The Master of 1518 was a Flemish Mannerist painter. Friedländer named him after the altarpiece of the Virgin Mary, located in the Briefkapelle of St. Mary's Church in Lübeck at the time. It bears an inscription with the date 1518 and the official stamp of the city of Antwerp. A number of works have subsequently been included in the corpus of this mysterious painter, including the Visitation (National Gallery, London), which has many similarities with the work of Joos van Cleve; an Adoration of the Magi (National Museum, Warsaw); the triptych of Dielegem Abbey, which is currently in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium; and a Virgin and Child in Cologne's Kunstgewerbemuseum. His works are characterised by elongated forms with firm angular traits, carefully studied attitudes, particularly refined fabrics and the introduction of a new plastic and spatial three-dimensionality.

In his 1966 book on Pieter Coecke van Aelst, Georges Marlier identified the Master of 1518 as the painter and art dealer Jan van Dornicke. This identification is accepted by most specialists today, although the name initially given to the artist is still used in the majority of cases.