Sts. Catherine, Hubert and Quirinus (Last-Judgement-Altar)

The work was commissioned as part of a Last Judgment altar and created by Stefan Lochner in 1445. It was executed in wood and later painted with oil. The piece entered the collection of the Bavarian State Painting Collections and has been housed in the Alte Pinakothek since its acquisition.

The altarpiece remained influential through its preservation in Munich's Alte Pinakothek, where its innovative composition and vivid narrative shaped subsequent religious art in southern Germany. Scholars cite its dynamic spatial arrangement and expressive figures as a model for later painters seeking to blend devotional clarity with emotional depth. The work's attribution to Stefan Lochner has reinforced his reputation as a pivotal figure in early Netherlandish-influenced German painting, inspiring renewed appreciation of his stylistic synthesis during the 19th-century revival of interest in early Renaissance masters.

Created in 1445 by Cologne‑based painter Stefan Lochner, this wooden panel forms part of a larger polyptych altar. It brings together three saints, Catherine of Alexandria, Hubertus, and Quirinus of Neuss, alongside a kneeling donor, set against a dark, unadorned backdrop. The work is presently conserved in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

Lochner’s work reflects Cologne’s position as a cultural crossroads between the Gothic traditions of the Low Countries and the emerging naturalism of the Northern Renaissance. By integrating vivid coloration with precise iconography, the painting illustrates the transitional aesthetic that defined German art in the decades preceding the Reformation.