Old Master

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An Old Master (or old master) is a term for a European painter of skill who worked before about 1800, or a painting by such a painter. An Old master print is an original print (for example an engraving or etching) made by an artist in the same period. Likewise an Old master drawing.

In theory an Old Master should be an artist who was fully trained and worked independently, but in practice paintings considered to be produced by pupils or workshops will be included in the term. Therefore, beyond a certain level of competence, date rather than quality is the criterion for using the term.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth century the term often had a starting date of perhaps 1450 or 1470; paintings made before that were "primitives"; but this distinction is no longer made.

The end-date is necessarily vague - Goya is certainly an Old Master, and he was still painting and printmaking at his death in 1828. For example the term might be used, but usually is not, about John Constable (1776-1837) or Eugene Delacroix (1798-1868).

The term tends to be avoided by Art historians as too vague, especially when discussing paintings, although less so for Old Master Prints and Drawings. It remains more current in the art trade. Auction houses still usually divide their sales between, for example: Old Master Paintings, Nineteenth-century paintings and Modern paintings. Christies define the term as ranging "from the 14th to the early 19th century".

Here is a very short and by no means complete list of the most important Old Masters: