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Old Masters

The great painters from mid 13th century to mid 19th century

For great painters from mid 19th Century - see: New and Modern Masters

ONLY public profiles, please:

• GOTHIC - INTERNATIONAL GOTHIC - PROTO-RENAISSANCE

• Cimabue (Cenni di Peppi) (1240-1302). Frescos in the Church of S. Francesco in Assisi.
• Duccio di Buoninsegna (c.1255-1319). Greatest Sienese painter; Maestà altarpiece for Siena Cathedral
• Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337). 1st great pre-Renaissance fresco painter (Scrovegni Arena Chapel Padua).
• Simone Martini (1285-1344). Gothic painter, Siena School of painting; pupil, Giotto/Duccio di Buoninsegna.
• Jean Pucelle (c.1290-1334). French manuscript illuminator, miniaturist painter, religious books.
• Ambrogio Lorenzetti (Active 1319-48). Italian Gothic artist, Sienese School of painting.
• Pietro Lorenzetti (active 1320-45). Siena School of painting, influenced by Giotto & proto-renaissance.
• Lorenzo Monaco (Laurence the Monk) (1370-1425). Siena-born International Gothic style, in Florence.
• Masolino (1383-1440). Goldsmith-trained painter, assisted Masaccio with Brancacci chapel frescoes.
• Limbourg Brothers (fl.1390-1416). Book painters, manuscript illuminators for Jean, Duc de Berry.
• Pisanello (Antonio Pisano) (c.1394-1455). International Gothic Italian painter, medallist, portrait artist.
• Sassetta (Stefano di Giovanni) (c.1395-1450). International Gothic painter, Sienese School, noted for tempera altarpieces.
• Jean Fouquet (1420-81). Best French painter of 15th century. Brought Renaissance art to France.

• EARLY RENAISSANCE

• Gentile da Fabriano (c.1370-1427). Influential International Gothic style painter famous for Adoration of the Magi.
• Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446). Architect, engineer, sculptor; designed Dome of Florence Cathedral.
• Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455). Florentine sculptor, International Gothic and classical style; Gates of Paradise.
• Donatello (1386-1466). The greatest sculptor of the Early Renaissance.
• Paolo Uccello (1397-1475). Noted for Battle of San Romano, schematic use of perspective/foreshortening.
• Fra Angelico (c.1400-55). Religious painter, noted for frescos in San Marco convent.
• Tommaso Masaccio (1401-1428). Greatest of early Florentine painters; The Trinity; Brancacci Chapel frescos.
• Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72). Genovese architect, art-theorist; De Sculptura, Della Pittura.
• Piero della Francesca (1420-92). Italian Renaissance painter, pioneered the rules of linear perspective.
• Antonello da Messina (1430-1479). Portrait artist from Sicily; an early pioneer of oil painting.
• Andrea Mantegna (1430-1506). Renaissance master, pictures noted for mastery of perspective and detail.
• Donato Bramante (c.1444-1514). Foremost architect of High Renaissance, patronized by Pope Julius II.
• Alessandro Botticelli (1445-1510). Florentine Renaissance master, creator of La Primavera.
• Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-94). Most popular, prolific fresco painter in Florence during 1480s.

• HIGH RENAISSANCE

• Leonardo da Vinci (15/4/1452 – 2/5/1519). Greatest Renaissance oil painter/draftsman (The Last Supper, Mona Lisa).
• Michelangelo Buonarroti (6/3/1475 – 8/2/1564). Greatest Renaissance sculptor (Pieta, David) and painter, renowned for his Genesis and Last Judgement Sistine Chapel frescoes in Rome.

Virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel

• Raphael (Raffaello Santi) (28/3/1483 – 6/4/1520). Greatest Renaissance painting prodigy (see Raphael Rooms).
• Antonio Allegri da Correggio (1489-1534). Parma painter, noted for illusionistic Assumption of the Virgin frescoes and altarpiece oils. Venus and Cupid with a Satyr, Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine,

• RENAISSANCE (VENICE)

• Gentile Bellini (c.1429-1507). Noted for historical scenes of Venice and portraits of Doges.
• Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516). Noted for religious paintings, altarpieces; pioneer of luminous oil painting.
• Giorgione (1477-1510). Pioneer of the Venetian School of painting.
• Titian (c.1477-1576). Greatest Renaissance exponent of colour painting in oils and fresco. Assumption of the Virgin, Pesaro Madonna, The Venus of Urbino
• Jacopo Bassano (1515-1592). Mannerist painter noted for his portraiture and Biblical genre-painting.
• Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-1594). Major Venetian painter of monumental religious works. Tintoretto's Last Supper (1594).
• Paolo Veronese (1528-1588). One of Venice's leading colourists, noted for The Wedding at Cana.

• NORTHERN RENAISSANCE

• Robert Campin (Master of Flemalle) (c.1378-1444). Northern Renaissance artist, famous for Merode Altarpiece.
• Jan van Eyck (1390-1441). Pioneer oil painter, noted for Ghent Altarpiece and realist portraits.
• Stefan Lochner (c.1400-51). German painter of the Cologne School noted for the Three Kings Altarpiece
• Hans Memling (c.1433-94). Flemish portrait artist, religious altarpiece painter, of the Bruges School.
• Hugo Van Der Goes (1440–1482). Oil painter from Netherlands, noted for religious art like Portinari Altarpiece.
• Roger Van der Weyden (1400-1464). Dutch artist and leading religious panel-painter.
• Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516). Greatest of all medieval painters, noted for complex moralizing works.
• Matthias Grünewald (1470-1528). Noted for his intense expressionist religious paintings; Isenheim Altarpiece.
• Albrecht Dürer (21/5/1471 – 6/4/1528). Greatest painter and printmaker of the Northern Renaissance.
• Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553). Leading Renaissance painter in Germany, court portraiture.
• Albrecht Altdorfer (1480-1538). Noted for Romantic Danube School of landscape, and Battle of Issus.
• Hans Baldung Grien (1484-1545). German Renaissance artist, engraver; painted high altar in Freiburg Cathedral.
• Joachim Patenier (1485-1524). Pioneer landscape painter of the Netherlandish Renaissance.
• Hans Holbein The Younger (1497-1543). Celebrated as one of the greatest portrait painters.
• Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1525-1569). Leading Flemish artist of his day, master landscape painter.

• MANNERISM

• Jacopo Pontormo (1494-1556). Florentine fresco/oil painter; Deposition Altarpiece, San Lorenzo frescoes.
• Parmigianino (1503-40). Mannerist painter, etcher, from Parma, known for Madonna with a Long Neck.
• Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574). Painter, architect, art historian known for Lives of The Artists (1550).
• Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-93). Best-known for his bizarre Mannerist fruit & vegetable portraits.
• Giambologna (1529-1608). The hugely influential Mannerist sculptor: worked in Rome and Florence.
• El Greco (Domenikos Theotocopoulos) (1541-1614). Noted for his dazzling spiritual works and portraits.
• Caravaggio (29/9/1573 – 18/7/1610). Milanese painter noted for his figurative realism & tenebrism - caravaggism.
• Adam Elsheimer (1578-1610). Influential German landscape artist & history painter. Influenced Rubens.

• BAROQUE

• Annibale Carracci (1560-1609). Bolognese Baroque artist noted for Farnese Gallery frescos in Rome.
• Peter Paul Rubens (28/6/1577 – 30/5/1640). Foremost Baroque history painter and portraitist.
• Jusepe (Jose) de Ribera (1591-1652). Naples-based Spanish realist religious painter.
• Georges de La Tour (1593-1652). French caravaggesque painter, noted for religious & genre paintings.
• Nicolas Poussin (15/6/1594 – 19/11/1665). Possibly the greatest classical academic painter of all time.
• Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669). Greatest fresco painter of the Italian High Baroque.
• Giovanni Bernini (1598-1680). The dominant sculptor and architect of the Counter-Reformation Baroque.
• Francisco de Zurbaran (7/11/1598 – 27/8/1664). Master of chiaroscuro, noted for his religious pictures and still-lifes.
• Anthony Van Dyck (22/3/1599 – 9/12/1641). Infant prodigy, pupil of Rubens, noted for his portraits.
• Diego Velazquez (6/6/1599 – 6/8/1660). Court painter, possibly the greatest Spanish old master.
• Claude Lorrain (1600-82). Classical landscape artist, initiator of Claudean style.
• Castiglione (Il Grechetto) (1609-64). Genoa painter & etcher, founder of monotype, noted for Biblical animal scenes.
• Bartolome Esteban Murillo (1618-1682). Successful Spanish Baroque artist, religious painter, genre-scenes.

• DUTCH REALISM SCHOOL

• Frans Snyders (1579-1657). Undisputed master of Baroque still life: Antwerp school.
• Frans Hals (1582-1666). One of the greatest portraitists in post-Renaissance art.
• Hendrik Terbrugghen (1588-1629). Dutch Realist genre-painter, Utrecht school. Dutch Caravaggisti.
• Adriaen Brouwer (1605-38). Noted for his tavern genre-pictures.
• Rembrandt van Rijn (15/7/1606 – 4/10/1669). World's greatest portrait artist, noted for chiaroscuro technique.
• Jan Davidsz de Heem (1606-83). Still life artist, Utrecht/Antwerp School of Dutch Realism.
• Adriaen van Ostade (1610-85). Peasant scene artist, Haarlem school.
• David Teniers the Younger (1610-90). Dutch Realist, peasant, guardroom scenes.
• Gerard Terborch (1617-81). Haarlem school genre painter.
• Willem Kalf (1619-93). Noted for still life pictures, especially pronkstilleven and vanitas paintings.
• Aelbert Cuyp (1620-91). Dordrecht school landscape artist.
• Jan Steen (1626-79). Leiden school, tavern genre scenes, 17th century Holland.
• Samuel Van Hoogstraten (1627-78). Genre painter; interiors perspective, peep-show pictures.
• Jacob Van Ruisdael (1628-82). Haarlem school landscapes, noted for The Jewish Cemetery.
• Gabriel Metsu (1629-67). Intimate small-scale genre scenes.
• Pieter de Hooch (1629-83). Delft school of Dutch genre-painting.
• Jan Vermeer (1632-1675). Delft school Dutch genre-painter, unrecognized in his life time. The girl with the pearl earing.
• Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750). Greatest ever female flower painter, from Amsterdam.

• ROCOCO

• Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721). Noted for The Pilgrimage to the Island of Cythera and his "fetes galants".
• Giambattista Tiepolo (5/3/1696 – 27/3/1770). Known for his Würzburg Palace frescos (eg.) Allegory of the Planets and Continents.
• Canaletto (1697-1768). Famous topographical/architectural landscape painter
• Jean-Batiste Chardin (1699-1779). One of the greatest 18th century still life artists.
• Francois Boucher (1703-1770). Created "mythologie galante", Odalisque portraits, porcelain designs.
• Francesco Guardi (1712–1793). View painter (veduta) of Venice school: Impressionistic style.
• Bernardo Bellotto (1720–1780). Canaletto's nephew. Urban landscapes of Venice, Dresden, Warsaw.
• Jean-Honore Fragonard (1732-1806). Best-known for The Swing and his "figure de fantaisie" portraits.

• NEOCLASSICISM

• Jacques-Louis David (30/8/1748 – 29/9/1825). Passionate, classical-style, political master painter.
• Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780–1867). Neoclassicist exponent of "academic art."

• ROMANTICISM

• Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723 - 1792). An influential English portraits painter.
• Francisco Goya (30/3/1746 – 16/4/1828). Spanish court painter, one of the great portraitists (The Nude Maja).
• William Blake (1757-1827). Symbolist religious painter, printmaker and book illustrator.
• Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835). French Romantic painter, pupil of J-L David.