arch-artist

From arch- +‎ artist

arch-artist (plural arch-artists)

1. An artist of ultimate or superior quality; a maestro.
   • 1856, L. S. Lavenu, chapter I, in Erlesmere; or, Contrasts of Character‎, volume 1, London: Smith, Elder & Co., page 3:

     But the arch-artist, Nature, had not let centuries pass idly. The western wall was clad with ivy, through which a boursault rose here and there reared its blossom aspiringly; [...]

   • 1868 September, the editors, “Michael Angelo”, in Samuel Sloan, Charles J. Lukens, editors, Sloan's Architectural Review and Builders' Journal, Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger, page 218:

     [Michelangelo] will shortly be our theme for another article or two, wherein the arch-artist will be discussed, with special reference to the history and characteristics of his great architectural works.

   • 1890 December, A.H. Morrison, “Art in Literature”, in Archibald Macmurchy, editor, The Canada Educational Monthly and School Magazine, volume 12, page 366:

     [Artists] are merely repeating nature's earliest promptings, as when first the great arch-artist moulded our pendent sphere, painted its varied surface with inimitable hues, and bid the jubilant stars, nature's first poets, sing together the morning hymns of creation.