old master

noun

1. an eminent artist of an earlier period, especially from the 15th to the 18th centuries.
2. a work by such an artist.

old master

noun

1. one of the great European painters of the period 1500 to 1800
2. a painting by one of these

Word History and Origins

Origin of old master¹

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

In a series of studies by a Parisian researcher and Michigan-based violin maker, violinists were essentially blindfolded and allowed to fiddle around with both old master and new, high-end instruments.

From Popular-Science

Microscopic images of modern violins and old ones showed no obvious differences in structure, although the old master violins were remarkably well-preserved relative to other aged spruce.

From Popular-Science

While rerecording her old masters, Swift has been keeping busy throughout the pandemic.

From Vox

So maybe what I've really got here is an Old Master discard being used – by me, the museum visitor – as a modern objet trouvé.

From The Daily Beast

The painting is now up in the rehung Old Master galleries at the Met.

From The Daily Beast

Instead, Costume Institute curators seem more wedded to surface appearance than any connoisseur of Old Master oils could be.

From The Daily Beast

As Old Master paintings are bent or rolled, the paint cracks and drops off.

From The Daily Beast

The Daily Pic: Li Songsong, an old master back from the future.

From The Daily Beast

It opens with a single door, the outside of which is a fine picture by some old master, representing the judgment of Solomon.

From Project Gutenberg

How many imitators of the great manipulator have looked at this growth of pine and wondered where the old master obtained it!

From Project Gutenberg

As the old master draper had never yet bid his assistant be seated in his presence, Joseph Lebas was startled.

From Project Gutenberg

In Woodbridge he married a niece of his old master, and went into partnership with her brother as corn and coal merchant.

From Project Gutenberg

He seems always anxious that his old master should know how he fared, especially hear of his success.

From Project Gutenberg