Old Masters
History, Styles of Great European Painters & Sculptors 1300-1800: Biographies, Paintings.
Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art - HOMEPAGE - List of Old Masters

Detail from The Birth of Venus (1486)
by Italian Renaissance Old Master
Alessandro Botticelli.

GREATEST ARTISTS
For a list of the Top 10 and Top 20
of the greatest painters & sculptors:
Best Artists of All Time: Top 10.

Great "Old Master" Artists of Europe

Definition

In fine art, the term 'Old Master' traditionally refers to great European painters practising during the period roughly 1300-1830, but we also include sculptors.

This era begins with the Proto-Renaissance, exemplified by the Florentine artist Giotto di Bondone (1270-1337) and thereafter encompasses art styles and movements of the 15th-century, such as the Early Renaissance (Piero della Francesca, Leonardo), the Northern Renaissance of Flanders, Holland, Germany and England (Jan Van Eyck), the 16th-century which included the High Renaissance (Michelangelo), the Venetian Renaissance (Tintoretto) and Mannerism (El Greco), the 17th-century featuring the Baroque style (Peter Paul Rubens) and the Dutch Realism School (Jan Vermeer), and finally the 18th-century which saw Rococo (Francois Boucher), Neoclassicism (Jacques Louis David) and Romanticism (Goya).

The Marriage Of Giovanni Arnolfini
& Giovanna Cenami (1434), by Jan Van
Eyck, the Northern Renaissance
Old Master and Portraitist.

Who Qualifies As an Old Master?

How good a painter must be to qualify as an Old Master, is not clear. In practice, all of the well-known artists from the above period 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.

Paintings by Old Masters hang in most of the best art museums, like the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Pinakothek Museum in Munich, the Prado Museum in Madrid, the Tate Gallery in London, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and the Vatican Museum in Rome, as well as top public galleries in America, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The Girl with the Pearl Earring
(1665) by Dutch Realist Jan Vermeer

WORLDS TOP ARTISTS
For the greatest view painters, see:
Best Landcape Artists.
For the greatest still life art, see:
Best Still Life Painters.
For the greatest portraitists
see: Best Portrait Artists.
For the greatest genre-painting, see:
Best Genre Painters.
For the top allegorical painting,
see: Best History Painters.

WORLD'S GREATEST ART
For a list of masterpieces
of painting & sculpture,
by famous artists, see below:
Greatest Paintings Ever
Oils, watercolours, acrylics,
by the best painters.
Greatest Sculptures Ever
Top 3-D art in marble, stone,
bronze, wood, steel and
other media.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
For a list of important dates in the
evolution of painting, see:
History of Art Timeline.

AESTHETICS
For a discussion about the
meaning and defintion of art,
see: What is Art?

List of Old Masters

The category of old master is exemplified by (but by no means limited to) the following painters:

• PROTO-RENAISSANCE
Cimabue (Cenni di Peppi) (1240-1302)
Noted for his cycle of frescos in the Church of S. Francesco in Assisi.
Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337)
First great pre-Renaissance fresco painter (Scrovegni Arena Chapel Padua).

For a list of pre-Renaissance Old Masters, see Proto-Renaissance Artists.

• EARLY RENAISSANCE
Gentile da Fabriano (c.1370-1427)
Influential International Gothic style painter famous for Adoration of the Magi.
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446)
Architect, engineer, sculptor; designed Dome of Florence Cathedral.
Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455)
Florentine sculptor, International Gothic and classical style; Gates of Paradise.
Donatello (1386-1466)
The greatest sculptor of the Early Renaissance.
Paolo Uccello (1397-1475)
Noted for Battle of San Romano, schematic use of perspective/foreshortening.
Fra Angelico (c.1400-55)
Religious painter, noted for frescos in San Marco convent.
Tommaso Masaccio (1401-1428)
Greatest of early Florentine painters; The Trinity. Brancacci Chapel frescos.
Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72)
Genovese architect, art-theorist; De Sculptura, Della Pittura, De Aedificatoria.
Piero della Francesca (1420-92)
Italian Renaissance painter, pioneered the rules of linear perspective.
Andrea Mantegna (1430-1506)
Renaissance master, pictures noted for mastery of perspective and detail.
Donato Bramante (c.1444-1514)
Foremost architect of High Renaissance, patronized by Pope Julius II.
Alessandro Botticelli (1445-1510)
Florentine Renaissance master, creator of La Primavera.
Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-94)
Most popular, prolific fresco painter in Florence during 1480s.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
Greatest Renaissance oil painter/draftsman (The Last Supper, Mona Lisa).

For a list of quattrocento Old Masters, see Early Renaissance Artists.

RESERVED FOR PAINTERS
The term 'Old Master' is traditionally
reserved for painters, not sculptors.
However, we have included several
masters of the plastic arts in our list.
Other Old Master sculptors include:

Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-88)
Sculptor, goldsmith, painter.
Veit Stoss (1445-1533)
German wood-sculptor.
Tilman Riemenschneider (1460-1531)
German Renaissance wood carver.
Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828)
Neoclassical portrait sculptor.

• HIGH RENAISSANCE (ROME)
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)
Greatest Renaissance sculptor (Pieta, David) and painter, renowned for his Genesis and Last Judgement Sistine Chapel frescoes in Rome.
Titian (c.1477-1576)
Greatest Renaissance exponent of colour painting in oils and fresco.
Raphael (1483-1520)
"Il Divino", greatest Renaissance painting prodigy (School of Athens).

For a list of Old Masters from this era, see High Renaissance Artists.
See also: Spanish Renaissance Artists.

• LATE RENAISSANCE (VENICE)
Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-1594)
Major Venetian painter of monumental religious works.
Paolo Veronese (1528-1588)
One of Venice's leading colourists, noted for The Wedding at Cana.

• NORTHERN RENAISSANCE
Jan van Eyck (1390-1441)
Finest pioneer oil painter, noted for his realistic portrait masterpieces.
Roger Van der Weyden (1400-1464)
Dutch artist and leading religious panel-painter of Northern Renaissance.
Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516)
Greatest of all medieval painters, noted for complex moralizing works.
Matthias Grunewald (1470-1528)
Noted for his intense expressionist religious paintings; Isenheim Altarpiece.
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
Greatest painter and printmaker of the Northern Renaissance.
Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)
Leading Renaissance painter in Germany, noted for his court portraiture.
Hans Holbein The Younger (1497-1543)
Celebrated as one of the greatest portrait painters.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1525-1569)
Leading Flemish artist of his day, master landscape painter.

For a list of Old Masters from Flanders, Holland, Germany, see Northern Renaissance Artists.

• MANNERISM
Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574)
Painter, architect, art historian known for Lives of The Artists (1550).
Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-93)
Best-known for his bizarre Mannerist fruit & vegetable portraits.
Giambologna (1529-1608)
The hugely influential Mannerist sculptor: worked in Rome and Florence.
El Greco (Domenikos Theotocopoulos) (1541-1614)
Noted for his dazzling spiritual works and portraits.
Caravaggio (1573-1610)
Milanese painter noted for his figurative realism & tenebrist chiaroscuro.

For a list of Old Masters, see Mannerist Artists.

• BAROQUE
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
Foremost Baroque history painter and portraitist.
Jusepe (Jose) de Ribera (1591-1652)
Naples-based Spanish realist religious painter
Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665)
Possibly the greatest classical academic painter of all time.
Giovanni Bernini (1598-1680)
The dominant sculptor and architect of the Counter-Reformation Baroque.
Francisco de Zurbaran (1598-1664)
Master of chiaroscuro, noted for his religious pictures and still-lifes.
Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641)
Infant prodigy, pupil of Rubens, noted for his portraits.
Diego Velázquez (1599-1660)
Court painter, possibly the greatest Spanish old master.
Claude Lorrain (1600-82)
Classical landscape artist, initiator of Claudean style.

For a list of Old Masters, see:
French Baroque Artists; Italian Baroque Artists; Spanish Baroque Artists.

• DUTCH REALISM SCHOOL
Frans Snyders (1579-1657)
Undisputed master of Baroque still life: Antwerp school.
Frans Hals (1582-1666)
One of the greatest portraitists in post-Renaissance art.
Hendrik Terbrugghen (1588-1629)
Dutch Realist genre-painter, Utrecht school.
Adriaen Brouwer (1605-38)
Noted for his tavern genre-pictures.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)
World's greatest portrait artist, noted for chiaroscuro technique.
Adriaen van Ostade (1610-85)
Peasant scene artist, Haarlem school.
David Teniers the Younger (1610-90)
Dutch Realist, peasant, guardroom scenes.
Gerard Terborch (1617-81)
Haarlem school genre painter.
Aelbert Cuyp (1620-91)
Dordrecht school landscape artist.
Jan Steen (1626-79)
Leiden school, tavern genre scenes, 17th century Holland.
Jacob Van Ruisdael (1628-82)
Haarlem school landscapes, noted for The Jewish Cemetery.
Gabriel Metsu (1629-67)
Intimate small-scale genre scenes.
Pieter de Hooch (1629-83)
Delft school of Dutch genre-painting.
Jan Vermeer (1632-1675)
Delft school Dutch genre-painter, unrecognized in his life time.

For a list of Old Masters, see Dutch Realist Artists.

• ROCOCO
Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721)
Noted for The Pilgrimage to the Island of Cythera and his "fetes galants".
Giambattista Tiepolo (1696-1770)
Known for his Wurzburg Palace frescos (eg.) Apollo Bringing the Bride.
Canaletto (1697-1768)
Famous topographical/architectural landscape painter
Jean Chardin (1699-1779)
One of the greatest 18th century still life artists.
Francois Boucher (1703-1770)
Created "mythologie galante", Odalisque portraits, porcelain/tapestry designs.
Jean-Honore Fragonard (1732-1806)
Best-known for The Swing and his "figure de fantaisie" portraits.

For a list of Old Masters, see Rococo Artists.

• NEOCLASSICISM
Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825)
Passionate, classical-style, political master painter.
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780–1867)
Neoclassicist exponent of "academic art."

For a list of Old Masters, see Neoclassical Artists.

• ROMANTICISM
Francisco Goya (1746-1828)
Spanish court painter, one of the great portraitists (The Nude Maja).
William Blake (1757-1827)
Symbolist religious painter, printmaker and book illustrator.

For a list of Old Masters, see Romantic Artists.

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.

• For profiles of the great artistic movements/periods, see: History of Art.
• For biographies of great painters from Ireland, see: Famous Irish Artists.
• For more information about classical painting in Ireland, see: Irish Art Encyclopedia.