( fl first half of the 15th century). Catalan painter. The earliest work attributed to him is the damaged retable of SS John the Baptist and John the Evangelist from the chapel at Bastida, the residence of the lords of Evol, and now in the church at Evol, near Olette, west of Perpignan. The donor in the central panel can be identified from the coat of arms as Guillem de So, Vescomte d’Evol, who died in 1428. Other works attributed to the Master include the retable of St Andrew from Perpignan (New York, Cloisters), the retable of SS Justus and Pastor now in the American church in Paris and a pinnacle from an altarpiece depicting the Crucifixion (h. 1.13 m; Basle, Kstmus.). These works all show the traditions of the Serra brothers mediated through Lluis Borrassa and at the same time reflect the influence of the Master of St George and Franco-Flemish manuscript illumination. There are close links, for example, between the narrative scenes in the St Andrew retable and Borrassa’s altarpiece of St Peter (1411–13; Terrassa, S Pedro). The Master’s colours are intense and vivid, often set against gold diapered backgrounds with delicate floral motifs, and his compositions are clear and coherent, with great delicacy of detail. He also employed distinctive figure types, especially an old man with a sharp nose and a beard. In his work, ‘romantic and dramatic episodes are translated into the lively and picturesque brightness of contemporary life’ (Post). Various identifications have been proposed for the Master, including Arnau Pintor ( fl 1401–40), Bartomeu Capdevila ( fl 1411–60) and, more plausibly, Jaubert Gaucelm ( fl 1393–1434), who was apprenticed to Pedro Serra in 1393.

Part of the Masters, anonymous, and monogrammists family