The old masters, a European history of the gaze

Define old masters

A historical category, not an artistic movement

Giotto, Van Eyck, Titian, Rembrandt and Goya paint neither under the same conditions nor for the same audiences. The notion of an ancient master appeared in the world of collections to distinguish the great European schools prior to 19th century modernity. It covers late Gothic painting, the Italian and Nordic Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque, Classicism, Rococo and the beginnings of Neoclassicism. Rather than making it a homogeneous block, this classification shows the passages: from the gold background to the perspective space, from the panel to the large easel painting, from religious commission to the princely gallery, then to the urban market and the museum.

Workshops, courses and orders

The ancient masterpiece is often the result of a collective system

The name of a master designates a personal invention, but also a workshop where assistants, students and specialists prepare supports, pigments, draperies, landscapes or rehearsals. Corporations supervise training; the courses and the Church commission altarpieces, frescoes, dynastic portraits and decorations; Dutch merchants favor formats adapted to private interiors. Travel distributes models: Dürer engravings, Venetian color, Caravaggesque chiaroscuro, Roman classicism or Flemish portrait cross borders. Understanding these networks allows us to avoid the myth of an isolated genius and to better read attributions, variants and collaborations.

Read a painting before 1800

Support, function, genre and destination shed as much light as the subject

A panel intended for an altar, a palace fresco, a ceremonial portrait, a tavern scene or a still life do not obey the same rules. We must observe the planned point of view, the real light of the place, the scale, the materials, the attributes and the relationship to the sponsor. In the 17th century, the specialization of genres became particularly fruitful: Vermeer organized the silence of an interior, Ruisdael built the landscape, Ruysch orchestrated the flower, Kalf transformed precious objects into meditation on time. Around 1800, David, Mengs, Kauffman, Vigée Le Brun and Goya finally showed that the ancient heritage could serve a moral reform, a new sensitivity or a critique of power.

Sources and routes

Deepen the history of the old masters