 In records from the time he is always described with the low German word "meler", literally meaning painter, but in the Baltic Sea area at the time signifying an artist who is working both as a wood carver and a painter.In 1458 he received a commission to finish an altarpiece for Vadstena Abbey in Sweden.Work on the altarpiece had begun two years before by Hans Hesse, but apparently Hesse never finished his work.