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The practice arose from the need to give such artists and their typically untitled, or generically titled works, an acceptable if unsatisfactory grouping, avoiding confusion when cataloging.

Linking a generically titled old master with a historical person is usually a tempting and exciting prospect, and would establish an art historian's reputation.

[4][5] In the case of 14th and early 15th-century Netherlandish, French and German painters and illuminators, the problem is particularly acute and stems from a number of factors.

Primarily, the practice of signing and dating works is rarely seen in the region until the 1420s,[6] and the inventories of collectors were uninterested in the artist's names.

[7] Many of the unidentified late 14th and early 15th-century northern artists were of the first rank, but because they have not been attached to any historical person, have suffered from academic neglect.