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Paintings After the Old Masters

About this collection

A painting after an Old Master is a period copy, a hand-painted canvas made by a trained professional of a later generation, following a composition by a named master he could study but never own.

None of these is a modern reproduction. The copies here were painted between the 17th and the 19th century, religious scenes and famous portraits after masters of several schools, one of them dated by the copyist's own hand. To understand what the word after claims and what it does not, read our guide to period copies after the Old Masters.

Eliezer offering the gold bracelet to Rebecca at the well, a dozen women with water jars before Roman architecture, oil on canvas after Nicolas Poussin

French School, circa 1800

Eliezer and Rebecca at the Well
$4,700
Ecce Homo after Correggio, Christ crowned with thorns in half length against an olive ground, oil on canvas in an antique ebonised frame

Italian School, 17th century

Ecce Homo, 1600s
$11,000
The Virgin rising with arms open, carried by five draped angels above a dark plain and a walled town, in a moulded gilt frame (after Poussin, 1881)

French School, 19th century

Assumption of the Virgin, 1881
$3,500
A man in a red coat and lace cravat under a long powdered wig, French school, in a carved gilt frame

French School, 18th century

Gentleman in a Red Coat, 1700s
$4,800

Guides · before you buy

How to Read Signatures and Inscriptions on Antique PaintingsA signature is a clue, not a verdict.Read the guideRelined, Restored, Craquelure, Understanding ConditionCraquelure is not damage and relined is not a defect.Read the guide
The Belle Jardiniere after Raphael, the Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist, oil on canvas, 19th century, in a period gilt frame

European School, 19th century

Madonna after Raphael, 1800s
$3,800
Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, after Anthony van Dyck, seated in a ruff and black cloak, 19th century oil on panel

European School, 19th century

Earl of Arundel, after van Dyck
$2,800

GalerieClub Fine Art

1,100+

paintings sold since 2017

Poppy Fields, late 1800sSold Poppy Fields, late 1800s Hagar and Ishmael, 1700sSold Hagar and Ishmael, 1700s Penitent Magdalene, 1600sSold Penitent Magdalene, 1600s

Our promise

  • Every painting photographed front and back
  • The frame you see is the frame that ships
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New paintings, by email

A note when new paintings come in. Nothing else.

Elsewhere in the gallery

Period copies after the Old Masters for sale at GalerieClub

For centuries, copying was how a painter learned his trade. Students worked in front of the great altarpieces and portraits, and trained copyists painted versions for patrons, churches and families who wanted a famous image of their own. An antique painting after an Old Master comes out of that tradition. It is an original painting of its own century, with its own hand, its own canvas and its own history.

  • Every century copied differently. A 17th century period copy was often made within a few generations of the original, while the composition was still famous and prints had spread it across Europe. In the 18th and 19th centuries, copyists worked in the great museums once they opened to the public, and a 19th century copy of an Old Master painting often shows the scale and the colour of the original as it hung on a gallery wall. Some copyists signed or dated their work, most did not.

  • Religious compositions were the most copied of all. A parish church, a convent or a private chapel that could never commission a great master could still own his image, and an antique religious painting after an Old Master carried the Virgin, the saints and the scenes of Scripture far from the altar they were painted for. Many of these copies were made to be prayed before, not to be collected.

  • A famous portrait was a model to follow. Court likenesses were copied for relatives, officials and admirers, and portraitists taught their pupils by setting them to reproduce the master's heads. An antique portrait copy after an Old Master follows the pose, the costume and the lighting of its model, while the handling belongs to the copyist. Some copies were painted on wood panel as well as canvas.

  • The word is precise. After means that a painting follows a known composition by a named master, but was painted by another hand, and it claims nothing more. Each copy here is described that way, in the cautious terms of the trade, and our guide to reading an attribution sets it beside circle of and follower of.