Joachim Patinir | Renaissance painter

Joachim Patinir, in full Joachim de Patinir, Patinir also spelled Patinier or Patenier, (1485, Bouvignes or Dinan, Namur, Belgium - October 5, 1524, Antwerp), Flemish painter, the first Western artist known to have specialized in landscape painting.

Little is known of his early life, but his work reflects an early knowledge of the painting of Gerard David, the last of the Early Netherlandish painters.

He may have studied under Hiëronymus Bosch, the painter of fantastic allegories and landscapes.

Michelangelo | Cappella Paolina, Vaticano

The Cappella Paolina (the Pauline Chapel) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, Vatican City.

It is separated from the Sistine Chapel by the Sala Regia.

It is not on any of the regular tourist itineraries.

Michelangelo's two frescoes in the Cappella Paolina, The Conversion of Saul and The Crucifixion of St Peter were painted from 1542 to 1549, the height of his fame, but were widely viewed as disappointments and even failures by their contemporary audience.

Michelangelo's Crucifixion of Saint Peter

Leonardo and Michelangelo: The 1504 Duel in Florence

The "duel" between Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti refers to a legendary artistic competition, when the Florentine Republic commissioned both masters to paint massive, opposing battle frescoes in the Palazzo Vecchio Grand Hall of the Five Hundred.

In 1504, Michelangelo Buonarroti was commissioned by Pier Soderini to complete a celebrative fresco depicting the Battle of Cascina, to be placed in the Florentine Room of the Great Council (or Salone dei Cinquecento) of Palazzo Vecchio while Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to complete another painting on the opposite wall to celebrate the equally important Florentine victory at the 1440 Battle of Anghiari, effectively pitting the two rivals against one another.

Leonardo da Vinci | Study of a Warrior's Head for the Battle of Anghiari, 1504-1505 | Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Paolo Fiammingo | Mannerist painter

Pauwels Franck - known in Italy as Paolo Fiammingo and Paolo dei Franceschi (1540-1596), was a Flemish painter, mainly of landscapes with mythological and religious scenes, who was active in Venice for most of his life.

He was likely born c. 1540 but his birthplace is not known. He became a member of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1561.

He is recorded in Venice from 1573 but was likely an assistant in Tintoretto’s workshop there already in the 1560s.

He worked in Venice for the rest of his career.

Matthias Grünewald | Altare di Issenheim, 1512-1516

L'Altare di Isenheim (o Issenheim, secondo la denominazione francese della città alsaziana) costituisce l'opera più importante eseguita da Matthias Grünewald (1475-1528), uno dei più importanti pittori Tedeschi, noto per la drammaticità visionaria con cui ha affrontato temi di carattere religioso.

Si tratta di una sorprendente "macchina di altare" fatta di ante fisse ed ante rimovibili, che possono assumere tre diverse configurazioni.

Committente dell'opera fu l'abate del monastero di Issenheim, Guido Guersi.

Essa era destinata alla preghiera dei monaci antoniani e dei tanti malati (soprattutto quelli sofferenti del "Fuoco di Sant'Antonio") che venivano pietosamente accolti nel monastero.

Giorgio Vasari: "Vita di Sandro Botticello - Pittor Fiorentino"

Ne’ medesimi tempi del Magnifico Lorenzo Vecchio de’ Medici, che fu veramente per le persone d’ingegno un secol d’oro, fiorì ancora Alessandro, chiamato a l’uso nostro Sandro e detto di Botticello per la cagione che appresso vedremo.

Costui fu figliuolo di Mariano Filipepi, cittadino fiorentino dal quale diligentemente allevato e fatto instruire in tutte quelle cose che usanza è di insegnarsi a’ fanciulli in quella età, prima che e’ si ponghino a le botteghe, ancora che agevolmente apprendesse tutto quello che e’ voleva, era nientedimanco inquieto sempre; né si contentava di scuola alcuna, di leggere, di scrivere o di abbaco; di maniera che il padre infastidito di questo cervello sì stravagante, per disperato lo pose a lo orefice con un suo compare chiamato Botticello, assai competente maestro allora in quell’arte.

Boccaccio Boccaccino | Early Renaissance painter

Boccaccio Boccaccino (1467-1525) was a painter of the early Italian Renaissance, belonging to the Emilian school. He is profiled in Vasari's "Le Vite delle più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori" (or, in English, Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects).

He was born in Ferrara and studied there, probably under Domenico Panetti.

Few facts of his life are known.

Bartolomeo Veneto | High Renaissance painter

Bartolomeo Veneto (1502-1555) was an Italian painter who worked in Venice, the Veneto and Lombardy.

During his time in Venice, he studied under Gentile Bellini.

The little information available about Bartolomeo's life has been derived from his signatures, dates, and inscriptions.

His best known works are portraits or pictures with portrait-like character.

Bartolomeo's later works, and especially those done on commission in Milan, indicate an influence from the artist Leonardo da Vinci.

Ilian Rachov, 1970 | Baroque Era style painter

Born in Sofia, Bulgaria, Ilian Rachov starts his artistic career like self-taught man in 1988 realizing copies of medieval orthodox icons and frescoes, re-discovering ancient techniques of gilding methods and how to engrave after the golden backgrounds of the icons.

His personal elaboration of that kind of old techniques and his modern view of this very antique art helps him to develop an own personal and unmistakable style in the iconography field.

Carlo Crivelli | Santa Maria Maddalena, 1480

With Carlo Crivelli, the so-called "International Gothic" style experienced its final flowering in Italy.

This perfectly preserved panel was painted towards the end of his career.

It served as the altarpiece of a provincial church dedicated to Mary Magdalene in the sparsely populated rural area of the Marches where Crivelli lived. | Source: © Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Carlo Crivelli | Mary Magdalene, 1480 | Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Narcissus by Boltraffio and after Boltraffio, 1500-1510

Narcissus at the Fountain is a 1500-1510 oil-on-panel painting by Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, now in the Uffizi, in Florence.

A copy is held in the National Gallery, London.

Both works show a young man in profile, interpreted as Narcissus due to his downward gaze.

Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio | Narcissus at the Fountain | Uffizi Gallery, Florence

15th-16th century Art | Sitemap

The 15th and 16th centuries saw the flowering of the Renaissance, a period of renewed interest in classical antiquity that emphasized humanism, naturalism, and the development of new artistic techniques.

It began in Italy and later spread throughout Europe, with distinct regional styles and priorities.

Key periods

The Early Renaissance (15th century)

Originating in Florence, the Early Renaissance, or Quattrocento, established the foundations for the later High Renaissance.

Masaccio (1401-1428): Credited with popularizing linear perspective and creating realistic figures with solidity and emotion.

Donatello (1386-1466): His bronze David was the first free-standing nude sculpture since antiquity, demonstrating classical influence.

Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510): Known for elegant mythological paintings like The Birth of Venus and Primavera.

Jan van Eyck (1390-1441): A pioneer of the Northern Renaissance who mastered oil painting and meticulous detail, as seen in The Arnolfini Portrait.

Botticelli | Venus and Mars, 1483

Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio | The Virgin and Child, 1493-1499

A grave, statuesque young woman gazes down at a positively enormous child, who lies sideways across her lap.

Her deep red gown is open to reveal her breast, which she offers to her son - though he seems uninterested.

He turns his head away from his mother to look out at the viewer, while playing with the beads which dangle from her scarf.

We know from their delicate haloes that these are the Virgin Mary and infant Christ, but this is a very modern Mary, painted in a newly realistic manner.

Boltraffio (Milan, 1467-1516) was Leonardo da Vinci’s most gifted pupil, and imitated his master in style and technique.

Michelangelo | Bacchus, 1496-1497

Bacchus (1496-1497) is a marble sculpture by the Italian High Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect and poet Michelangelo Buonarroti.

The statue is somewhat over life-size and depicts Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, in a reeling pose suggestive of drunkenness.

Commissioned by Raffaele Riario, a high-ranking Cardinal and collector of antique sculpture, it was rejected by him and was bought instead by Jacopo Galli, Riario’s banker and a friend to Michelangelo.

Along with the Pietà the Bacchus is one of only two surviving sculptures from the artist's first period in Rome.

Cappella Sistina | La Volta di Michelangelo, 1508-1512

"Senza aver visto la Cappella Sistina non è possibile formare un'idea apprezzabile di cosa un uomo solo sia in grado di ottenere" - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

La decisione di Giulio II di rifare integralmente la decorazione della volta fu probabilmente dovuta ai gravi problemi di natura statica che interessarono la Sistina fin dai primi anni del suo pontificato (1503-1513).

Essi dovettero essere la conseguenza degli scavi eseguiti sia a nord che a sud dell’edificio per la costruzione della Torre Borgia e del nuovo San Pietro.

Dopo che nel maggio del 1504, una lunga crepa si aprì nella volta, fu incaricato Bramante, allora architetto di Palazzo, di porvi rimedio, il quale mise in opera alcune catene nel locale soprastante la Cappella.

Caravaggio and the birth of Baroque

Italian Renaissance painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) "put the oscuro (shadows) into chiaroscuro".

Chiaroscuro was practised long before he came on the scene, but it was Caravaggio who made the technique a dominant stylistic element, darkening the shadows and transfixing the subject in a blinding shaft of light.

Correggio | Jupiter and Io, 1530

Jupiter and Io is a painting by the Italian late Renaissance artist Antonio Allegri da Correggio (1489-1534).

It is part of the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna, Austria.

History

The series of Jupiter's Loves was conceived after the success of Venus and Cupid with a Satyr. Correggio painted four canvasses in total, although others had been programmed perhaps.

Master of the Story of Griselda | Artemisia, 1498

"Artemisia" - Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milano (Lombardia, Italy) - attributed to an anonymous Sienese master, known conventionally as the Master of the story of Griselda.

The Master of the Griselda Story is named from set of paintings which relate the story of Patient Griselda.

Other paintings have been ascribed to him.

The style is typical of Sienese art in the late fifteenth century and reflects the manner of Luca Signorelli.

His figures are notable for their elongated limbs, almost dancing motion and great elegance.

Master of the Female Half-Lengths | Renaissance painter

The Master of the Female Half-Lengths, active ca.1530-1540, was a Dutch Northern Renaissance painter* or likely a group of painters of a workshop.

The name was given in the 19th century to identify the maker or makers of a body of work consisting of 67 paintings to which since 40 more have been added.

The works were apparently the product of a large workshop that specialized in small-scale panels depicting aristocratic young ladies at half-length.

Pontormo | Mannerist painter

Jacopo da Pontormo, original name Jacopo Carrucci (born May 24, 1494, Pontormo, near Empoli, Republic of Florence (Italy)-buried Jan. 2, 1557, Florence) Florentine painter who broke away from High Renaissance classicism to create a more personal, expressive style that is sometimes classified as early Mannerism.

Pontormo was the son of Bartolommeo Carrucci, a painter. According to the biographer Giorgio Vasari, he was apprenticed to Leonardo da Vinci and afterward to Mariotto Albertinelli and Piero di Cosimo.