MASTER of the Avignon School
(middle of the 15th century)

Biography

French painter. The name "Master of the Avignon School" denotes a painter - one of several anonymous painters - belonging to the Avignon School.

This school is a body of late Gothic painting produced in and around the city of Avignon in southeastern France from the second half of the 14th century into the second half of the 15th. Subject to both Italian and Flemish influences - in contrast to the contemporary art of northern France, which was entirely Flemish in character - the art of Avignon, with that of nearby Aix-en-Provence and other centres in the surrounding region of Provence, represented some of the most vital developments in French Gothic painting.

The Avignon school had its beginnings during the period (1309-1377) when the papal court resided at Avignon under a series of French popes. The papal patronage attracted many artists, mainly Italians; the most prominent of these was the Sienese master Simone Martini. The most prominent 15th-century artists of the Avignon school were Enguerrand Charonton, Simon de Chalons, and Nicolas Froment.