Pair of Lovers - C. 1480, a painting thought to be by the dry point engraver identified as the Master of the Housebook

Master of the Housebook and Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet are two appellations used for an engraver and painter working in South Germany in the last quarter of the 15th century. He is apparently the first artist to use dry point engraving, for all of his prints. The first appellation derives from his book of drawings with watercolour, called the Housebook of the German noble family of Waldburg-Wolfegg, who still owns it. In 1999, the book was loaned to the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C. for an exhibition. [1] The majority of his remaining prints are in the print room at the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum, hence his second appellation. Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. ... Painting by Rembrandt self-portrait Detail from Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez, in which the painter portrayed himself at work For the computer graphics program, see Corel Painter. ... Drawing is one way of making an image: it is the process of making marks on a surface by applying pressure from or moving a tool on the surface. ... Watercolor is a painting technique making use of water-soluble pigments that are either transparent or opaque and are formulated with gum to bond the pigment to the paper. ... The East Building of the National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum managed by the government of the United States but privately owned, although it functions as a public institution. ... Nickname: DC, The District Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All) Location of Washington, D.C., in relation to the states Maryland and Virginia. ... The Print Room is an office in the Royal Collection Department of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ... Amsterdam Location Flag Country Netherlands Province North Holland Population 741,329 (1 August 2006) Demonym Amsterdammer Coordinates Website www. ... The Rijksmuseum Rembrandt van Rijn: The Night Watch 1642 Johannes Vermeer: Milkmaid 1658-1660 Frans Hals: Portrait of a Young Couple The Rijksmuseum (IPA: ; Dutch for National Museum) is a national museum of the Netherlands, located in Amsterdam on the Museumplein. ...

His ninety-one prints are extremely rare, with sixty surviving in one impression (copy) only, and none in more than five. It is estimated that because his prints were made using only the shallow scratched line of drypoint, only ten to twenty impressions of each could be taken before the plate wore out. Many engravings by other artists are believed to be copies of missing works by this master. In particular, Israhel van Meckenem seems to have copied more than thirty. Drypoint is a printmaking technique of the intaglio family, in which an image is incised into a plate (typically copper, zinc, or plexiglas) by scratching the surface with a hard, sharp metal point. ... Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. ... Israhel van Meckenem (also known as Israhel van Meckenem the Younger) was a German printmaker and goldsmith. ...

His work is extremely well-drawn and lively [2]. A much higher proportion shows secular subjects than is typical with artists of the period. Along with his contemporary Martin Schongauer, the Housebook Master was the leading artist making old master prints in Germany in his period. Both Schongauer and he had a considerable influence on the prints of Albrecht Dürer. He shows Netherlandish influence in the modelling of his shadows and in some of his figures. c. ... The term Old Master Print is used to describe works of art produced by a printing process within the Western tradition (European or New World). ... Self-Portrait (1500) by Albrecht Dürer, oil on canvas, Alte Pinakothek, Munich Albrecht Dürer (älbrekht dürur) (May 21, 1471 – April 6, 1528) [1] was a German painter, printmaker, mathematician, and, with Rembrandt and Goya, the greatest creator of old master prints. ...

A small number of paintings are thought to be his works also, the Gotha Pair of Lovers, the Spires Altarpiece (Berlin, Staatliche Gemäldegalerien), and the Holy Family (Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, since 2004).

It was suggested in 1937 that he should be identified with Erhard Reuwich, an artist working mostly in Mainz and Utrecht, who also worked in woodcut, but this has not yet been generally accepted, and other suggestions have been made. Mainz is a city in Germany and the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. ... Utrecht ( (help· info)) is a municipality and the capital city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. ... Four horsemen of the Apocalypse by Albrecht Dürer. ...

Literature

• J. P. Filedt Kok, The Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet, or the Housebook Master 1470-1500, Princeton Univ. Pr. 1985, ISBN 0-691-04035-4

External links

• Online feature on exhibition from the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Prints and the Housebook - best online images
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - 2 prints
• Web gallery of arts - 5 prints, four paintings (some with disputed attributions)