Editing History of Cologne (section)

=== Patricians seek prestigious splendor ===
From the last decades of the 15th century on, the patricians of Cologne felt an increased need to express their status and therefore developed a lively activity as benefactors. Many of them ordered large [[winged altarpiece]]s, the wealthiest financed entire chapels or parts of church furnishings. Therefore, by the end of the 18th century, in "Cologne were more medieval works of art than anywhere else in the world."<ref>Hiltrud Kier, Frank Günter Zehnder: Lust und Verlust, Kölner Sammler zwischen Trikolore und Preußenadler, Cologne 1995, p. 13.</ref>

Some families had large courtyards built in the city. Nicasius Hackeney, who was particularly close to the emperor [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian]] as his chief financial administrator, had the Hackeney'schen Hof built around 1505 at Neumarkt, which also served the emperor as a city palace.<ref>Thesy Teplitzky: Geld, Kunst, Macht: eine Kölner Familie zwischen Mittelalter und Renaissance. Cologne 2009, p. 24.</ref> Johann Rinck from a dynasty of influential merchants and mayors built at the same time the Rinkenhof opposite St. Mauritius.<ref>Wolfgang Schmid: Kölner Sammler im Renaissancezeitalter; in: Hiltrud Kier, Frank Günter Zehnder: Lust und Verlust, Kölner Sammler zwischen Trikolore und Preußenadler, Cologne 1995, pp. 15-31, here pp. 15ff.</ref> Both palaces demonstrated with a polygonal stair tower the importance of their owners; a generation later, the twelve-time mayor Arnt von Siegen equipped his family mansion on Holzmarkt with a comparable tower. Thus, these towers became a status demonstrating meaning, cited in public buildings until the 19th century (for example, at the Zeughaus and at the Stapelhaus).<ref>Udo Mainzer: Kleine illustrierte Architekturgeschichte der Stadt Köln, Cologne 2017, p. 73.</ref> The foundation of chapels should not only serve the representative memory, but above all the salvation of the donors. In 1493, mayor Johann von Hirtz donated a chapel in [[St. Maria im Kapitol]], today known as Hirtz Chapel; Johannes Hardenrath and his wife Agnes van Merle decided to commission the New Sacristy at the Kartäuserkirche (Carthusian Church) St. Barbara in 1510. Their intention materialized into the most refined sling vault of late Gothic church architecture in Cologne.<ref>Udo Mainzer: Kleine illustrierte Architekturgeschichte der Stadt Köln, Cologne 2017, p. 63f.</ref>

<gallery>
Köln - Richmodislegende Johann Bussemacher 1604 Stadtmuseum.jpg|Imperial Palace at Neumarkt (Hackeney)
Amwesen-der-von-Siegen-Ausschnitt-Mercator-Köln-1571.jpg|Estate with tower at Holzmarkt (Siegen)
</gallery>

From the pronounced need for prestige benefited the numerous late Gothic masters of the [[Cologne School of Painting]], whose best known were commissioned with large-scale altarpieces.<ref>Brigitte Corley: Maler und Stifter des Spätmittelalters in Köln 1300-1500, Kiel 2009, p. 35ff.</ref> Among the most notable painters were the [[Master of the Holy Kinship]], sometimes identified with Lambert von Luytge,<ref>Rüdiger Marco Booz: Kölner Dom, die vollkommene Kathedrale, Petersberg 2022, p. 142.</ref> and the [[Master of the Saint Bartholomew Altarpiece]], who has been introduced as a "genius without a name" in recent art history.<ref>Rainer Budde, Roland Krischel (eds.): Genie ohne Namen. Der Meister des Bartholomäus-Altars, Cologne 2001.</ref> Both show the late Gothic painting in highest perfection expressed in the somewhat conservative Cologne style. The most sophisticated mastery of Cologne late Gothic sculpture is realized in the rood screen of [[Saint Pantaleon's Church, Cologne|St. Pantaleon Church]], attributed to Master Tilman, and donated by Abbot Johannes Lüninck around 1502.<ref>Udo Mainzer: Kleine illustrierte Kunstgeschichte der Stadt Köln, Cologne 2015, p. 74.</ref>

<gallery>
Anne trinitaire avec saints.jpg|[[Master of the Glorification of the Virgin]] (c. 1480)
Retable saint Sébastien.jpg|[[Master of the Holy Kinship]] (c. 1493)
Meister des Bartholomäusaltars 001.jpg|[[Master of the Saint Bartholomew Altarpiece|Master of Bartholomew Altarpiece]] (c. 1501)
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