Only in the Renaissance did individual artists in Western Europe acquire personalities known by their peers (some listed by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists), such as those known by:
Il Cronaca, who never stopped talking about the ruins he had seen in Rome
Daniele da Volterra, nicknamed Il Braghettone (the breeches maker) for having censored nudes in paintings by adding cloths or branches, at the request of Pope Paul IV
A corporation, whose generic name is given to works made by all its members:
the Campionesi Masters, sculptors and builders of religious buildings (Ugo da Campione, Bonino da Campione, Giovanni da Campione, Zenone de Campione, Matteo da Campione)
20th-century problems of attribution
The idea of a named and recognised painter originated among art historians early in the 20th century, who were attributing works they recognised to known painters. They later went back on some of these attributions, renaming as anonymous the painters they had formerly named. One example is the case of Pier Francesco Fiorentino, to whom Bernard Berenson attributed a number of works which were later re-attributed to Pseudo Pier Francesco Fiorentino, a Florence copyist. Some painters have even been described as anonymous (even many times like Barthélemy Eyck) before later being recognised. They thus held several names historically (those who are noted on the page devoted to them), although doubts continue surrounding some, such as Giovanni Gaddi (after 1333 – 1383) maybe the Master of the Misericordia dell’Accademia.
Master of the Fresco of the Twelve Moons, north Italy, painter of a secular fresco of the late 14th century (1391–1407) at Trente, in a room of the Tower of Eagles of the Castello del Buonconsiglio.
In recent years the names of a variety of artists who were formerly listed as "anonymous" have become known; accordingly scholarly writings and museum labels have been changed to reflect their new identities. Much the most famous of these is the Master of Flémalle (c 1378–1445), painter of the comté de Hainaut, who was established as Robert Campin. Other examples include:
Master of 1419 – recognised as Battista di Biagio Sanguigni, having painted and dated in 1419 the central panel for a triptych executed for Santa Maria a Latera, broken up and dispersed
Barthélemy d'Eyck is the generally accepted as the painter known as the Master of the Aix Annunciation for paintings, and the Master of René of Anjou for illuminated manuscripts; he is also thought by many to be the Master of the Shadows
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