Biography

German painter, active in Hamburg. His major surviving work is an altarpiece for the guild of merchants trading with England (Kunsthalle, Hamburg, 1424). showing Passion scenes and incidents from the life of St Thomas à Becket. Francke was a leader of the northern German version of International Gothic. He had close links with the west and Burgundy in particular. His influence was widely spread over north Germany and along the shores of the Baltic.