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Old Masters |
![]() Detail from The Birth of Venus (1486) by Italian Renaissance Old Master Alessandro Botticelli. |
Great Master Painters of EuropeIn fine art, the term 'Old Master' refers to great European painters (those who have 'stood the test of time') practising during the period c.1300-1830. This period includes Giotto and the Early Renaissance, the High Renaissance and the Northern Renaissance, as well as artists from the schools of Mannerism, Baroque, Rococo, Neo-classical and Romanticism. The Spanish painter Francisco Goya (died 1828) is reckoned to be one of the last Old Masters. How good a painter must be to qualify as an old master, is not clear. In practice, all of the top artists from these eras fall into the category. While eschewed by most art historians for its vagueness, the term is regularly employed by galleries and art auctions to brand and separate the great European artists of yesteryear from more modern famous artists. |
![]() The Marriage Of Giovanni Arnolfini & Giovanna Cenami (1434), by Jan Van Eyck, the Northern Renaissance Old Master and Portraitist. |
List of Old Masters The category of old master is exemplified by (but by no means limited to) the following: Giotto
di Bondone (Italian, 1267-1337) |
![]() The Girl with the Pearl Earring (1665) by Dutch Realist Old Master Jan Vermeer. |
Hieronymus
Bosch (Dutch, 1450-1516) |
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Hans
Holbein The Younger (Swiss, 1497-1543) |
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Note: the term 'Old Master' should not be confused with the category of noted but anonymous painters from the same period, who are labelled "Master of (a location, or work of art)". Examples include: Master of the Housebook, an unidentified Dutch painter named after drawings in the Hausbuch in Schloss Wolfegg; Master of St Cecilia, an unnamed Italian painter who painted the St Cecilia altarpiece; Master of the Lyversberg Passion, a German painter responsible for a Passion series now in Cologne. |
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For more information about classical painting in Ireland, see: Guide to Irish Fine Art. How to Update This Mini Review of Old Masters, Artists, Painters and Sculptors. © visual-arts-cork.com 2008 All rights reserved. |