Stefan Lochner: Image Making in Fifteenth-Century Cologne

The sumptuous paintings of Stefan Lochner (d. Cologne 1451) are among the most familiar yet least understood images of the late Middle Ages. His depictions of the Virgin and Child have entered the popular imagination as models of sweetness and grace, values superficially attached to them since their rediscovery two hundred years ago. Appreciation of Lochner's achievements has also been impeded by criticism that artificially judges him in terms of perceived realism. Both attitudes have blinded…