Master of the Housebook and Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet (last quarter of the 15th century)

• Master of the Housebook and Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet are two names used for an engraver and painter.
• Master was working in South Germany in the last quarter of the 15th century.
• He is apparently the first artist to use drypoint, a form of engraving, for all of his prints (other than woodcuts he may have designed).
• The first name derives from his book of drawings with watercolour, called the Housebook, which belonged to the German noble family of Waldburg-Wolfegg from the 17th century until 2008, when they were reported to have sold it for €20 million to a Swiss buyer.
• However, the legality of its sale for export has been challenged and, for the moment, it remains with the family.
• In 1999, the book was lent to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., for an exhibition.
• The majority of his surviving prints are in the print room at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, hence his second name.
• Most, but not all, art historians still agree that the Housebook and the prints are by the same artist.
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