Master from 1540

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Masters of the forties: Portrait of a young lady (Elisabeth Heyndericx). Oil on oak, ca.1541, Art Gallery of New South Wales

A Dutch portrait painter of the 16th century is referred to as a master of 1540 or master of the forties ( English Master of 1540s ) . He created a large number of depictions of wealthy citizens, in which the growing self-confidence, political independence and increasing prosperity of secular city dwellers at the end of the late Middle Ages and transition to the modern age can be recognized.

Naming

The unnamed Master of the 1540s are for more than thirty portraits of wealthy leading citizens. B. from Antwerp attributed. These paintings, created between 1541 and 1547, give the artist his emergency name . In addition to this Dutch “master from 1540”, a “North German master from 1540” is also mentioned, who also made portraits.

Identification and interpretation of the portraits

Some paintings by the master from 1540 are marked on the front and sometimes on the back with dates, some of the coats of arms of the people depicted are indicated on the back, which in some cases enables the people painted to be reliably identified.

The pictures are mostly half-length figures in front of a monochrome background. Subtle symbols such as B. a glove as a sign of bourgeois elegance for men or for women a small dog as a sign of loyalty or a rosary as a sign of faith are given in the hands of the portrayed. The clothing also represented the wealth of the client. The pictures skillfully depict an aspiring or already established middle class .

Portraits sometimes form a diptych . Well-known pictures are e.g. B. the two portraits of Gillebert van Schoonbeke and his wife Elisabeth Heyndericx in the Antwerp Museum of Fine Arts .

Artistic classification

The master of 1540 is a contemporary of Anthonis Mor and Ambrosius Benson . His work shows some manual skill, sometimes classified as great. Due to the typical painting style and format of the pictures as well as the preparation of his work, other unsigned portraits from the same era can be distinguished from the master’s work, even if the master’s work catalog has not yet been determined.

literature

  • Masters of the forties . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 37 : Master with emergency names and monogramists . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1950, p. 344 .
  • M. Friedländer: Early Netherlandish Painting. Volume XIII: Antonis Mor and his Contemporaries. Leyden, Brussels 1975, pp. 46-48, 93-95.
  • JO Hand, C. Metzger, R. Spronk: Prayers and Portraits: Unfolding the Netherlandish Diptych. (Catalog of the National Gallery of Art, Washington). Yale, Washington, Amsterdam 2006.
  • Masters of the forties . In: Norbert Michels, Bettina Werche (ed.): The old Dutch and Flemish paintings of the 16th to 18th centuries . tape 2 . Hermann Böhlaus successor, Weimar 2001, ISBN 3-7400-1037-1 , p. 115–117 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-476-02769-6 ( books.google.de - reading sample).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ M. Friedländer: Early Netherlandish Painting. Volume XIII: Antonis Mor and his Contemporaries. Leyden, Brussels 1975, pp. 46-48.
  2. ^ Richard von Kaufmann, Getty Research Institute: Paintings from the XIV – XVI centuries from the collection of Richard von Kaufmann . A. Asher, Berlin 1901 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  3. ↑ Master of 1540. In: Art Encyclopedia. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Art. Oxford 2002.
  4. ^ M. Friedländer: Early Netherlandish Painting. Volume XIII: Antonis Mor and his Contemporaries. Leyden, Brussels 1975, pp. 46-48, 93-95.
  5. ↑ R. Spronk: A 'Portrait of a Man' by the Master of the 1540s . In: P. van den Brink, LM Helmus: Album discipulorum: JRJ van Asperen de Boer. Zwolle 1997, pp. 196-202.
  6. ↑ To differentiate from the master of the Benson portraits. JO Hand, C. Metzger, R. Spronk: Prayers and Portraits: Unfolding the Netherlandish Diptych. (Catalog of the National Gallery Of Art, Washington). Yale, Washington, Amsterdam 2006, p. 12 f.
personal data
SURNAME Master from 1540
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Masters of the forties; Master of 1540s
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch portrait painter
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century or 16th century
DATE OF DEATH 16th Century