English Delft Identification
18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
People Also Browsed
Antique Late 19th Century Italian Grand Tour Busts
Bronze
20th Century Russian Neoclassical Vases
Malachite, Ormolu
Early 1900s Pre-Raphaelite Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Herman FrobeniusLarge Antique German Oil Canvas Hermann Frobenius Pre-Raphaelite Painting 1900, 1900
Late 19th Century French School Nude Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Antique 1880s Spanish Rococo Paintings
Canvas, Giltwood
Early 19th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
17th Century Old Masters Figurative Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Early 19th Century Academic Portrait Paintings
Oil
17th Century Old Masters Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
18th Century Old Masters Paintings
Oil
2010s Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
18th Century and Earlier Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Antique Early 1700s English Queen Anne Arms, Armor and Weapons
Wood
Antique Early 18th Century English Paintings
Canvas, Giltwood
19th Century Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
16th Century Portrait Paintings
Panel, Oil
A Close Look at old-masters Art
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.