conventional and reveal none of the loving observation which is
so evident in "The Annunciation to the Shepherds," "Joachim among
the Shepherds," or "The Nativity," of Master Bertram's Buxtehude
altar. On the other hand, in the creation of such an atmospheric
effect as the light shining in the darkness of the night of "The
Nativity," Master Francke is immeasurably in advance of the older
painter. He is also able better to control the movements and
glances of his figures, and the lines and angles of mouths and noses.
Movement he gives with astonishing naturalness in "The Resurrec-
tion," in the swift rising of Christ, with fluttering flag and mantle,
from the tomb. Extraordinarily rhythmic is the arrangement of
the figures behind the grave in "The Entombment," with the
sarcophagus placed diagonally, the body of Christ at a still sharper
angle and the lines of figures swaying, as it were, in two parallel,
diagonal lines of three and three, with Mary Cleophas as the
central point. In colouring, too, the later master has the greater
gift; Master Francke delights in colour not merely as a means to
an end, but for its own sake, for the beauty of it.

In the century following Master Francke, there seem to have
been no painters of great distinction in Hamburg--so far, at least, as
has been discovered--although in 1490 they were sufficiently
numerous to organise a Guild. One Heinrich Funhof is men-
tioned in the archives as the painter of an altar for St. George's
Hospital Church in 1483. Absalom Stumme painted, in 1499, an
altar for the City Council, and in the same year his stepson,
Heinrich Borneman, finished, for the Painters' Guild, the altar in
the Jacobikirche which presents St. Luke painting the portrait of
the Madonna, St. Luke at the Supper at Emmaus, and the
Burial of St. Luke.

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