In art history, an anonymous master is an Old Master whose work is known, but whose name is lost.

Renaissance

Only in the Renaissance did individual artists in Western Europe acquire personalities known by their peers (some listed by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists), such as those known by:

20th-century problems of attribution

The idea of a named and recognised painter originated among art historians early in the 20th century, who were attributing works they recognised to known painters. They later went back on some of these attributions, renaming as anonymous the painters they had formerly named. One example is the case of Pier Francesco Fiorentino, to whom Bernard Berenson attributed a number of works which were later re-attributed to Pseudo Pier Francesco Fiorentino, a Florence copyist. Some painters have even been described as anonymous (even many times like Barthélemy Eyck) before later being recognised. They thus held several names historically (those who are noted on the page devoted to them), although doubts continue surrounding some, such as Giovanni Gaddi (after 1333 – 1383) maybe the Master of the Misericordia dell’Accademia.

Artists

Dates

A

B

C

Master of the City of Ladies

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

Master of the (Bruges) legend of St. Ursula (15th century)

M

N

O

P

R

S

Master of the Stauffenberg Altarpiece: "The Descent from the Cross" (detail), Unterlinden Museum, Colmar

T

  • Master of the Tavole Barberini

U

V

W

Z

Artists whose names have since been established

In recent years the names of a variety of artists who were formerly listed as "anonymous" have become known; accordingly scholarly writings and museum labels have been changed to reflect their new identities. Much the most famous of these is the Master of Flémalle (c 1378–1445), painter of the comté de Hainaut, who was established as Robert Campin. Other examples include:

  • Jehan Bellegambe, sometimes called the "master of colours".
  • Master of 1419 – recognised as Battista di Biagio Sanguigni, having painted and dated in 1419 the central panel for a triptych executed for Santa Maria a Latera, broken up and dispersed
  • Master of the Chiostro degli Aranci – recognised as being Giovanni Consalvo, fresco painter at the monastery at Badia Fiorentina
  • Barthélemy d'Eyck is the generally accepted as the painter known as the Master of the Aix Annunciation for paintings, and the Master of René of Anjou for illuminated manuscripts; he is also thought by many to be the Master of the Shadows
  • The Dombild Master, as Stefan Lochner

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Joconde – catalogue – dictionnaires". culture.gouv.fr. Retrieved 30 April 2015.

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anonymous masters.
  • Daniel Arasse in the introduction to his Le Sujet dans le tableau. Champs Flammarion ISBN 2-08-121748-1 (1997) (2006)
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