Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance painter, scientist, inventor, and polymath. Da Vinci is one of most famous painters for his iconic Mona Lisa and Last Supper.
Botticelli (1445–1510) Italian, early Renaissance painter. His greatest works include; The Birth of Venus and Primavera.
Michelangelo (1475–1564) Renaissance sculptor, painter and architect. Famous works include the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the statue of David.
Raphael (1483–1520) Italian painter. Raphael, Da Vinci and Michelangelo make up the high Renaissance trinity. Raphael’s works are noted for their clarity and classical portrayal of the neo-platonic ideal of man.
Caravaggio (1571–1610) Italian Baroque painter. Caravaggio painted many portraits noted for their naturalism, highlighted by the innovative use of chiaroscuro (contrast of light and shadow). Notable works include: Calling of Saint Matthew and Conversion of Saint Paul.
Bernini (1598–1680) Italian Baroque sculptor and painter. Bernini is credited with creating the modern Baroque style of sculpture. His most famous commission was St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Piazza San Pietro in front of the Basilica.
Rembrandt (1606–1669) Dutch Master from the Dutch Golden Age. One of the greatest painters, admired for his vivid realism and empathy with the human condition. Rembrandt’s greatest works include Belshazzar’s Feast (1635), The Night Watch, (1642), and Bathsheba at Her Bath, (1654).
Jan Vermeer (1632–1675) Dutch painter, who specialised in genre painting, especially vivid depictions of still life. Notable works include View of Delft (1659-60), The Milkmaid (1658) and Girl with a Pearl Earring (1665).
Francisco José de Goya (1746–1828) Spanish romantic painter. Goya combined the classical style of the Old Masters with a new realism, ambiguity and imagination. Notable works include The Disasters Of War, The Nude Maja, and The Clothed Maja.
William Blake (1757–1827) English poet, painter and printmaker. Blake is considered an early romantic poet and painter, but with his very own unique style of drawings.
John M.W. Turner (1775–1851) British landscape artist. Known as the painter of light. Turner was an artistic figure from the Romantic period and one of the precursors of impressionism.
John Constable (1776–1837) English romantic painter. Constable was noted for his landscape paintings of Dedham Vale – such as Wivenhoe Park (1816), Dedham Vale (1802) and The Hay Wain (1821) – offering an idealised view of the countryside.
Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) French romantic painter. Delacroix was influential for pioneering an expressive use of colour, movement and romantic content. He was an influential artist for the later impressionists.
Camille Pissarro (1830–1903) Impressionist and post-impressionist painter. A very influential figure for both impressionists and the new generation of post-impressionist painters.
Édouard Manet (1832–1883) Manet contributed to the schools of Realism and Impressionism – playing a key role in the transformation to impressionism and modern art.
Paul Cezanne (1839–1906) French post-impressionist painter. Cezanne emerged from impressionism, developing a style known as cubism. Notable works include Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier (1893–1894), The Card Players (1890-1895) and The Bathers (1898–1905)
Claude Monet (1840–1926) French impressionist painter. It was Monet’s painting – Impression, Soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise), that led to the title of the Impressionist Movement. Monet painted many open-air scenes, such as his own garden in Giverny.
August Renoir (1841–1919) French painter, one of the early pioneers of Impressionism. Also influenced by Italian renaissance. Renoir’s paintings often celebrated city life, and also feminine sensuality. Notable works include Dance At The Moulin De La Galette, Luncheon of the Boating Party (1880) and Nude (1910).
Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) French post-impressionist painter, sculptor and ceramics maker. Gauguin experimented with many styles including primitivist, and pastoral and created a synthesis style which became a hallmark of modern art.
Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890). Dutch post-impressionist painter, who spent many years in France. Despite turbulent mental state, Van Gogh produced some of the greatest works of all time – Starry Night, Sunflowers, Bedroom in Arles, Van Gogh’s chair and The Cafe Terrace.
Edvard Munch (1863–1944) Norwegian expressionist and avant-garde painter, whose works were often on highly psychological themes. Painted The Scream (1893).
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish, modern cubist painter. Notable works include: Birds of Peace, Guernica (1937) and The Weeping Woman (1937)
Henry Moore (1898–1986) British sculptor. Best known for his reclining sculptures based on the human form, Moore contributed to a modernist style of sculpture.
Salvador Dali (1904–1989) Spanish surrealist painter, who was an imaginative and innovative artist. His works stretched across many genres, such as surrealism, cubism and dadaism. Notable works include The Persistence of Memory (1931).
David Hockney (1937– ) English modern painter. Contributed to pop art movement of the 1960s.
Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. “Famous Artist Biographies”, Oxford, www.biographyonline.net, 23/05/2014. Updated 26 June 2019.
Related
Greatest paintings of all time. Including the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci; Creation of Adam – Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo; and Poppies in a Field – Claude Monet
10 Greatest works of art of all time. Including The Pieta and The statue of David by Michelangelo; Ecstasy of St Therese by Bernini, and Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh.
10 most famous paintings – Includes famous works such as; The Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, The Scream, The Girl with a Pearl Earring.
