ciation, and Lochner’s characteristic sweetness, grace,
and delicacy. The fi gures in this altarpiece are the fi rst
life-size fi gures painted in Cologne.
Nevertheless, Lochner’s paintings maintained links to
the past and are noted for a tension between their fully
modeled forms and linear patterns. He also often used
gold backgrounds and, like earlier Cologne painters,
outlined fi gures in red. Lochner’s paintings are also
characterized by a distinctly personal quality of calm
and sweetness, creating a sense of quiet mysticism.
These qualities are created through idealization of fea-
tures, particularly those of women, and rich, glowing
colors, often created with oil glazes. All these qualities
are perhaps best seen in his Madonna of the Rosebower
(Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum).
Further Reading
Corley, Brigitte. “A Plausible Provenance for Stefan Lochner?”
Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 59 (1996): 78–96.
Förstesr, Otto H. Stefan Lochner: Ein Maler zu Köln. Frankfurt
am Main: Prestel, 1938.
Goldberg, Gisela, and Gisela Scheffl er. Altdeutsche Gemälde,
Köln und Nordwestdeutschland. Alte Pinakotek, München. 2
vols. Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlung Gemäldekataloge
- Munich: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlung, 1972, vol.
1, pp. 190–210.
Stefan Lochner, Meister zu Köln: Herkunft, Werke, Wirkung, ed.
Frank Günter Zehnder. Cologne: Wallraf-Richartz-Museum,
Zehnder, Frank Günter. Katalog der Altkölner Malerei. Kataloge
des “Wallraf-Richartz-Museums 11. Cologne: Stadt Köln,
1990, pp. 212–244.
Daniel M. Levine
LÓPEZ DE AYALA, PERO
(1332–1407)
Pero López de Ayala was a chronicler, poet, and states-
man who lived in a period that spanned the reigns of fi ve
Castilian kings. He was born into a wealthy, noble family
in the northern province of Alava. Although not a great
deal is known of his youth, Ayala’s knowledge of Latin
and French, plus his interest in the Bible and other reli-
gious writings may have come from early ecclesiastical
training by his uncle, Cardinal Pedro Gómez Barroso,
who raised and educated him. Much of what is known of
Ayala’s activities is derived from the chronicles he wrote
describing the reigns of Pedro I (1350–1369), Enrique
II (1369–1379), Juan I (1379–1390), and Enrique III
(1390–1406). Beginning with his fi rst appearance in the
Crónicas des los reyes de Castilla: don Pedro (Chronicle
of the Kings of Castile: Peter I) in 1353 as a page se-
lected to carry the king’s banner, Ayala served Pedro
in various capacities for over a dozen years. By 1367,
however, he had joined Enrique of Trastámara, Pedro’s
illegitimate half-brother and rival for the throne. Shortly
afterward, Ayala was taken prisoner by the English at
the battle of Nájera.
During the reign of Enrique II, Ayala received many
royal favors, including territorial possessions and politi-
cal posts. His political activity greatly increased during
the reign of Juan I, when he served as royal counselor
and as ambassador to France. Although he opposed
the plan of Juan I to assume the Portuguese throne and
thereby unite the two kingdoms, Ayala participated in the
disastrous battle of Aljubarrota, where he was captured
by the Portuguese and imprisoned for two years. It is
probable that some of his writings were done during
this period, especially the Libro de la caza de las aves
and some poetic works. Ayala’s importance and infl u-
ence continued to grow during the reign of Enrique III.
He was a member of the Council of Regents during the
king’s minority and served as a negotiator in the peace
talks with Portugal. In the mid-1390s, Ayala spent sev-
eral years in semiretirement at his estate in Álava and
at the adjacent Hieronymite monastery. It is believed
that he wrote his chronicles and Libro del linaje de
Ayala during this time. In 1399, he was appointed grand
chancellor of Castile.
In addition to being an impressive political and mili-
tary leader who was personally acquainted with popes
and kings, Ayala must also be acknowledged as one of
the three major literary fi gures of his century. Juan Ruiz,
Juan Manuel, and Pero López de Ayala all in their own
way refl ect the social, economic, and political milieu in
which they lived as well as their own personal reactions
to their circumstances. Although a self-consciousness as
literary creators is apparent in the work of each of these
authors, their primary purpose remains didactic—rang-
ing from the jocular tongue-in-cheek admonitions of
Ruiz to the chivalric preoccupations and moralizing of
Manuel to the almost ascetic severity of Ayala. As the
most important writer of the last half of the fourteenth
century, Ayala’s prose and poetic works are signifi cant
for a number of reasons. Linguistically, they comprise
an extensive and reliable source of late-fourteenth- and
early fi fteenth-century Spanish. His chronicles are of
great historical value as they are a major source of
information concerning events in Spain from 1350 to- The epoch that Ayala chronicles is a period of
crisis and of such peninsular and international confl icts
as civil and religious wars in Spain, the Hundred Years’
War, the Black Death, and the schism in the Catholic
Church. An eyewitness to many of these events, Ayala
identifi es himself with the purpose and norms of ancient
chroniclers, explaining in his preface that the purpose of
knowing about events in the past is to serve as a guide
for present actions. He further comments that his sole
intention is to tell the truth based on what he himself
observed and from testimony of trustworthy persons.
Nevertheless, the chronicler’s impartiality, and at times
LÓPEZ DE AYALA, PERO