Master of Female Half-lengths. The Master of the Female Half-Lengths is the notname given to a painter, or likely a group of painters of a workshop, active in the sixteenth century.
   The name was given in the 19th century to identify the maker or makers of a body of work consisting of 67 paintings to which since 40 more have been added. The Master created female figures in genre scenes, small religious and mythological works, landscapes and portraits.
   The works attributed to the Master of the Female Half-Lengths were apparently the product of a large workshop that specialized in small-scale panels depicting aristocratic young ladies at half-length. The ladies are shown engaging in various activities such as reading, writing, or playing musical instruments.
   The women all share the same heart-shaped face and gentle demeanor. The expressions of the female figures are characterised by their sweetness and grace.
   The Master clearly expressed in these works the high artistic and moral humanistic values of the Northern Renaissance. The figures are typically placed in a wood-panelled interior or against a neutral background. Some of the women are represented with an ointment jar, the attribute of Mary Magdalene. To the Master are also attributed a few paintings of mythological subjects and copies of standardized compositions such as the Crucifixion, the Deposition, the Virgin of Sorrows, St Jerome and Lucretia. These
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