In art history, an anonymous master is an Old Master whose work is known, but whose name is lost.
Only in the Renaissance did individual artists in Western Europe acquire personalities known by their peers (some listed by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists), such as those known by :
Their true name or their father's name :
Filippino Lippi after his father Fra Filippo Lippi
A chosen pseudonym, possibly linked to his birthplace or his father's trade :
Giuliano da Sangallo worked on the gate of saint Gall
Antonio Pollaiuolo, after his father, a chicken farmer (pollo in Italian)
Jacopo del Sellaio, after his father, a saddler (sellier)
The Della Robbias (after the Tuscan word robbia, dyers' madder, and his father, the dyer Luca della Robbia)
Masuccio Segondo, student of Masuccio Primo
etc.
A surname attributed to him :
Il Cronaca, who never stopped talking about the ruins he had seen in Rome
Daniele da Volterra, nicknamed Il Braghettone (the breeches maker) for having censored nudes in paintings by adding cloths or branches, at the request of pope Paul IV
Luca della Robbia, for the madder colour he used as a ceramicist
Masaccio, known as the idiot
etc.
A corporation, whose generic name is given to works made by all its members :
the Campionesi Masters, sculptors and builders of religious buildings (Ugo da Campione, Bonino da Campione, Giovanni da Campione, Zenone de Campione, Matteo da Campione)
The idea of a named and recognised painter originated among art historians early in the 20th century, who were attributing works they recognised to known painters. They later went back on some of these attributions, renaming as anonymous the painters they had formerly named. One example is the case of Pier Francesco Fiorentino, to whom Bernard Berenson attributed a number of works which were later re-attributed to Pseudo Pier Francesco Fiorentino, a Florence copyist. Some painters have even been described as anonymous (even many times like Barthélemy Eyck) before later being recognised. They thus held several names historically (those who are noted on the page devoted to them), although doubts continue surrounding some, such as Giovanni Gaddi (after 1333 – 1383) maybe the Master of the Misericordia dell’Accademia.
Master of 1302
Master of 1310
Master of 1328
Master of 1342
Master of 1499
Master of the 1540s
Master of Alkmaar
Master of Ambrass
Master of Amiens
Master of the Antiphonal Q of San Giorgio Maggiore
Master of Antoine de Bourgogne
Master of Arguis
Master of Ávila
Master of the Altarpiece of the Ten Commandments
Master of the Aquisgrana Altarpiece
Master of the Annunciation to the Shepherds
Master of Astorga
Master of the Assisi Choirbooks
Master of Badia a Isola
Master of the Bamberg Altar
Master of the Bardi Saint Francis
Becerril Master
Bedford Master
Master of the Beighem Altarpiece
Master of the Berswordt Altar
Bigallo Master
Master of the Blue Crucifixes
Master of the Brunswick Diptych
Brunswick Monogrammist
Byzantine Master of the Crucifix of Pisa
Master of the Bützow Altarpiece
City of Ladies Master and his studio of illuminators of The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pisan
Master of Cabestany
Master of the Cappella di San Nicola
Master of the Cappella Medici Polyptych
Master of the Cassone degli Adimari, probably Lo Scheggia, brother of Masaccio
Master of the Cassoni Campana, builder of cassone
Master of Crea
Campionesi Masters
Master of Castelsardo
Master of Castelseprio, fresco painter at Santa Maria Foris Portas at Castelseprio, in the province of Varese.
Master of the Castello della Manta
Chief Associate of the Bedford Master
Master of the Darmstädter Passion
Master of the Darup Altarpiece
Master of Delft
Masters of Dirc van Delf
Master of the Death of the Virgin (engraver)
Master of the Death of the Virgin (painter)
Master of the Drapery Studies (also known as Master of the Coburg Roundels)
Master of the Embroidered Foliage
Master E. S.
Expressionist Master of Santa Chiara
Master of the Female Half-Lengths
Master of the Franciscan Crucifixions (13th century)
Master of Frankfurt
Master of the Fresco of the Twelve Moons, north Italy, painter of a secular fresco of the late 14th century (1391–1407) at Trente, in a room of the Tower of Eagles of the Castello del Buonconsiglio.
Master of the Friedberg Altarpiece
Master of the Fröndenberger Altarpiece
Master of the Furies
Master of the Gardens of Love
Master of the Gardner Annunciation
Master of the Gerona Martyrology
Master of the Golden Altar
Master of the Graudenz Altarpiece
Master of the Greenville Tondo
Master of the Grigg Crucifixion
Master of the Gubbio Cross
Master of Heiligenkreuz
Master of the Heisterbach Altarpiece
Master of Hohenfurth, an alternate name for the Master of Vyšší Brod
Master of the Housebook
Master I. A. M. of Zwolle
Illustratore
Master of the Imhoff Altar
Isaac Master
Master of the Iserlohn Altarpiece
Master of James IV of Scotland
Master of Jannecke Bollengier
Kirchdorf Master
Master of the Karlsruhe Passion
Master of the Khanenko Adoration
Master of the Legend of the Magdalen
Master of the (Bruges) legend of St. Ursula, Flemish, 15th century
Master of the Legend of Saint Lucy
Master of the Legend of the Holy Mother
Master of the Libro di casa
Master of the Lippborg Passion
Master of the Litoměřice Altarpiece
Master of the Llangattock Epiphany
Master of the Llangattock Hours
Master of the Lübeck Bible
Master of the Ludlow Annunciation
Master of the Malchin Altar
Master of Magione
Master of the Marble Madonnas
Master of Meßkirch
Master of the Mesi
Master of the Mornauer Portrait
Master of the Louvre Nativity, probably Fra Diamante (according to Bernard Berenson)
Naumburg Master, mid-13th-century sculptor
Master of Nördlingen
Northern Master
Master of the Osservanza, Sienna school, 15th century
Oltremontano Master
Master of the Ortenberg Altarpiece
Master of Otto van Moerdrecht (active c. 1420–30); Netherlandish illuminator
Master of Ozieri
Master of Panzano
Master of the Pallant Altarpiece
Master of the Parement
Master of the Perkins Saint Paul
Master of the Playing Cards
Master of the Prayer Books of around 1500
Master of the Pähl Altarpiece
Master of the Predella
Master of the Nicolas Puchner Altarpiece
Master of the Rajhrad Altarpiece
Master of the Re Alberto Altarpiece
Master of the Rebel Angels, Maestro degli Angeli Ribelli of Siena; two paintings are in the musée du Louvre
Master of the Regular Canons' Altarpiece
Master of the Rohan Hours
Master of the Saint Augustine Altarpiece
Master of the Saint Bartholomew Altarpiece
Master of Saint Cecilia
Master of Saint Francis
Master of Saint Giles
Master of Saint Veronica, Cologne, active to 1420
Master of the Saint Lambrecht Votive Altarpiece
Master of the San Bartolomeo Altarpiece
Master of the San Giorgio Altarpiece
Master of San Martino alla Palma
Master of San Severino
Master of the Santa Barbara Altarpiece
Master of Schloss Lichtenstein
Master of the Schotten Altarpiece
Master of the Schöppingen Altarpiece
Master of Signa
Master of the Staufen Altarpiece
Master of the Stauffenberg Altarpiece
Master of the Sterbini Diptych
Master of the Tavole Barberini
Master of the Terni Dormition
Master of the Třeboň Altarpiece
Master of Trognano
Master of the Tucher Altarpiece
Upper Rhenish Master (also known as Master of the Frankfurt Paradiesgärtlein)
Master of the Vienna Adoration
Master of Vignola
Master of the Virgo inter Virgines
Master of Vyšší Brod
Master W. B.
Master W with the Key
Master of the Washington Coronation
Master of Wavrin
Master of the Weibermacht
Master of Zweder van Culemborg
In recent years the names of a variety of artists who were formerly listed as "anonymous" have become known; accordingly scholarly writings and museum labels have been changed to reflect their new identities. Much the most famous of these is the Master of Flémalle (c 1378–1445), painter of the comté de Hainaut, who was established as Robert Campin. Other examples include:
Jehan Bellegambe, sometimes called the "master of colours".
Master of 1419 – recognised as Battista di Biagio Sanguigni, having painted and dated in 1419 the central panel for a triptych executed for Santa Maria a Latera, broken up and dispersed
Master of the Chiostro degli Aranci – recognised as being Giovanni Consalvo, fresco painter at the monastery at Badia Fiorentina
Barthélemy d'Eyck is the generally accepted as the painter known as the Master of the Aix Annunciation for paintings, and the Master of René of Anjou for illuminated manuscripts; he is also thought by many to be the Master of the Shadows
The Dombild Master, as Stefan Lochner
