E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Little Masters.
A name applied to certain designers, who worked for engravers, etc., in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Called little because their designs were on a small scale, fit for copper or wood. The most famous are Jost Amman, for the minuteness of his work; Hans Burgmair, who made drawings in wood illustrative of the triumph of the Emperor Maximilian; Hans Sebald Beham; Albert Altdorfer, and Henrich Aldegraver. Albert Dürer and Lucas van Leyden made the art renowned and popular.
