( fl ?Lower Rhine, c. 1480–90). German engraver. The initials B and R, with a trademark in the form of an anchor between them, are found on 17 rare engravings. They comprise both religious subjects (influenced by Martin Schongauer) and secular, for example satires on rustic life (Lehrs, 1927, nos 11–12). The Master’s best-known engraving is the Chess-game between Death and the King (L 16), an allegory on the transience of the human condition. His portrait of Emperor Frederick III (L 17), of which only one example survives, is thought to be the earliest engraved portrait of a ruler.

Part of the Masters, anonymous, and monogrammists family