"gaiety" of Lochner's Madonna paintings as from the beginning of his career, with the more stern and pessimistic crucifixions and doom panels at the end. Today, art historians believe the reverse to be true; the dramatic and innovative polyptychs came first, and the single Madonnas and panels of saints are from his mid-career. Based on their similarity to the Altar of the City Patrons, art historians have attributed other paintings to Lochner, although a number have questioned whether the diary entry was authentically made by Dürer. Documentary evidence linking the paintings and miniatures with the historical Lochner has also been challenged, most notably by the art historian Michael Wolfson in 1996. In either case, the extent of Lochner's direct hand, as opposed to those of workshop members or followers, is debated. Some panels formerly attributed to him are now thought to date from after 1451, the year of his death. Life The outline of the historical Stefan Lochner's life has been established from a small number of records, mostly relating to commissions, payments and property transfers. There are no documents relating to his early life, a contributing factor being the loss of archival records from his supposed birthplace during the French occupation of Cologne. The primary sources relating to Lochner's life are a June 1442 payment by the city of Cologne in relation to Friedrich's visit; deeds of 27 October 1442 and 28 August 1444 outlining the transfer of ownership of the house at Roggendorf; October 1444 deeds for the purchase of two houses in st Alban; his 24 June 1447 registration as a citizen of Cologne; his December 1447 election to the municipal council; his Christmas 1450 re-election to that post; an August 1451 correspondence with the city council; a 22 September 1451 announcement of the setting up of a plague graveyard next to his property, and finally, court records dated 7 January 1452 detailing the appropriation of his property. Early life Through threadbare clues and supposition, mostly centred around a relatively wealthy couple that perished during a plague, believed to be his parents, Lochner is thought to have come from Meersburg, near Lake Constance. Georg and Alhet Lochner were citizens and died there in 1451. A "Stefan" is referred to as "Stefan Lochner of Constance" in two documents dated 1444 and 1448. However, there is no archival evidence that he was there, and his style bears no trace