man, paradise, and hell. Like Blaquerna, this novel of-
fers plenty of morally meaningful exempla, but unlike
the earlier work, it betrays considerable pessimism about
the capacity of mankind to better its moral behavior. One
chapter of Félix has become particularly famous: Llibre
de les baèsties (Book of the Beasts), a Llullian adaptation
of the old Iranian Book of Kalila and Dimna with some
references to the French Roman de Renard.
In search of a literary vehicle for his message, Llull
attempted autobiography, so Desconhort (1295) and
Cant de Ramon (1300), two splendid lyric poems,
explain from a personal point of view the disappoint-
ments and failures of his career. In the process Llull
himself becomes a new literary character: a poor, old,
and despised man who has devoted his life to revealing
a treasury of knowledge, an art given to him by God. A
short late prose work, Phantasticus (1311), offers the
most complete picture of this personage, whom, as was
noted above, he sometimes called “Ramon lo Foll.”
Plant de la Verge and Llibre de Santa Maria, both
probably written between 1290 and 1293, are two
pieces of devotional literature: the former, in verse, is
a moving description of Christ’s Passion, the latter, in
prose, an unusual application of the Llullian art to a
prayer to the Virgin Mary. Another treatise with rich
literary contents is the Arbre de fi losofi a d’amor (Tree
of Philosophy of Love, 1289), which encloses a short,
touching mystical novel.
In his immense encyclopedia of 1295–1296, the
(Arbre de ciència) (Tree of Science) Llull included a
little Arbre exemplifi cal (Tree of Examples), in which
a preacher could fi nd the way to “translate science into
exemplary literature.” This work is the fi rst of Llull’s
contributions to homiletics, a trend that later developed
both into theoretical treatises—Rhetorica nova (1302),
Liber de praedicatione (1304), Ars brevis pradicationis
(1313)—and sermon writing. Llull in later years, in fact,
put aside romance literary genres and devoted himself
to sermon collections; the most important being Summa
sermonum of 1312–1313, which offers an unusual model
for preaching, since Llull wanted to persuade lay audi-
ences intellectually rather than to touch their hearts with
moving anecdotes.
See also Caxton, William; Nicholas of Cusa;
Philip IV the Fair
Further Reading
Bonner, A., and Badia, L. Ramon Llull: Vida, pensament i obra
literària. Barcelona, 1988.
Carreras y Artau, T., and J. Historia de lafi losofía espa[ola:
Filosofía cristiana de los siglo XIII al XV. 2 vols. Madrid,
1939–43.
Hillgarth, J. N. Ramon Lull and Lullism in Fourteenth-Century
France. Oxford, 1971.
Llull, R. Obres essencials. 2 vols. Barcelona, 1957–60.
——. Selected Works of Ramon Llull (1232–1316). 2 vols. Ed. A.
Bonner. Princeton, N.J., 1985. Catalan version in Obres se-
lectes de Ramon Llull (1232–1316). 2 vols. Majorca, 1989.
Anthony Bonner and Lola BadíaLOCHNER, STEFAN (1400/1410–1451)
The most important painter of the early Cologne school
of painting, Lochner is the only artist whose name can
be associated with individual works. However, the entire
attribution of his body of works is based on Albrecht
Dürer’s 1530 diary entry, in which he mentions the altar-
piece in Cologne he saw painted by a “Master Stefan.”
The work in question is presumed to be the altarpiece
representing the patron saints of the city in attendance at
the Adoration of the Magi (now in Cologne cathedral),
the most signifi cant altarpiece produced in Cologne.
All other works associated with Lochner are attributed
through stylistic affi nity to this piece. As a result of
the meager documentation, some scholarship has cast
doubt on the identity of the creator of these works. The
historical Stefan Lochner, the only Stefan in the Cologne
guilds, was active ca. 1435–1451, and is presumed to
have been born between 1400 and 1410 in Meersburg, on
Lake Constance. Little is known of his life, but he was
fi rst documented as a master in Cologne in June, 1442,
and died, probably of the plague, in September, 1451.
His life was probably short, as he died within a year of
his parents. Two works are dated: the 1445 Presentation
in the Temple (Lisbon, Gulbenkian Collection), and the
1447 work of the same subject (Darmstadt, Hessisches
Landesmuseum).
Lochner’s work often shows traces of Flemish real-
ism, causing some to question the nature of his training.
His paintings show little stylistic relationship to works
from Lochner’s homeland near Constance. Also, Loch-
ner introduced numerous innovations to the essentially
conservative Cologne school of painting. Lochner’s
fi gures inhabited landscapes and architectural settings
full of specifi c details that clearly refl ect a familiarity
with Flemish works. His work shows fi gures that have
somewhat more volume than previously seen, and these
fi gures exist in space far more effectively than those of
his Cologne predecessors.
Several of his works, such as the Nativity (Munich,
Alte Pinakothek), the Gulbenkian Presentation in the
Temple, and the St. Jerome in his Cell (Raleigh, North
Carolina Museum of Art), all bear numerous similari-
ties to the works of Robert Campin and his followers,
particularly in the representation of interior spaces.
Lochner’s largest extant work, and the best known, is the
previously noted City Patrons’ Altarpiece or Dombild.
This work seems to refl ect both the knowledge of the
Ghent Altarpiece, particularly on the exterior Annun-LLULL, RAMÓN