10 most famous Italian painters – top of the greatest Italian painters of all time
The 10 most famous Italian artists are a unique consonance of the names of the brilliant masters of painting, who gave the world many masterpieces. Each of the Italian artists mentioned below has earned the recognition and fame not only of his contemporaries, but also of many generations of descendants.
The most famous Italian artists belong to different historical eras, and their work spans a huge period of more than 300 years: from the Proto-Renaissance to the Baroque. For some of the heroes of our article, fate measured out a long and happy life, while others died in their prime, being young people. Read below about the contribution each of them made to world painting.
Giotto di Bondone
The greatest merit of Giotto lies in the fact that he was the first European artist to invent and began to use the technique of volumetric space in the creation of paintings and frescoes. He decisively abandoned the Byzantine traditions of painting and made the heroes of his works more like living people. As a result, Giotto became a cult figure in Italian painting for several centuries, and his work had a huge impact on many subsequent generations of artists.
Masaccio
This genius of the Early Renaissance lived on Earth for less than 27 years, but managed to create many beautiful works of art on religious themes. Masaccio introduced the revolutionary technique of linear perspective into Italian painting, thanks to which his paintings acquired an extraordinary plastic expressiveness. The artist”s work was admired by the best masters of the High Renaissance, including the greats da Vinci and Michelangelo.
Sandro Botticelli
World fame Sandro Botticelli brought the painting “The Birth of Venus”, which for more than 500 years has been considered the standard of the mythological genre. Botticelli is recognized by most connoisseurs as the greatest artist of the early Renaissance, and his works are distinguished by an amazing plasticity of lines with a harmony of plot.
Leonardo da Vinci
The author of the famous “La Gioconda” and “Vitruvian Man” was not only a brilliant artist, but also the greatest humanist of his era, as well as a scientist and inventor. He invented a technique for softening the outlines of objects – sfumato. Which revolutionized European painting and glorified him all over the world. Da Vinci left to posterity many paintings and drawings, as well as mysterious diaries with records of his own ideas in various scientific disciplines.
Michelangelo
Michelangelo is rightfully considered the greatest sculptor of all times in Italy, although there are many paintings in his creative heritage. The unique painting of the vault of the Sistine Chapel still amazes the audience with the splendor of artistic images created on the biblical theme, and the five-meter statue of “David” is an ideal example of a naked male body. Michelangelo was a daring and innovative artist, as well as an excellent architect, philosopher and poet.
Giorgione
In the work of Giorgione, a special place is occupied by the landscape, which for the artist was not only a background, but also an important part of the composition. In his paintings, one can clearly see the organic fusion of the human figure with the surrounding world and the unique tonal unity of the plot. Giorgione also became famous for his lyrical portraits of his contemporaries, and his famous painting “Sleeping Venus” is still recognized by viewers and critics as a masterpiece of the nude genre in art.
Raphael
Unfortunately, the great Raphael was destined to live on Earth for only 37 years, but he managed to leave to descendants a huge number of wonderful works. Most often, the artist turned in his work to the image of the Madonna and very successfully painted pictures depicting the Virgin and Child. The most famous work of the master: “The Sistine Madonna”. It is widely known by critics as the pinnacle of the heritage of the entire Italian High Renaissance and the best example of academic painting of all time.
Titian
The most famous Venetian artist, already at the age of thirty, acquired the fame of the best artist in the republic. During his long life, Titian painted many paintings on religious and mythological themes. Also created a large number of magnificent portraits. Skillful allegories filled with all kinds of symbols occupy a special place in the master”s work. When painting the paintings, the master used not only a brush, but also his own fingers, achieving an amazing airiness of the images.
Tintoretto
Tintoretto”s works are distinguished by the unique color scheme of images and the dynamism of the characters. In his work, he often turned to writing multi-figured dramatic compositions on biblical themes. Tintoretto boldly used perspective in his works. His contemporaries admired the tremendous speed of creating paintings by a skilled master. According to many critics, this artist, long before the appearance of the Baroque style, became its first prominent representative in painting.
Caravaggio
The ingenious Caravaggio was born at the end of the Renaissance and painted his paintings in the Baroque style. He became widely known for the unique style of painting Chiaroscuro with a sharp contrast between light and shadow, which was admired by Rubens, Rembrandt and Velázquez. Caravaggio led a riotous life and was often in conflict with the law, but he was a sought-after artist. He proved himself not only as a master of the religious genre, but also left to posterity many paintings on everyday topics.
The cohort of famous Italian artists includes many more than ten masters, to whom our article is devoted. For many centuries, Italy has given the world a lot of fine art geniuses. Among them there are representatives of different genres, styles and historical eras that deserve mention.
The works of most famous Italian painters are highly regarded in the art world. Most of them nowadays occupy an honorable place in the expositions of museums and private collections. And a few works put up for auction at art auctions invariably arouse the interest of buyers. They were sold for huge sums of money. Fortunately, today connoisseurs of beauty have a unique opportunity to see ancient masterpieces of painters both online on the Internet and live in the halls of museums.
