Workshop of the Master of the half figures; XVI century.

Workshop of the MASTER OF HALF FIGURES (documented in the second quarter of the 16th century); 16th century.
"Lady Reading".
Oil on oak panel.
It presents restorations.
It has sealing wax seals.
Measurements: 47 x 38 x 1 cm.
This work follows the aesthetic model of the painting attributed to the Master of the female half-figures, which represents "Mary Magdalene writing". The piece was painted around 1520 and belongs to the collection of the Czartoryski Museum (Poland). Although this work also has similarities with the piece "Woman writing at a desk" which is in the Phoebus Foundation. In this particular case the young woman is presented from the front, so that she seems to share the table with the viewer of the work. Next to her is a perfumer whose regular presence in most versions led the historian Friedländer and others to suggest that the young women represented the Magdalene.
The Master of the Half-Figures is the nickname given to a painter, or more likely a group of painters in a workshop, active in the Netherlands in the early 16th century. The name was established in the 19th century to identify the author(s) of a body of work consisting of 67 paintings to which another 40 have since been added. The Master created female figures in genre scenes, small religious and mythological works, landscapes and portraits. Also attributed to the Master are some paintings of mythological subjects and copies of standardized compositions such as the Crucifixion, the Deposition, the Virgin of Sorrows, St. Jerome and Lucretia. These religious paintings are characterized by the prominence of landscape scenes and small figures. The workshop character of the production of these paintings, which is manifested in the repetition of motifs and compositions, and the absence of indications about their patronage or destination point to a production destined mainly for the free market and export. Some portraits have also been attributed to him.
There is no agreement on the identity of the Master nor on the place and period of his activity. Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Mechelen and the French court have been proposed as the locations of his workshop. Estimates of his period of activity vary from the beginning to the end of the 16th century. In general, it is believed that the master was active in the early 16th century. The art historian Otto Benesch proposed to identify him with the Bruges artist named Jan or Hans Vereycke. This identification has not found universal support among art historians.
Some art historians have argued that the artist must have worked in Antwerp or Mechelen in the 1520s and 1530s, since the Master's landscapes approximate those of Joachim Patinir and the female types resemble those of Bernard van Orley. Certain similarities have also been noted between the Master's work and that of the Bruges artists Ambrosius Benson and Adriaen Isenbrant. Although his figures show affinity to those of Isenbrant, who worked in Bruges, it is more likely that the Master worked in Antwerp. The reasons are that he seems to have worked mainly for the export trade, for which Antwerp was then the main center of Flanders, and that his landscapes were based on those of Joachim Patinir. A similarity has also been noted between the Master's figures and those of another anonymous painter active in Antwerp, known as the Parrot Master.
Apparently, the works attributed to the Master are the result of a large workshop specializing in small-format panels depicting half-length aristocratic ladies. All the women have the same heart-shaped face and gentle demeanor. The expressions of the female figures are characterized by sweetness and grace.