Skip to main content

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.

to
3
1
1
Overall Height
to
Overall Width
to
3
3
2
2
1
1
3
4
113
100
95
89
3
Style: Old Masters
Artist: Hans Sebald Beham
Two Fools (or Fool and Foolish Woman)
Located in New York, NY
Hans Sebald Beham (1500-1550), an engraving after Beham’s Two Fools (or Fool and Foolish Woman), engraving, c 1540, a copy or impression in reverse of Pauli 215, Bartsch 213, the cop...
Category

16th Century Old Masters Art

Materials

Engraving

Virgin and Child with the Pear
Located in New York, NY
Hans Sebald Beham (1500-1550), Virgin and Child with the Pear, engraving, 1520. Initials monogram and date in the plate. References: Bartsch 18, Pauli, Hollstein 19. First state (of two). In good condition, on old laid paper with thread margins on three sides, trimmed on the platemark bottom right and bottom, and archival mounting. h: 4.5 x w: 3 in / h: 11.4 x w: 7.6 cm A very good impression of this rarity. Hollstein indicates that earlier impressions, such as this one, do not have a scratch above the head of the Virgin. Beham was one of the Northern Renaissance Little Masters, so called because of their eminence in producing small-scale engravings such as the Virgin and Child with a Pear. Beham was born in Nuremberg in 1500, and may have trained under Durer, though his training is no more certain than that of his younger brother Barthel. He made his first engraving in 1518, and later became known for producing woodcuts as well. Beham’s Madonna with the Pear has a similar composition but in reverse to Durer’s engraving...
Category

16th Century Old Masters Art

Materials

Engraving

Panel with a Mascaron
Located in New York, NY
Hans Sebald Beham (1500-1550), Panel with a Mascaron, engraving, 1543 [with the initials monogram and date in the plate]. Reference: Bartsch 231, Hollstein 235. Second state (of 2). ...
Category

16th Century Old Masters Art

Materials

Engraving

Related Items
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
The New Testament /// Old Masters Biblical Religious Engraving Dutch Angel Art
By Michael Burghers
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Michael Burghers (Dutch, c.1647/1648-1727) Title: "The New Testament" Portfolio: Holy Bible *Signed by Burghers in the plate (printed signature) lower left Year: 1680 Medium: Original Etching and Engraving with recent Hand-Color on watermarked laid paper Limited edition: Unknown Printer: John Baskett, London?, UK Publisher: Moses Pitt, Peter Parker, and Thomas Guy, London?, UK Sheet size (irregular margins): 17.25" x 10.5" Image size: 14.75" x 9.5" Condition: Uneven trimming and light edgewear in margins. One small tear entering image lower right which has been skillfully repaired with added backing paper with archival tape from verso. It is otherwise a strong impression in very good condition with strong colors Very rare Notes: Provenance: private collection - Cotswolds, UK. Comes from the 1685 "Holy Bible" portfolio. John Baskett was deemed printer to the King's most Excellent Majesty, for Great Britain and to the University of Oxford. Large unidentified watermark within center of sheet. There is an example of this work in the permanent collection of the British Museum in London, UK. In the foreground, John the Evangelist, holding a pen and writing...
Category

1680s Old Masters Art

Materials

Watercolor, Engraving, Etching, Laid Paper, Intaglio

Venus Lamenting over the Death of Adonis
Located in Middletown, NY
c. 1654. Etching with engraving on thin laid paper with an early and large unidentified watermark with a sundial and a many-pointed star, and an unidentified collector's stamp in the...
Category

Mid-17th Century Old Masters Art

Materials

Handmade Paper, Engraving, Etching

Veduta del Tempio della Fortuna Virile, from Raccolta delle più belle Vedute ...
Located in Middletown, NY
By Giuseppe Vasi after Giovanni Piranesi: Etching and engraving with hand coloring in watercolor on laid paper with an E and R watermark, full margins. Minor...
Category

Late 18th Century Old Masters Art

Materials

Watercolor, Laid Paper, Engraving, Etching

Self-Portrait with Plumed Cap - Engraving after Rembrandt - 19th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Self-Portrait with Plumed Cap and Lowered Sabre is an engraving on ivory-colored paper realized by Charles Amand Durand after an etching by Rembrandt dated 1634. This wonderful piece...
Category

19th Century Old Masters Art

Materials

Engraving

Old Master Royal Stallion Engraving by Crispin de Passe
Located in Larchmont, NY
Crispin van de Passe The Younger (c. 1594-1670) Untitled (Royal Stallion), c. 1620-1660 Engraving Sight: 11 3/4 x 15 3/4 in. Framed: 18 3/4 x 22 5/8 in. Inscribed in plate: Le Bonit...
Category

17th Century Old Masters Art

Materials

Engraving

Breaking up of the Agamemnon, No 1
Located in Storrs, CT
Etching and drypoint. Schneiderman 133.v/xi. 7 3/4 x 16 3/8 (sheet 9 1/4 x 17 1/2). A rich impression with plate tone printed in black/brown in on antique cream wove paper. Signed in...
Category

Mid-19th Century Old Masters Art

Materials

Drypoint, Etching

Court wrestlers of the Sultan of Turkey-dressed for outdoors, resting and fighti
Located in Middletown, NY
Bruyn, Abraham de (after). Court wrestlers of the Sultan of Turkey-dressed for outdoors, resting and fighting. 1577. Engraving on hand made laid paper, 10 5/8 x 6 7/8 inches (268 x 1...
Category

16th Century Old Masters Art

Materials

Handmade Paper, Laid Paper, Engraving

San Benedetto Con Altri Nanti, religious engraving after Veronese, circa 1700
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Religious copper-line engraving by CM after Francesco Petrucci after (Paolo Caliari) Veronese. Depicts Saint Benedict and other holy figures. Paolo Vero...
Category

Early 1700s Old Masters Art

Materials

Engraving

La Grande Fortune etching by Amand-Durand after Albrecht Durer
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Charles Amand-Durand, French (1831 - 1905) after Albrecht Dürer, German (1471 - 1528) Title: La Grande Fortune Year: 1873 (original circa 1502) Medium: Heliogravure on thin l...
Category

1870s Old Masters Art

Materials

Engraving

Portrait of Carlos de Colonna, Marques de la Espinar
By Paulus Pontius
Located in Middletown, NY
(after Anthonie Van Dyck) Engraving on cream laid paper, 9 1/4 x 6 3/8 inches (234 x 161 mm), full margins. Water stain throughout bottom, diagonal creases in the area of the bottom right corner, paper tape along top edge on recto. A very well inked impression. __________Flemish painter and engraver Paulus Pontius was born in Antwerp in 1603, and it was in this city that his full life would unfold. At the young age of 13, he was apprenticed to the still life painter Osias Beert, and subsequently to Lucas Vosterman, who was heavily associated with the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens. Vosterman trained Pontius in the skill of engraving, which he took to immediately, finding he had great skill at recreating paintings. Pontius was able to capture the minutiae of light and shadow found on the canvas, and mastered the ability to accurately render the subtleties of brushwork in this alternate media. His success as an engraver cemented his role in the workshop of Rubens, and in 1624, when Vosterman found himself at odds with Rubens, and left Antwerp for England, Pontius assumed his role as foremost engraver in the workshop. It was in this year that Pontius took up lodgings in Rubens's home, and continued to live there until 1631, when courtship and marriage (the first of three) brought him away. After the death of Rubens in 1640, Pontius embarked on a very successful career engraving reproductions of master works by artists including Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens, Pieter van Avont, Abraham van Diepenbeeck...
Category

Mid-17th Century Old Masters Art

Materials

Laid Paper, Engraving

A Chinese Nobleman, from The Costume of China, by G.H. Mason, engr. John Dadley
Located in Middletown, NY
London: 1799. Copperplate stipple engraving with hand coloring in watercolor, 17 1/2 x 10 1/4 inches (445 x 260 mm) (sheet), full margins. In very good condition with some minor, lig...
Category

Late 18th Century Old Masters Art

Materials

Handmade Paper, Watercolor, Engraving

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.

Recently Viewed

View All