The Master of Moulins

The Master of Moulins - The Moulins Triptych (central panel) - 1498-99 - Panel, 157 x 283 cm - Cathedral, Moulins (click photo for larger image)The Master of Moulins (active 1480-1500) was French painter considered the most important practitioner of the International Gothic Style, as it was realized in France. He was named after a triprych in Moulins Cathedral, representing the Madonna with Saints and Donors, dated c. 1498. The style of this work is quite distinctive, and has enabled a considerable oeuvre to be built up around it. The Master of Moulins' sculptural precision of form, the poise of his individual figures, his brilliant palette, the harmony of his compositions, and his taste for splendid and meticulous details make him one of the outstanding painters of his period in northern Europe. Various attempts have been made to identify the Master of Moulins with named artists, but none has met with general acceptance. In the detail featured here, the figures are ranged in symmetrical and equal masses around the Madonna, who acts as the central magnet of the composition. The accumulation of colors vibrating in the corona gives the air of a third dimension to the picture.