Master of Paul and Barnabas (active in Antwerp 1525 - 1549)

• Was a South Netherlandish painter.

• The painter was active in Antwerp.

• The moniker of The Master of Paul and Barnabas derives from a painting on panel by Pieter Aertsen in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, representing The Miracle of Paul and Barnabas at Lystra.

• In fact, in 1976 Mary Braman Buchan suggested that Aertsen made use of an anonymous assistant for some of the figures and the background and she gives to this unknown painter the moniker to recognise him.

• The Master of Paul and Barnabas has sometimes been identified as the painter Jan Mandijn, who assisted Jan Sanders van Hemessen in painting the smaller figures in his works.

• The Master of Paul and Barnabas combined two artistic currents in his work.

• Firstly, the Flemish painterly tradition that is evident in his careful rendering of detail; secondly, the influence of Raphael, which the Master could have seen either in the artist’s cartoons, which had recently arrived in Brussels, or through a possible visit to Italy.

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