Little Masters
Term that refers in the broadest sense to northern European artists who made small-format prints (almost exclusively engravings) during the first half of the 16th century. As early as 1679 Joachim von Sandrart referred to the ‘kleine Meister’, and John Evelyn’s reference of 1662 to ‘the Polite Masters’ is probably a confusion with the French Petits maîtres. The term has most frequently been applied exclusively to three artists in the generation immediately following Albrecht Dürer
... (view more)
Little Masters
Term that refers in the broadest sense to northern European artists who made small-format prints (almost exclusively engravings) during the first half of the 16th century. As early as 1679 Joachim von Sandrart referred to the ‘kleine Meister’, and John Evelyn’s reference of 1662 to ‘the Polite Masters’ is probably a confusion with the French Petits maîtres. The term has most frequently been applied exclusively to three artists in the generation immediately following Albrecht Dürer in Nuremberg: Sebald Beham, his brother Barthel Beham and Georg Pencz. The phrase ‘Nuremberg Little Masters’ is often used to make this clarification, although only Pencz pursued his entire career in Nuremberg. In addition to their preference for a small engraving format, these three shared an association with Dürer (for whom Pencz probably worked) and the distinction of having been evicted from Nuremberg in January 1525 (at the culmination of the German Peasant Revolt) for their agnostic and anarchistic convictions. Because of their radical political and religious views, they were also known as the ‘three godless painters’. When the term is used in a broader sense, Little Masters may include other engravers who favoured a minute format, such as Jakob Binck, Master I.B. and Heinrich Aldegrever in Germany and Allaert Claesz. and Dirk Vellert in the Low Countries.
(hide)
