Lochner, Stephan

Lochner, Stephan (shtĕf`än lôkh`nər), d. 1451, German religious painter of the school of Cologne. He combined the Gothic tradition with a new naturalism and a pure color sense. A Last Judgment (panels now in Cologne, Frankfurt, and Munich) is his earliest known work and shows the influence of the van Eycks. In the years c.1440 he painted a Crucifixion with Saints (Nuremberg) and the Virgin with Violets (Cologne). His best-known work is the Cologne Cathedral altarpiece, called the Dombild, which comprises the Annunciation, St. Ursula, St. Gereon, and as the central panel the Adoration of the Magi (c.1445). A Presentation of Christ in Darmstadt (1447) is one of his few dated works. His bright color and tender sentiment have made him one of the best-loved German 15th-century masters.