TOP 30 RENAISSANCE ARTISTS - ART - 2025

Discover the most outstanding Renaissance artists from one of the most glorious eras in terms of painting, sculpture or music. This splendor has the signature of important names such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Titian or Botticelli. Do you dare to discover the rest of the members of this top?

The Renaissance was a dynamic, rich and vibrant time in Europe, which ran from the 14th to the 17th century. With this began a cultural movement originating in Italy and which soon spread to the rest of Europe.

Top 30 most important Renaissance artists

Leonardo da Vinci

He was born in Vinci, Italy, on April 15, 1452 and died on May 2, 1519. Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci is known throughout the world as a great thinker, architect, mathematician, musician, sculptor, engineer, inventor, anatomist and writer.

Da Vinci is regarded as a true Renaissance man and is revered today for his artistic contributions that define and shape the art world, as well as for his countless remarkable achievements in other fields.

Only about fifteen of his paintings survived and the 'Mona Lisa' is undoubtedly the best known and most valuable.

Miguel Angel

He was born on March 6, 1475 in Florence, Italy and his death was announced on February 18, 1564.

Michelangelo Buonarroti, popularly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet, considered one of the greatest artists of the high Renaissance period.

Two of his most important early works were the statues of "Pieta" and "David". Later, he was commissioned by Pope Julius II to design his tomb, a project he worked on for four decades.

After being widely recognized for his sculpted works, he was commissioned to design the ceiling for the Sistine Chapel in Rome, a project that fueled his imagination to produce one of the most influential works in the history of Western art.

Raphael

Raphael, also known as Raffaello Sanzio de Urbino, was a painter and architect born in Urbino, Italy, on April 6, 1483, and died in Rome on April 6, 1520.

He was one of the main figures of the High Renaissance. A very prolific artist who left behind a huge collection of paintings at the time of his untimely death at the age of 37. He is best known for his paintings of the Madonna (the Virgin Mary) and for his large compositions of figures in the Vatican palace in Rome.

Encouraged by his father, he began painting at an early age and placed himself under the training of the teacher Pedro Perugino Umbría. However, life took a major blow when his parents died leaving him orphaned at the age of 11.

He gained much acclaim as an artist during his lifetime, and together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, they form the traditional Trinity of great Renaissance masters.

Jean Fouquet

He was born in France in Tours, France, in the year 1420 and died in 1481. Considered an expert in panel painting, he is believed to be the inventor of the portrait miniature.

He traveled to Italy where he observed the works of other artists and experienced the influence of the Italian Renaissance which he applied upon his return with a unique style.

A workshop was opened which became a great success and received commissions from nobles and royalty. King Charles VII was one of his clients and his successor King Louis XI appointed Fouquet the official court painter.

Masaccio

He was born in San Giovanni Valdarno, Italy, on December 21, 1401, and died in 1428.

Tommaso di Giovanni di Simone Guidi, nicknamed Masaccio, was one of the most important painters of the early 15th century and the most important painter of the Quattocentro era of the Renaissance.

Masaccio was the first painter to use painting techniques such as "vanishing point" and "linear perspective", as well as being an expert in causing a three-dimensional effect in some of his paintings.

Masaccio's most famous works include "Holy Trinity", "San Giovenale Triptych" and "Expulsion from the Garden of Eden", among others. Generations of painters including Michelangelo were inspired by his work.

Pontormo

Pontormo, was born on May 24, 1494 in Empoli, Italy, as Jacopo Carucci.

He was an Italian painter who went on to become one of the great figures of the Florentine Renaissance in the 16th century.

His work was famous for the expressions of the figures, the poses, as well as the fact that the figures often seemed to float. Many of his paintings were lost or damaged, but others are housed in museums and churches in different parts of the world.

Giovanni bellini

He was born in Venice, Italy, in 1430 and his death was announced on November 29, 1516.

He was an Italian Renaissance painter whose long and successful career was noted from Quattrocento styles and eventually took off into more advanced post-Giorgione styles.

He was the descendant of a famous Venetian artistic family, the "Bellini", considered among the most successful and famous painters in the Venetian artistic milieu, including his father Jacopo Bellini, who remains one of the most prominent artists of the early Renaissance.

Her oil paintings are vibrant and sensual with detailed, open-air nuances such that a viewer can imagine the season as well as the time of day from her creations.

The first two decades of his career were inclined towards conventional religious themes, such as "Saint Jerome in the desert", "Crucifixions", "The blood of the Redeemer", among others.

Although some of his important works were lost over time or destroyed by fire, some of his revered pieces such as the "Feast of the Gods" and "San Giobbe Retablo" still exist.

Sandro Botticelli

He was born in Florence in 1445 and died in the same city around May 17, 1510.

Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, popularly known as Sandro Botticelli, was a prominent painter and artist of the “Florentine school”.

Some of his finest works include "The Birth of Venus", "Mystical Nativity", "Venus and Mars" or "Spring".

He also made some of the frescoes in the "Sistine Chapel". His work received royal recognition only after the late 19th century, when his work was seen as some of the best pieces of early Renaissance art by different groups such as the "Pre-Raphaelites."

Tintoretto

Jacopo Comin, better known as Tintoretto, was born on September 29, 1518 in Venice, Italy, and died on May 31, 1594 in the same city.

He was a famous Italian painter and an important defender of the Renaissance school. His work is marked above all with muscular characters, surprising and theatrical gestures.

He was considered one of the most notable Venetian painters of the 16th century after Titian. His study was decorated with the inscription: "The design of Michelangelo and the color of Titian."

His notable works include "The Last Supper", "Paradise", "Susanna and the Old Men", "Vulcan Venus Surprising and Mars", "The Law and the Golden Calf", "Saint Mark", "The Rescue of the Slave ”And“ Christ and the adulteress ”. He was also called Jacopo Robusti in his young age,

Titian or Titian

He was born in Pieve di Cadore, Italy, in 1488 and died on August 27, 1576 in Venice.

He was a versatile Italian painter and an important member of the 16th century Venetian school. It profoundly influenced the development of Renaissance art. His impact was so profound that future generations of Western artists were influenced by his techniques.

One of his first masterpieces was the "Assumption of the Virgin", others were inspired by mythology such as "Venus and Adonis" and "Venus and the lute player".

Donatello

Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi, was born in 1386 in Florence, Italy, and died on December 13, 1466 in the same city. He was considered a master of sculpture, both in marble and bronze and one of the greatest Italian Renaissance.

Filippo Brunelleschi

Filippo Brunelleschi was born in 1377 in Florence, Italy, and died on April 15, 1446 in the same city.

He was one of the pioneers of Italian architecture in the early Renaissance. His main work is the dome of the Cathedral of Santa María del Fiore (Duomo) in Florence (1420-1436), built with the help of machines that he himself invented for this project.

Giorgio vasari

He was born on July 30, 1511 in Arezzo, Italy, and died on June 27, 1574 in Florence.

He was an Italian painter, architect, and writer, known for his important biographies of Italian Renaissance artists.

When he was still a child, Vasari was a pupil of Guillermo de Marcillat, but his training was decisive in Florence, where he enjoyed the friendship and patronage of the Medici family. He became a lifelong admirer of Michelangelo.

Giotto

Giotto di Bondone was born in 1266 in Vespignano, near Florence, Italy, and died on January 8, 1337 in the same city.

He is considered the most important Italian painter of the 14th century, and for almost seven centuries Giotto has been revered as the father of painting in Europe and the first of the great Italian masters. It is believed that he was a student of the Florentine painter Cimabue and that he decorated some chapels in Assisi, Rome, Florence, Naples and Padua.

Lorenzo Ghiberti

He was born in 1378 in Pelago, Italy, and died on December 1, 1455 in Florence.

Sculptor of the "Gates of Paradise" of the Baptistery of the Florence Cathedral, considered one of the greatest masterpieces of Italian art in the Quattrocento.

Other works include three bronze statues for Orsanmichele (1416-1425), and the reliefs for the Siena Cathedral (1417-1427). Ghiberti also wrote "I Commentari", three treatises on the history of art and the theory of antiquity of his time.

Giorgione

Also known as Giorgio da Castelfranco, he was born in 1477 in Castelfranco Veneto, Italy, and died on November 7, 1510.

He was a very influential Italian painter, considered one of the initiators of the High Renaissance. His qualities of humor and mystery were personified in "The Tempest", a suggestive pastoral scene. Another of his works was "The Adoration of the Shepherds."

Nothing is really known about Giorgione's personal life, except the legends reported by the Mannerist biographer and artist Giorgio Vasari.

Fra Angelico

In Italian Fra Angelico means Angelic Brother, although his original name was Guido di Pietro. He was born in 1400 in Florence, Italy, and died on February 18, 1455 in Rome.

He was one of the greatest painters of the 15th century, whose works from the early Renaissance embody a serene religious attitude and reflect a strong classical influence.

A large number of works executed during his career are altarpieces and frescoes from the church and convent of San Marco in Florence, which he made while he was living there.

Paolo uccello

His original name is Paolo di Dono, he was born in 1397 in Pratovecchio and died on December 10, 1475 in Florence.

He was a Florentine painter who tried to reconcile two styles, the late Gothic and the new style of the heroic of the early Renaissance. Probably his most famous paintings are three panels depicting the battle of San Romano.

Filippo Lippi

He was born in Florence in 1406 and died in October 1469. He was a painter of the second generation of Renaissance artists. His works show a strong influence from Masaccio (for example "The Virgin and Child") and Fra Angelico in "The Coronation of the Virgin". His works achieve a distinctive clarity of expression.

Paolo Veronese

His real name was Paolo Caliari; He was born in Verona in 1528 and died on April 9, 1588 in Venice. He is considered as one of the leading painters of the 16th century Venetian school.

His works are usually huge canvases depicting allegorical, biblical or historical themes. He was a master in the use of color, he was also noted for his illusory compositions that seem to extend to the eyes beyond the real limits of the room.

Antonio Allegri

His nickname was Correggio, he was born in August 1494 in Correggio, Italy, and died in the same city on March 5, 1534.

He is known as the most important painter of the Parma school in the Renaissance. At the beginning, his most important works were the ceiling of the convent of San Pablo, the frescoes of San Juan Evangelista and the Cathedral of Parma.

One of his best paintings is "The mystical marriage of Santa Catalina." Her final works were influenced by the style of many Baroque and Rococo artists.

Michelozzo

Michelozzo di Bartolomeo was born in Florence in 1396 and died in 1472 in the same city.

He was a well-known architect and sculptor, notable in the development of Florentine Renaissance architecture. He studied with the prominent sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti. He collaborated in the "San Mateo" of the Church of San Miguel in Florence. He also built several architectural-sculptural tombs.

Benvenuto Cellini

He was born on November 1, 1500 in Florence and died on February 13, 1571 in the same city. It is known as one of the most picturesque figures of the Renaissance.

Cellini, resisting his father's efforts to train him as a musician, apprenticed in the studio of the Florentine goldsmith Andrea di Sandro Marcone, for which he later became a prominent Florentine sculptor, as well as a goldsmith and writer.

Jan van Eyck

He was born before 1395 in Maaseik, Bishopric of Liege, and died before July 9, 1441 in Bruges. He was a Dutch painter who perfected the technique of oil painting. His paintings were on naturalistic tables, mostly portraits and religious subjects.

He used religious symbols in disguise extensively. His masterpiece is the Ghent Cathedral altarpiece "The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb" (also called the Ghent Altarpiece).

Andrea del Sarto

Her original name is Andrea d'Agnolo. He was born on July 16, 1486 in Florence and died before September 29, 1530 in the same city.

Italian painter and draftsman whose works of exquisite composition and fabrication played a decisive role in the development of Florentine mannerism. One of his most notable works was the series of frescoes on the life of Saint John the Baptist in the Chiostro dello Scalzo.

Antonio Moro

His original name is Antoon or Anthonius, he was born in 1520 in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and died between April 17, 1576 and May 12, 1577 in Antwerp.

After making a professional visit to Italy, he began painting portraits in the style of Hans Holbein. His rise to eminence was rapid. In 1552 he was invited to Madrid by the Emperor Charles V, and in 1554 he was already in London painting the portrait of Queen Mary.

Benozzo gozzoli

Also called Benozzo di Lese, he was born in 1421 in Florence and died on October 4, 1497 in Pistoia.

He was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance, whose masterpiece is a cycle of frescoes in the chapel of the Medici-Riccardi Palace in Florence, which reveals his new interest in nature and in the representation of human characteristics as the definitive portrait.

Sofonisba Anguissola

He was born in Cremona, Italy, in the year 1532 and died in November 1625 in Palermo.

She was one of the first known female artists and one of the first female artists to establish an international reputation. It was unusual among female painters of her time, as her father was a nobleman rather than a painter.

At least 50 works are attributed to him that can be seen in Madrid, Milan, Naples, Florence, Siena, Budapest, and Bergamo.

Il Pisanello

His original name was Antonio Pisano. He was born in 1395 in the city of Pisa and died in 1455.

He was a well-known Italian medalist and painter, exponent of the Gothic style. It is believed that he was a student of Stefano da Zevio, a Veronese artist.

Pisanello collaborated with Gentile da Fabriano on the frescoes of the Doge's Palace in Venice and on Saint John Lateran in Rome. After Gentile's death, Pisanello was probably the one who completed the Roman frescoes.

Jean Clouet

Also known as Janet or Jehannet, she was born in 1485 and died in Paris in 1540. Although she lived in France for most of her life, it is believed that she was not French.

It was characterized by its depth and delicacy. He was one of the main painters of Francisco I, and already in 1516 he enjoyed a social position and a salary granted to the most outstanding poets and scholars of the time.

References

1. Artistic patronage in Renaissance Italy. Mary Hollingsworth (2002).
2. The artistic environment in the Florence of the Renaissance. Martin Wackernagel (1997).
3. The Art of the Renaissance. Peter Murray; Linda Murray Praeger (1963).
4. The Renaissance Artist at Work: From Pisano to Titian. Bruce Cole Westview Press (1983).