Biography

North Netherlandish engraver. The master, whose prints are signed with the monogram IA or IAM and usually the place name Zwoll(e), was the most original 15th-century engraver in the northern Netherlands. The maker's mark, which is worked into the monogram on a number of prints, makes the identification with the painter Jan van den Mijnnesten (d. 1504) very likely; the latter was frequently recorded in Zwolle between 1462 and 1504, but none of his works is known. Many of the Master's prints include the sign of a drill that was used for working on silver: this may indicate that they were engraved by a goldsmith after the painter's designs.