Dictionary
Old Masters

"Old Masters" are the "masters of painting" from the 14th to the 18th centuries, who produced the chief masterpieces of Western art during that time. In the various period styles and in different countries representational paintings were created that initially boasted almost exclusively religious subject matter although profane motifs were later introduced. The Old Masters include Italian Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque painters; Dutch and Flemish painters as well as the Early German masters and the Spanish and French painters, primarily of the 17th century.