"Since Wilhelm Bode, ""The Brunswick Monogrammist"" has been used as a name of convenience to describe a painter working in the second quarter of the 16th century who specialised in the depiction of small-format, multi-figured biblical scenes and ""casual gatherings"". His name derives from his main work in the Duke Anton Ulrich Museum in Brunswick (Germany), which deals with the biblical parable of the great feast (Luke 14). The artist was probably a Dutchman and was most probably active in Antwerp. Numerous attempts were made to identify the anonymous master. But neither could it be convincingly verified that the master is actually Jan van Hemessen or Jan van Amstel, the Monogrammist could also not be identified as Allaert Claesz. or Mayken Verhulst.
In the development of landscape painting as well as in the formation of ""moral pictures"", ""The Brunswick Monogrammist"" occupies an outstanding position, which makes him an immediate precursor of Pieter Bruegel the Elder."
