The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (301 page)

Master of Mary of Burgundy
.

Netherlandish manuscript illuminator, active in the last quarter of the 15th cent. He is named after two
Books of Hours
painted for Mary of Burgundy, who married the emperor Maximilian I in 1477 and died in 1482 (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, and Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin). They are among the finest illuminated books of the period, with many charming everyday-life and still-life details, and other fine works in a similar style have been attributed to him, notably a
Book of Hours in the Bodleian Library
, Oxford. It has been suggested that he is to be identified with Alexander
Bening
.

 
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Master of Moulins
(active
c.
1480–
c.
1500).

French painter, named after a
triptych
in Moulins Cathedral representing the Madonna with Saints and Donors and datable
c.
1498. The style of this work is quite distinctive, and has enabled a considerable
œuvre
to be built up around it. The Master of Moulins' sculptural precision of form (recalling
Fouquet
), the poise of his individual figures, his brilliant palette, the harmony of his compositions, and his taste for splendid and meticulous details make him one of the outstanding painters of his period in northern Europe. Various attempts have been made to identify the Master of Moulins with named artists (for example Jean
Perréal
), but none has met with general acceptance.

 
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Master of St Cecilia
(active
c.
1304).

Italian painter named after the St Cecilia Altarpiece in the Uffizi, which was originally in the church of Sta Cecilia, destroyed by fire in 1304. Presumably he was a Florentine, but nothing is known about him. Other works have been attributed to him because of their resemblance to the Uffizi picture, the most important being the three concluding scenes of the great fresco cycle of the life of St Francis in the Upper Church of S. Francesco at Assisi (see
MASTER OF THE ST FRANCIS CYCLE
). The painter of these scenes resembles
Giotto
in lucidity of presentation and the solid drawing of his figures, but he is more genial in feeling. His figures are more vivacious, his colour warmer and sweeter. The completion of the great cycle in the Upper Church would have been entrusted only to an established master and some critics have attempted to identify the painter of these scenes and the St Cecilia Altarpiece with the famous but tantalizingly elusive
Buffalmacco
.

 
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Master of St George
.

See
MARTORELL
.

 
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Master of St Giles
(active
c.
1480–
c.
1500).

Netherlandish (?) painter named after two panels representing scenes from the life of St Giles (NG, London). Other paintings in the same style have been grouped round them. Their attention to detail and their meticulous finish have caused some to consider that the artist was trained in the Netherlands, but the inclusion of views of Paris in some of his works indicates that he worked there, whatever his origin. His work is of high quality and he must have been one of the best painters of the day in northern France.

 
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Master of Segovia
.

See
BENSON
.

 
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