Master of the Vision of Saint John
This anonymous painter was active in Cologne between around 1450 and 1480. His name derives from a large panel painting of The Vision of Saint John (Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne). Stange was the first art historian to assemble a group of works around this figure, whose style reveals the influence of the so-called Master of the Darmstadt Passion. In addition to the above-mentioned panel in Cologne, four panels on scenes of the Legend of the True Cross have been attributed to his hand. Two are now lost and the other two are in the Westfälisches Landesmuseum in Munster. He is also thought to have executed the panel of Saints Cosmas, Damian and Pantaleon (Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid), and another in the Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio. Painted in the same style are a group of small panels of saints, of which two are to be found in the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (formerly Kress collection).
The style of this artist reflects that of the Cologne School in the second half of the 15th century, with its typically rigid figures and echoes of the work of Stefan Lochner in the use of the pigments and the bright colours. The style of other artistic centres within the Netherlands has also been detected in his work.
