historians as "the most important commission of the fifteenth century in Cologne". He is recorded as having been paid forty marks and ten shillings for his effort. Lochner bought a house with his wife Lysbeth around 1442. Nothing else is known about her and the couple apparently had no children. In 1444 he acquired two larger properties, the "zome Carbunckel", near Saint Alban Church, and the "zome Alden Gryne". Historians have speculated whether these acquisitions indicate a need to house a growing group of assistants due to his rising commercial success. It is likely that he lived in one house and worked in the other. The purchases may have caused a strain; in around 1447 he seems to have encountered financial difficulties, and he was forced to remortgage the homes. Second mortgages were taken out in 1448. Plague and death In 1447 the local painter's guild elected Lochner as their representative municipal councilor, or Ratsherr. The appointment implies that he had lived in Cologne since at least 1437, as only those who had been living in the city for ten years could take up the position. He had not taken up citizenship immediately, possibly to avoid paying the 12 guilder fee. He was obliged to act as Ratsherr, and on 24 June 1447, he became a burgher of Cologne. The role of municipal councilor could only be held for a one-year term, with two years vacated before reoccupation. Lochner was re-elected for a second term in the winter of 1450–51 but died in office. There was an outbreak of plague in 1451, and there are no surviving records of him after Christmas of that year. On 16 August 1451 the council of Meersburg was informed by officials in Cologne that Lochner would be unable to attend to the will and estate of his parents, recently deceased. It is presumed he was by then already ill; plague was widespread in the area. On 22 September Saint Alban parish requested permission to burn victims in the lot next to his house there was no longer room in their cemetery. Lochner died sometime between this date and December 1451 when creditors took possession of his house. Records from 1451 do not mention Lysbeth, who was presumably already dead. Style Lochner worked in the late International Gothic (schöner Stil) style, already considered dated and old-fashioned by the 1440s, yet is widely regarded as innovative.