TY - BOOK ID - 25161502 TI - A victim of anonymity : the Master of the Saint Bartholomew Altarpiece PY - 1993 VL - 25 SN - 0500550263 9780500550267 PB - London Thames & Hudson DB - UniCat KW - Master of the Saint Bartholomew Altarpiece KW - Master of the Saint Bartholomew altarpiece KW - 15th century KW - Criticism and interpretation KW - Master of the Saint Bartholomew Altarpiece, KW - Master of the Saint Bartholomew Altarpiece, - active 15th century UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:25161502 AB - Are there miscarriages of justice in art history ? Neil MacGregor believes there are. However great an artist, if his name is lost he will not receive a fair verdict from posterity. No exhibitions will be devoted to his work ; no books will be written about him ; he will not even figure in indexes. Among these neglected geniuses is the 15th century painter known only as the Master of the Saint Bartholomew Alterpiece. He may have been Netherlandish or German ; he may or may not have been a monk. On stylistic grounds an oeuvre of half a dozen paintings, three of them large altarpieces, are attributed to him, and from them a vivid, if hypothetical, personality can be built up : emotional, compassionate, observant, original, humorous. All that is certain is that he was a great painter whose name, if known, would rank with Botticelli or Holbein. In "A victim of anonymity", the director of the National Galley, London, corrects the judgement of history by demonstrating the power of this unacknowleged master. MacGregor makes us look closely at works that are all too easily passed over, showing us a peerless artist whose paintings derive their frame from nothing but their own superlative merits. ER -