Active in Antwerp between 1500 and 1530

This Master, who was active during the first half of the 16th century, hasn't yet been identified. He is famous, above all, for his half-length portraits of women, often dressed in sumptuous clothing. The elegant nature of his models, and the subjects of his paintings inspired by music or poetry led historians to assume that he worked in Mechelen, in the refined and cultivated circle of Margaret of Austria, governor of the Netherlands from 1518 to 1530 whose portrait was painted by Bernard van Orley. Our anonymous painter probably worked in his studio. He also painted landscapes enhanced with religious scenes. He owes his conception of the panoramic landscape to the influence of Joachim Patenier, who lived in Antwerp until 1524. These various observations converge to justify the hypothesis that the Master worked in Antwerp and Mechelen, and that his activity developed between 1527 and 1540. The constant morphological types of his feminine models differ from those in the paintings of his contemporaries, Adriaen Isenbrandt and Ambrosius Benson. However, his rendering of religious subjects has led to comparisons with these two artists. In general, the works of this Master are associated with half-length portraits of young women; the head is turned three quarters, the face is oval, the eyebrows arched, the lips well defined, the hair most often in a centre parting, the hands delicate and manicured. Such are the characteristics of the idealised model the Master of the Female Half-Lengths featured in all his paintings. This female model also appears in paintings of religious subjects.