old master

plural old masters

1. Alternative letter-case form of Old Master.

   Opening on 30 September, the exhibition Michaelina Wautier, Painter for the first time gathers into one show all known works by an artist who is belatedly coming to be recognised as one of the old masters of her age.

   2025 September 28, Philip Oltermann, “Michaelina Wautier: the female Flemish artist now seen as an old master”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

plural Old Masters · alternative old master

1. Any of various early (before about 1800 CE) European painters whose works are regarded as superlative.

   1 more example

   Fifteen years ago it was customary to speak slightingly of the Old Masters, and it was thought that their mistakes could be easily rectified. Their dark skies and black foregrounds hold their own against all Monet's cleverness, and it has begun to be suspected that even if nature be industriously and accurately copied in the fields, the result is not always a picture.

   1893, George Moore, Modern Painting

2. A painting by an Old Master.