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Old Masters Art

OLD MASTERS

Encompassing centuries of change in Europe between 1300 and 1800, from booms of prosperity to bloody revolutions, Old Masters describes a wide range of artists. The informal term was derived from the title of an artist who trained in a guild long enough to become a master, such as Leonardo da Vinci, who studied in a Florence painters’ guild. However, Old Masters paintings, prints and other art is now used to refer to work made by any artist with a high level of skill in painting, drawing, sculpture or printmaking who worked during this era.

The 15th century’s expansive trade and commerce spread culture across borders. A vibrant period of art emerged, bolstered by studies of anatomy and nature that influenced a new visual realism. From Raphael and Michelangelo in the Renaissance to Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer in the Dutch Golden Age, artists expressed emotion, naturalism, color and light in new ways. El Greco and Paolo Veronese were leaders in the dramatic style of Mannerism, while Caravaggio and Peter Paul Rubens demonstrated the movement and meticulous detail of Baroque art.

Historically, most attention was concentrated on male artists, but recent research and exhibitions have elevated the impactful work of women such as Rachel Ruysch and Artemisia Gentileschi. In late-18th-century France, female artists like Adélaïde Labille-Guiard and Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun were prominent names. Nevertheless, access to the academies and guilds was highly restricted for women, and even those able to establish practices were expected to adhere to portraits and still lifes rather than the grand history paintings being created by men.

Find a collection of Old Masters prints, paintings, drawings and watercolors and other art on 1stDibs.

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Style: Old Masters
Color:  Yellow
Answer Within
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Painting Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, this is not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (Issued by the Gallery)
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Old Masters Art

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Measuring a Profile - Original Etching by Thomas Holloway - 18th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Measuring a Profile is an original etching artwork realized by Thomas Holloway for Johann Caspar Lavater's "Essays on Physiognomy, Designed to Promote the Knowledge and the Love of M...
Category

18th Century Old Masters Art

Materials

Etching

Portrait of René Descartes - Original Etching by Thomas Holloway - 1810
Located in Roma, IT
Portrait of René Descartes is an original artwork realized by Thomas Holloway (1748 - 1827). Original Etching from J.C. Lavater's "Essays on Physiognom...
Category

1810s Old Masters Art

Materials

Etching

The Physiognomy - The Pray - Original Etching by Thomas Holloway - 1810
Located in Roma, IT
The physiognomy - The pray is an original etching artwork realized by Thomas Holloway for Johann Caspar Lavater's "Essays on Physiognomy, Designed to Promote the Knowledge and the Lo...
Category

1810s Old Masters Art

Materials

Etching

Heads of Johnfon - Original Etching by Thomas Holloway - 1810
Located in Roma, IT
Heads of Johnfon is an original artwork realized by Thomas Holloway for Johann Caspar Lavater's "Essays on Physiognomy, Designed to promote the Knowledge and the Love of Mankind", Lo...
Category

1810s Old Masters Art

Materials

Etching

Portrait of a Man - Original Etching by Thomas Holloway - 1810
Located in Roma, IT
Portrait of a man is an original artwork realized by Thomas Holloway for Johann Caspar Lavater's "Essays on Physiognomy, Designed to promote the Knowledge and the Love of Mankind", L...
Category

1810s Old Masters Art

Materials

Etching

Portrait - Original Etching by Thomas Holloway - 1810
Located in Roma, IT
Portrait is an original artwork realized by Thomas Holloway (1748 - 1827). Original Etching from J.C. Lavater's "Essays on Physiognomy, Designed to promote the Knowledge and the Lov...
Category

1810s Old Masters Art

Materials

Etching

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Located in New York, NY
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1640s Old Masters Art

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18th century Portrait of a young girl, Miss Cator in a landscape, white dress
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Portrait of a young British Girl, in her white dress with Pink Sash. Choosing to acquire an 18th-century portrait of a young girl by English artist John Russell is an opportunity to...
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1780s Old Masters Art

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The Virgin in Adoration - 17th Century Italian Old Master Religious Oil Painting
Located in Sevenoaks, GB
A beautiful late 17th century Italian Old Master oil on canvas depicting The Virgin in Adoration, circle of Carlo Maratta. Excellent quality early Italian work, presented in an ant...
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17th Century Old Masters Art

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Huge Antique Oil Painting Portrait of Mrs Boone & Daughter after lost original
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
After SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS (1723 -1792) Portrait of Mrs Boone and her Daughter Oil on Canvas Canvas Size : 55.25 x 43.25 inches (140 x 110 cms) Framed size : 62 x 50 inches (157.5 x 127 cms) Provenance : Private Collection, France This present picture is a good quality copy of a Reynolds original. Copies are notoriously difficult to date, but judging by the style and the materials used it is most probable that we are dealing with a picture painted between 1890 and 1920. The professional standard of the work makes this painting a fine and substantial piece of decoration in the 18th century English manner. But in this case there is more… The Reynolds original was painted around 1774-6 and depicts Harriet Boone, wife of Charles Boone with their daughter, also Harriet – later the wife of Sir William Drummond K.C. This picture was by 1865 in the collection of one T Colleton Garth (a relative of the younger Harriet Boone), who lent it to an exhibition of Old Master pictures at the British Institution in 1865. It was engraved in 1866 by G.H. Emery – presumably after attracting some attention at that exhibition. The painting was then bought from Garth by the dealers Agnew in 1903 and sold the following year in 1904 to the famous Anglo-German diamond magnate Alfred Beit. Two years later in 1906, Beit - who would fill his later years with numerous philanthropic donations in Germany, England and South Africa - gave the Reynolds original of Mrs Boone to the Berlin Gallery...
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Late 19th Century Old Masters Art

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La Reine Marie d'Angleterre (Queen Mary of England) /// Old Masters Royal Family
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Georges Henri Manesse (French, 1854-1940) Title: "La Reine Marie d'Angleterre (Queen Mary of England)" Portfolio: Gazette des Beaux-Arts Year: 1893 Medium: Original Etching on cream laid paper Limited edition: approx. 1,500 Printer: Chardon Wittman, Paris, France Publisher: Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France Reference: Sanchez/Seydoux 1893-7 Sheet size: 10.69" x 7.13" Image size: 7" x 5.25" Condition: Light discoloration at edges. It is otherwise a strong impression in excellent condition Notes: This etching is after a painting from 1554 by Dutch artist Anthonis Mor (c. 1517-1577). Comes with its original tissue cover sleeve. This etching was published by Gazette des Beaux-Arts. The Gazette des Beaux-Arts was a French art review, found in 1859 by Édouard Houssaye, with Charles Blanc as its first chief editor. Assia Visson Rubinstein was chief editor under the direction of George Wildenstein from 1928 until 1960. Her papers, which include all editions of the Gazette from this period, are intact at the Cantonal and University Library of Lausanne in Dorigny. The Gazette was a world reference work on art history for nearly 100 years - one other editor in chief, from 1955 to 1987, was Jean Adhémar. It was bought in 1928 by the Wildenstein family, whose last representative was Daniel Wildenstein, its director from 1963 until his death in 2001. The review closed in 2002. Mary I...
Category

1890s Old Masters Art

Materials

Intaglio, Etching, Laid Paper

OBSEQUIO á el MAESTRO (‘A gift for the master’)
Located in Santa Monica, CA
FRANCISCO de GOYA y LUCIENTES (1746 -1828) OBSEQUIO á el MAESTRO (‘A gift for the master’) Plate 47 from the 1st edition of Los Caprichos (Blas, ...
Category

1790s Old Masters Art

Materials

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Portrait de Femme (Portrait of a Woman) /// Old Masters Italian Romantic Queen
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Pierre Augustin Massé (French, 1880-?) Title: "Portrait de Femme (Portrait of a Woman)" Portfolio: Gazette des Beaux-Arts Year: 1898 Medium: Or...
Category

1890s Old Masters Art

Materials

Aquatint, Etching, Intaglio

Crucifixion: 18th Century Etching by Conrad Metz after Daniele da Volterra
Located in Alamo, CA
"Crucifixion" is an etching and aquatint, printed in brown ink by Conrad M. Metz after a painting by Daniele da Volterra. It was published in London in 1789 in 'Imitations Of Ancient...
Category

Late 18th Century Old Masters Art

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Etching, Aquatint

Portrait of Lady Caroline Price
Located in Miami, FL
DESCRIPTION: Perhaps the best Romney in private hands. If Vogue Magazine existed in the late 18th century, this image of Lady Caroline Price would be ...
Category

1970s Old Masters Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Huge 18th Century English Oil Aristocratic Portrait of a Gentleman Standing
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Portrait of an Aristocratic Gentleman British artist, first half 18th century oil on canvas, unframed canvas: 50 x 40 inches provenance: private collection, Dorset, England condition...
Category

18th Century Old Masters Art

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Fine 18th Century British Oil Painting Mother & Infant Child in Adoration
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Mother & Child British artist, late 18th century after the painting by Sir Anthony van Dyke oil on canvas, unframed canvas : 20 x 18 inches provenance: private collection, Berkshire,...
Category

18th Century Old Masters Art

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Street in Smyrna
Located in Storrs, CT
Street in Smyrna. 1889. Etching. Wisselingh 34. 7 x 5 1/4 (sheet 12 7/8 x 8 7/8).Edition 100, number 49. A rich, tonal impression printed on Strasbourg cream laid paper on the full s...
Category

Late 19th Century Old Masters Art

Materials

Drypoint, Etching

Street in Smyrna
Street in Smyrna
H 7 in W 5.25 in D 0.5 in

Old Masters art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Old Masters art available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add art created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of orange, yellow, blue and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Charles Amand Durand, Giuseppe Vasi, Thomas Holloway, and Vincenzo Campana. Frequently made by artists working with Etching, and Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Old Masters art, so small editions measuring 0.4 inches across are also available. Prices for art made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $11 and tops out at $1,495,000, while the average work sells for $546.

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