Masterpiece Paintings and More
Posted by Susan Benford
When I attended my first art history conference after publishing 250 Masterpieces in Western Painting, I was censured by a 
feminist art historian for the term "masterpieces". At 50ish, each of us had forayed during the 1970s and 80s into male-dominated venues like business, academia and politics, to name a few. I was stunned to be labelled "anti-feminist" for use of the word "masterpiece", so on this nippy Boston day, I researched its etymology. To wit:
The Online Etymology Dictionary reports "masterpiece" is circa 1600, from master + piece, and is a translation of the Dutch word, meesterstuk, meaning "work by which a craftsman attains the rank of master". This work was completed by an apprentice, later a journeyman, who often was unpaid in his studies with a veteran.
Trade guilds stipulated that a person operating his own shop had to be first recognized as a "master" by the guild. After its approval of the piece, the artist was only then permitted to start his shop and hire apprentices. This "master piece" not only marked passage into a new business, but also became the label for an artist's finest artwork.
So a clarification is in order -- "masterpiece" refers to artwork that is the pinnacle of an artist's accomplishment, not to historical gender inequity. That's a different topic entirely!