The so-called Master of the Female Half-Lengths is named after a painting of 'A Concert of Three Female Figures' (Austria, Harrach collection). He was the author or overseer of a large group of works. The studio was perhaps in Antwerp and had close connections with Patinir, though the style is more related to that of Benson and Ysenbrant. None of his paintings are dated.
Master of the Female Half-Lengths
active second quarter of the 16th century
Works by Master of the Female Half-Lengths
A young woman with brown hair and plucked eyebrows gazes modestly downward. Her hairstyle is Italianate: her plaits are wound around the top of her head and are entwined with a semi-transparent scarf that falls across her right shoulder. She wears a semi-transparent ruched chemise and a blue over...
Not on display
Saint John the Evangelist is seated on the island of Patmos writing the Book of Revelation. He seems to have reached the twelfth of his 22 chapters, given the appearance in heaven of the ‘woman clothed with the sun’, and the red dragon with seven heads. They are floating in the sky at the top rig...
Not on display
The holy family rest as they flee from Bethlehem to Egypt, trying to escape King Herod’s order that all boys under two be killed. Mary sits on a low wall that encloses a courtyard and a fountain. She has opened her dress and chemise to reveal her right breast, evidently to feed her son. Saint Jos...
Not on display
Workshop of the Master of the Female Half-Lengths
According to legend, Saint Christopher was a giant, who was given the task of helping travellers across a river after he converted to Christianity. One day a child asked to be carried across, but Saint Christopher found him so heavy that he was bowed down with the weight. The child revealed that...