Which artist comes to mind when you think of Renaissance art?

Question

De Vinci & Masaccio comes to my mind first. They are great artists but wasn't there many other great artists in that time too? We don't seem to hear or remember others like we remember De Vinci. Is it because we like to exaggerate what we think is important?

Answer 1

These are just a few of many great Renaissance artists:

Bellini - remembered for his realistic landscapes and the harmony of light, colour, and mood.

Botticelli - famous for "The Birth of Venus"

Bruegel - mainly remembered for religious paintings

Dürer - famous for his woodcuts and line engravings

Michelangelo - famous for painting the "Sistine Chapel"

Raphael - painted pictures using oil on wood, famous for putting realistic emotions on paintings, influenced painters up to the 1900's

Titian - famous for the use of light and rich colors

Uccello - one of the first to use perspective in his paintings

Van Eyck, Hubert and Jan - they were brothers, often one would start a painting and the other would finish it

I believe that many people don't know or remember them because nowadays you are taught different things at school to prepare you for a life of work, and functioning in a society which somehow respects you most if you have loads of money. Too bad, because art can be so much more gratifying than a huge car, a huge house and a big bank account. I know what I'm talking about, I'm an artist living on very little money and doing volunteer work at the Printing Shop of the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany...:-)

Answer 2

I think artists like Da Vinci and Michaelangelo stand out because they are often put forward (like in school history classes) as good examples of true Renaissance men (which they are) as well as famous painters. If you study Renaissance art though, which most people don't, you become more aware of the depth and number of talented artists of the time period.

I am a fan of Domenico Ghirlandaio myself.