is clearly a vision shown to us temporarily–more infant angels pull back curtains in order that we may see it. The entire Trinity is present–God the Father as a head and shoulders at the top, and the white dove of the Holy Spirit just below. The gold background shows several elaborate patterns of punchwork.

The Presentation in the Temple (Darmstadt, Hessische Landesmuseum). Dated 1447
Tempera on oak; 139 cm x 126 cm (slightly more than 4 feet square)

This altarpiece was made for the church of St. Catherine in Cologne, which owned an important relic of St. Simeon, the old man who was in the temple on the day of Christ's presentation to the high priest, as required by Old Testament law, and who recognized Him as the Messiah. Simeon's words, "Now lettest Thou They servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation"...are those of the Nunc Dimittis that are recited by the priest at the close of the Vesper service. In this same passage, Simeon refers to Christ as "the light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people, Israel.", for which reason the Feast of Candlemas (Lichtmis) is also celebrated on this day (Feb. 2), the day on which church candles are blessed for the coming year.

Cologne's church of St. Catherine was the home church of the militant Order of Teutonic Knights (who forcibly converted the Slavs to Christianity "or else"), and the choirmaster in this painting is dressed in the robes of the order. The boys' choir , graduated in height and abnormally well-behaved, are standing in front of him. He holds a document in his hands which bearst the date 1447 and a German inscription asking Christ and the Virgin to "reward us with the righteous Simeon".

The Presentation is a most unusual subject for the central part of an altarpiece; more normally it is found as one of the wings of a triptych featuring the Nativity or the Adoration of the Magi as the central panel. Its prominence here is due to the Simeon relic, and it permits a much more elaborate composition than usual. This "temple" has a huge altar with an image of Moses on it in relief sculpture (a most unlikely object for a Jewish place of worship), as well as a large cast of "extras" in addition to the usual Mary, Joseph, the godparents, the widow Hannah, and Simeon and/or the High Priest.

The date 1447 is of particular interest since it is the ONLY definite date that we have for any of Lochner's works.. It shows him becoming more idealizing and less naturalistic than he was when he painted the Dombild–more like he style of the Rose Arbor Madonna and the illuminated manuscripts that he worked on at the end of his life.

Copies of this work indicate that it once had wings showing the Annunciation and the Madonna Enthroned.

The Nativity (Munich, Alte Pinakothek). 1445

A very small panel for private devtion, in which the newborn Christ Child lies on an altarcoth decorated with iny embroidered crosses in each corner. The Virgin kneels to adore him and the shepherds, standing in the spraddle-legged stance of the ‘30's and ‘4o's, have a flock of interesting sheep that become mere balls of white wool as they approach the horizon.