Lorenz Stöer ? (um 1530-1599)

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Until recently, no evidence had been found for the activity of Lorenz Stöer (also known as Lienhart Stoer, Stör, Sterr) as a glass-painter, so the attribution of the Stebenhaber panel of 1569 to him must remain hypothetical. Going simply on the monogram ligature and the exceptional quality of the welcome panel, we are dealing here with an outstanding glass-painter, who at the time of the panel’s creation was established in Augsburg, and cannot have been an unknown. Stöer relinquished his citizenship of Nuremberg in 1557 and subsequently went to Augsburg. There are records of his tax payments there for the period 1562–97.

Stöer is mainly known for his perspectival compositions. In 1567, he produced Geometria und Perspectiva (‘Geometry and Perspective’), a collection of eleven woodcuts with mathematical objects in fantastical landscapes with ruins, which were intended to act as model sheets for marquetry. It can be assumed that Stöer was also productive in other branches of art. He termed himself a ‘Maller’ and ‘Pictor’ (the German and Latin words for painter). He may also have provided designs for stained glass, and was perhaps active as a glass-painter, as evidenced by the 1569 panel. After Nuremberg, Augsburg was an important centre for glass-painting at the opening of the modern era. The discipline in Augsburg was profoundly shaped by Hans Holbein the Elder (1465–1524), Hans Burgkmair (1473–1531), and Jörg Breu (d.1537).