15 Most Famous Italian Painters Whose Paintings You Can’t Miss

Want to know who the most famous Italian painters are? You’ve come to the right place as I’ll also be talking about their most famous paintings!

Many things come to mind when you think about Italy but one thing that stands out is its stunning artwork that can be found in churches, museums, and galleries throughout the country.

Italian painters have had a big influence on art throughout the entire world and when you visit the country, you will see why.

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After the Roman Empire collapsed, the amazing art that had been produced during that time temporarily disappeared and was not revived until the late 13^th century when Renaissance art took hold of the country.

To this day, Italian paintings are considered to be some of the most famous in the world.

If you are interested in discovering Italian art but aren’t sure where to start or which artists to look out for, don’t worry, I am here to help.

In this article, I will be sharing 15 of the most famous Italian painters, their style, and where you can view their paintings both in Italy and in other parts of the world.

Famous Italian Painters

You might be familiar with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo but there are several other Italian famous painters whose works are equally outstanding! Read on to find out who they are!

1. Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519)

The first person on this list of the most famous Italian painters is Leonardo da Vinci, which is not surprising considering he was a man of many talents.

Not only was he a Renaissance painter but he had an avid interest in science and engineering, and some of his inventions were way ahead of his time.

When it comes to his artwork, his most famous painting is the Mona Lisa, a masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance which is housed in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The Mona Lisa’s mysterious half-smile and disputed identity captured the interest of many people over the years, further cementing Leonardo’s status as one of the most talented painters from Italy.

But way before he became one of the most famous Italian artists, Da Vinci showed talent as an artist even as a child! At the age of 14, he started studying painting under Andrea del Verrocchio, a Florentine painter and sculptor.

Although his career started in Florence, he spread his wings to Milan (you can even visit his vineyard in Milan known as Leonardo da Vinci’s Vineyard) and later in France at the invitation of King Francis I, which is how the Mona Lisa painting made its way to France.

Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most famous Italian painters in history and was considered a genius even by his contemporaries.

He had a great talent for creating depth and perspective in his artwork as well as using light and shadow to produce a lifelike painting.

Besides the Mona Lisa, he created several masterpieces including The Last Supper which is currently located in the Santa Maria Delle Grazie Monastery in Milan, and the famous The Vitruvian Man which depicts the perfect proportions of the body and its relation to the universe! You can find it in the Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice.

2. Michelangelo (1475-1564)

Florence-born Michelangelo Buonarroti was not only a painter but also a sculptor and architect.

He is one the few famous Italian Renaissance artists who could use different painting techniques such as tempera, oil on canvas, and fresco.

Domenico Ghirlandaio was Michelangelo’s mentor. The young artist studied with him for around a year when he was 13 years old, but Michelangelo felt that he had the ability to work without any more tutorship, so he left and set up on his own.  

Michelangelo had a fascination for the human form and even dissected dead bodies to learn more about their anatomy.

Three of his greatest works are the sculpture of David in the Accademia Gallery in Florence, the frescoed ceiling of the Sistine Chapel which took him four years to complete, and The Last Judgment still in the Vatican.

The ceiling shows scenes from The Book of Genesis and has a spectacular depiction of God and Adam outstretching their hands to each other in the Creation of Adam fresco.

3. Raphael (1483 – 1520)

Although Raphael produced a plethora of spectacular works, his life was cut short.

Imagine what a legacy he would have left behind if he had lived until his seventies or eighties.

The son of a painter, he was apprenticed to one of the most famous Italian artists of the time, Pietro Perugino.

Despite being tutored, Raphael was determined to find his own techniques which included the use of rich colors and grandeur.

He also learned techniques from other painters, such as how to model faces with light and shadow from Leonardo da Vinci and how to paint full-bodied figures from Michelangelo.

Raphael painted portraits of famous people including the portrait of Pope Julius II, but he concentrated more on religious paintings and frescoes.

His best-known paintings are in the Vatican Museums, which house his most famous and his last work, Transfiguration which depicts two scenes from the life of Jesus Christ.

He also painted four rooms in the museums with frescoes which are today known as the Raphael Rooms with the most famous fresco being The School of Athens.

You will find more of Raphael’s artwork throughout Rome, such as The Deposition which is Galleria Borghese.

Florence also hosts many of Raphael’s paintings, both in the Pitti Palace and in the Uffizi Gallery where you can see his self-portrait.

4. Titian (1488 – 1576)

Together with Giorgione, Titian created the Venetian school of Italian Renaissance painting which had considerable influence on the evolution of Western art.

Titian was an early starter as he was apprenticed to a painter at the age of 10, eventually going on to learn his craft from Giovani Bellini, who is also considered to be one of the greatest artists of Italy.

Titian was a versatile artist who painted both portraits and landscapes and was equally at home with religious scenes as well as mythical ones.

He was a prolific artist and painted a grand total of 266 works of art. His paintings show depth, vivacious colors, and a feeling of drama.

One of his most famous works is Pieta (not to be confused with the Pieta sculpture by Michelangelo) which shows Madonna holding Christ’s body after he had been crucified. It can be seen in the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice.

He is also famous for Assumption of the Virgin which hangs on the high altar of the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice. 

If you’ve heard of The Three Ages of Man which is a depiction of the Wheel of Life and is housed in the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh, it is also by Titian.

5. Tintoretto (1518 – 1594)

Tintoretto was influenced by Titian and even had a short apprenticeship with him, although he was largely self-taught.

He is well-known for his dramatic use of light and shadow and was a Mannerist, which is a style of art developed in the late Renaissance that concentrated on artificiality and asymmetry but with a certain elegance and sophistication.

Tintoretto painted spirited figures and used dramatic lighting in both biblical and mythical scenes.

There are more than 20 churches in Venice that house Tintoretto’s paintings including the magnificent depiction of The Last Supper in the Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. (Not to be confused with Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper).

6. Giotto di Bondone (1267 – 1337)

Giotto di Bondone was an early Renaissance painter who was a significant influence during the change from Byzantine to Renaissance art.

Byzantine art didn’t portray people as they were but rather as an impression of them.

Renaissance art, on the other hand, focused on showing the world as it was, and characters were given weight and dimension. Although biblical scenes were still portrayed, there was a shift toward portraits and landscapes.

Giotto also wanted to give religious artwork a greater sense of reality so that people would feel a greater connection to God.

Despite the fact that Giotto was one of the many prominent artists from Italy, we don’t know that much about him, but what we do is know that he was a talented painter even as a child and was apprenticed to the artist, Cimabue at the tender age of 10 when the artist was impressed by the painting he drew on a rock.

His first significant work was a mural in Assisi Cathedral (though this is disputed by some that it may not be his work), but he later created a mosaic for the facade of the Old St. Peter’s Basilica. Unfortunately, only remnants of it are left.

Some of the best works created by Giotto are in the Church of Santa Croce in Florence where he decorated most of the 16 chapels with his frescoes.

His most impressive work of art is the Ognissanti Madonna, a painting of the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus which is now housed in the Uffizi Gallery.

7. Giorgione (1477 -1510)

Giorgione was an artist who belonged to the Venetian school of painting. If you’re not familiar with this kind of painting; this is where artists used color to create form which was different from Florentine Renaissance art where artists drew characters and then filled in the colors.

Giorgione was apprenticed to Giovanni Bellini and studied with him at the same time as Titian.

Together with Titian, he founded the Venetian School of Renaissance. One of the characteristics of their work was that the paintings didn’t have a story.

One of Giorgione’s most famous paintings is The Tempest which seems to have no meaning at all.

It shows a man on one side of a stream and a breast-feeding woman on the other, with a storm coming in. It is however still impressive and can now be seen in the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice.

Unfortunately, Giorgione died in his early thirties of the bubonic plague, otherwise, we might have been able to see more great works from him.

And although he started painting around the age of 20, unfortunately, only six of his works have survived.

8. Giovanni Bellini (1430 – 1516)

Giovanni Bellini was a Venetian Renaissance painter who came from a family of artists.

He transformed the Florentine Renaissance style of painting into one more sensual and colorful using rich, deep tones with a gradual progression of color.

The preferred medium for this style of painting was oil on canvas, and Bellini experimented with oils in different ways, creating elegant and sophisticated paintings.

Bellini is one of the most famous painters in Italy and he created a wide variety of artwork, including religious paintings, portraits, and landscapes.

One of his masterpieces is St. Francis in Ecstasy which is housed in the Frick Collection in New York City.

Another masterpiece is The Madonna of the Small Trees housed in the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice.

His other paintings are spread all over the world such as The National Gallery in London, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and the Louvre Museum in Paris.

9. Sandro Botticelli (1445 – 1510)

Sandro Botticelli was an early Renaissance artist renowned for painting religious works, mythological scenes, and portraits.

Like many famous artists from Italy who learned from talented painters, Botticelli was taught by the Florentine painter, Fra Filippo Lippi who showed him the techniques of artwork and it wasn’t long before he was painting on his own.

Thanks to his outstanding work, particularly the Adoration of the Magi painting which increased Botticelli’s popularity as a painter in Florence, Pope Sixtus IV invited him to Rome and commissioned him to paint the walls of the Sistine Chapel! The resulting work was The Temptations of Christ.

If you are in Rome, you shouldn’t miss visiting the Sistine Chapel as it houses works by many other famous Italian artists including Michelangelo and Perugino.

Besides The Temptations of Christ, one of the other famous works by Botticelli is The Birth of Venus which shows Venus rising out of the sea on a seashell with cherubs and other figures surrounding her. Venus was the goddess of love and the painting exudes beauty, desire, and fertility.

There are also two rooms in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence that house many of Botticelli’s paintings, including Primavera, Pallas and the Centaur, and The Birth of Venus.

10. Sofonisba Anguissola (1532 – 1625)

Sofonisba Anguissola, the daughter of a nobleman was one of the first female artists to gain international reputation which was not easy at a time when women were not considered equal to men. She was a late Renaissance artist and mainly painted portraits.

At the age of just 14, she was apprenticed to the artist Bernardino Campi for three years before leaving to learn from Bernadino Gatti.

When Sofonisba was 26 years old, she traveled to Spain and became the official court painter to King Philip II.

There are about 30 of her artworks remaining from this time, including many self-portraits.

Unfortunately, many of her paintings were destroyed in a fire at the palace, but a few survived, including the portrait of the king, and are displayed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

Many of Sofonisba’s paintings can be seen throughout Italy in Naples, Siena, and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

11. Caravaggio (1571 – 1610)

Caravaggio was a violent person, even a killer but this doesn’t change the fact that he was one of the most famous Italian painters from the Baroque era.

He was known for using spectacular lighting effects in his paintings emphasizing the differences between light and dark. As a result, his paintings are dramatic and powerful.

Caravaggio’s best works include Young Sick Bacchus, The Conversion of Saint Paul, The Entombment of Christ, Death of the Virgin, and The Beheading of St. John the Baptist.

The Uffizi Gallery in Florence has a gallery dedicated to Caravaggio, Room 90, which houses his most famous depiction of Medusa.

Many museums and art galleries in Rome display his paintings, including the Palazzo Barberini, the Galleria Corsini, the Galleria Doria Pamphilj, the Capitoline Museums, and Galleria Borghese which houses the largest number of his paintings in one museum.

12. Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 – 1653)

When talking about famous painters from Italy, it’s almost impossible to imagine that a woman would make it to the list since the painting world was heavily dominated by men and women held almost no regard in society let alone taken seriously besides being good wives! But this next entry beat the odds, albeit, with several challenges.

Artemisia Gentileschi started producing professional work at the age of 15 and became one of the best Baroque Italian painters.

She became the first woman to be part of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence. (In simple terms, this was the academy of artists.)

She initially followed the style of Caravaggio but then developed her own technique. She was able to beautifully depict the female body, whether nude or clothed.

Artemisia traveled all over Europe to paint and even painted for the Grand Duke of Tuscany and King Philip IV of Spain.

However, historians predict that (probably) since she was raped by a fellow painter, her best works show violent murders and revenge killings.

These paintings include Jael and Sisera now shown in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, and Judith beheading Holofernes in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

While Gentileschi was an accomplished and talented Italian painter, her success as an artist was overshadowed by her rape story.

Most people focused more on the Agostino Tassi rape story and trial instead of her artistic work.

13. Annibale Carracci (1560 -1609)

The next Italian famous painter who is regarded as an important artist in the transition between the Mannerist and the Baroque eras is Annibale Carracci. 

He painted religious, mythological, and historical scenes and mixed the classical Renaissance style with naturalism.

Carracci learned how to paint from his cousin, Ludovico, and was also an apprentice to the Mannerist artist, Bartolomeo Passarotti.

Although his professional career began when he was 21 years old, he started off as an engraver before painting the altarpiece, The Crucifixion, two years later. It can be seen in the church of Santa Maria Della Carita in Bologna, Italy.

Carracci formed The Carracci with his brother, Agostino, and his cousin, Ludovico. They had an academy, Accademia degli Incamminati in Bologna which promoted drawing with live models.

Annibale’s most important works are the frescoes he created in the Galleria Farnese in Rome which can be seen to this day.

14. Pietro da Cortona (1596 – 1669)

Pietro da Cortona was a Baroque painter who was famous for the fresco paintings he produced for Roman Catholic churches.

Although he is most famous as a painter, he was also a leading figure in the Baroque architecture movement together with the famous Italian sculptor and architect, Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

His masterpiece is the Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power, which is a beautiful piece of Baroque art far removed from the classicism of the past.

It is more theatrical and expressive and fills the enormous ceiling of the Palazzo Barberini in Rome, which is open to the public.

Cortona is regarded as one of the famous Italian painters and more of his work can also be seen at the Doria Pamphilj Palace in Rome and at the Pitti Palace in Florence.

15. Pietro Annigoni (1910 – 1988)

Many of the famous painters of Italy may be from between the 14th and 16th centuries but it doesn’t mean that there aren’t recent painters that left a lasting impression on the art world! And that leads us to our next entry.

Pietro Annigoni was a 20th-century artist who painted portraits and frescoes. He became famous through his portraits of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, Pope John XXIII, and President John F. Kennedy.

He also painted frescoes in Italian churches throughout the country and thought as much of them as his portraits.   

Annigoni didn’t like the abstract art that was popular in the mid-20^th century and formed the Modern Realist Painters group in 1947 which supported classical Renaissance styles.

There are many galleries throughout the world that house Annigoni’s work, such as the British Royal Collection and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

In Italy, they grace the Vatican Museums in Rome and the Uffizi Gallery and Pitti Palace in Florence.

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Final Thoughts on the Best Painters from Italy

Italy has been home to many notable painters who have significantly influenced the art world.

Figures like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo pioneered techniques and styles that have been admired and studied for centuries. Whether it’s Renaissance or Baroque, there is no shortage of impressive pieces to look at!

Their work can be found throughout the world, but the concentration is in Italy as you would expect.

Head to Florence, Venice, or Rome, and you will experience some of the best artwork in the world from some of the most famous Italian painters.

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