The term Cologne School of Painting was first applied in the 19th century to describe old German paintings generally. It subsequently came to refer more specifically to painters who had their workshops in medieval
Cologne and the lower-Rhine region from about 1300 to 1550.[1][2]
Style periods
Initially smaller altarpieces such as the Klaren Altar in the
Cologne Cathedral from about 1360–70 were created, based on book paintings from around the year 1300.[3] The mid-15th century is the high-point of this school, when
Stefan Lochner (active 1442–1451) created the Altar of the City Patrons, which is considered to be the greatest masterpiece of the Cologne School.[4] A third creative period followed, under the influence of Netherlandish painters such as
Rogier van der Weyden.[5] Rogier's influence is especially notable in the work of the outstanding representative of this final phase, the anonymous painter known as the
Master of the Saint Bartholomew Altarpiece. For example, the latter's large Deposition of Christ resembles the same theme represented in the former's Escorial altarpiece, and the Master's heightened naturalism and emphasis on tear-stained features reflect Rogier's emotionalism.[6]
Painters of the Cologne School
The artists of the Cologne School include
Stefan Lochner and
William of Cologne, as well as a number of artists identified only by the works they created:
^Clarke, Michael, and Deborah Clarke. 2001. "Cologne School". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
^Richards, John C. 2001. "Master of the S. Bartholomew Altarpiece". In The Oxford Companion to Western Art, edited by Hugh Brigstocke. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
ISBN978-0-19-866203-7.
^Schnorrenberg, Jakob. 1898. "Wilhelm von Herle". In Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 43, 224–26. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot.
Further reading
Bloch, Peter, and Hermann Schitzler. 1967–70: Die Ottonische Kölner Malerschule, 2 vols. Düsseldorf: Verlag L. Schwann.
Brockmann, Harald. 1932. Die Spätzeit der Kölner Malerschule. Der Meister von St. Severin und der Meister der Ursulalegende. Jahresgabe des Kreises der Rheinischen Heimatfreunde. Forschungen zur Kunstgeschichte Westeuropas 6. Bonn and Leipzig: Schröder.
Budde, Rainer. 1986. Köln und seine Maler 1300–1500. DuMont Dokumente. Cologne: DuMont Buchverlag.
ISBN9783770118922.
Budde, Rainer, and Roland Krischel (eds). 2001. Genie ohne Namen. Der Meister des Bartholomäus-Altars. Cologne: DuMont Buchverlag.
ISBN978-3-7701-5299-5 (trade book edition);
ISBN978-3-7701-5300-8 (exhibition catalog edition).
Corley, Brigitte. 2009: Maler und Stifter des Spätmittelalters in Köln 1300-1500. Kiel: Verlag Ludwig.
ISBN9783937719788.
Förster, Otto H. 1927. Die Meisterwerke der alten Kölner Malerschule im Wallraf-Richartz-Museum. Cologne: Kölner Verlagsanstalt.
Merlo, Johann Jacob. 1852. Nachrichten von dem Leben und den Werken Kölnischer Künstler, vol. 2: Die Meister der altkölnischen Malerschule. Cologne: J. M. Heberle.
Reiners, Heribert. 1925. Die Kölner Malerschule. Monographien zur Geschichte der christlichen Kunst 5. Gladbach: B. Kühlen Kunst- und Verlagsanstalt.
Scheibler, Ludwig Adolf, and Carl Aldenhoven. 1902. Geschichte der Kölner Malerschule. Publikationen der Gesellschaft für Rheinische Geschichtskunde 13. Lübeck: J. Nöhring.
Stange, A. 1967. Kritisches Verzeichnis der deutschen Tafelbilder vor Dürer, vol. 1: Köln, Niederrhein, Westfalen, Hamburg, Lübeck und Niedersachsen. Bruckmanns Beiträge zur Kunstwissenschaft. Munich: Bruckmann.