The Renaissance was the birth of famous artists. Leonado was the first artist to not be seen as just a craftsman, and was arguably the first famous artist who coverted a celebrity status to promote his name and work. Famous artists have since then used their stature and talent to provide a visual dialogue and portrait of life.

Historically, famous artists became known for the unique style and attitude that they bring to the art world. Starting win Italy, art took on an evolution which elevated the value of art and the respect it gained from society. Famous artists became known everywhere and were studied from for centuries beyond their passing away. Following the Renaissance, other evolutions took place and art continually distinguished itself from every era before it.

Below is a list of Jeremy Houghton's favourite famous artists starting from the Renaissance Movement:

Italian Renaissance Artists

Leonado da Vinci (1452-1519) was someone who was skilled and knowledgeable in many, many subjects, including science, mathematics, music, and most importantly, art. He was the epitome of a Renaissance man if there never was one.

Michelangelo (1475-1564) was an Italian Renaissance artist. He is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, alongside Leonardo da Vinci.

Raphael (1483-1520) was an Italian architect and painter of the High Renaissance. He was best known for the perfection and grace in his artwork. Raphael was considered a master, among Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo..

Titian (1488-1576) was known as an Italian painter, one of the most versatile. He was equally adept with landscape paintings, portraits, and mystical subjects.

Northern Renaissance Artists

Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) was an important Northern Renaissance man from Germany. He was prominent in painting, printmaking, mathematics, engraving, and theory..

Baroque Artists

Caravaggio (1571-1610) was an artist of the Baroque style, which emerged out of Mannerism. With the threat of Protestantism, the Roman Catholic Church sought for new art. Caravaggio’s radical naturalism and dramatic style offered them what they thought they needed..

Rubens (1577-1640) was a Baroque painter who specialized in painting color, sensuality, and movement. He was famous for many Counter-Reformation artworks.

Rembrandt (1606-1669) created artworks  which gave way to what historians refer to as the Dutch Golden Age. Rembrandt was an excellent painter and etcher, one of the greatest in European art history..

18th Century Artists 

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) was a French Impressionist painter. He was an important contributor to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism during his time.

Edouard Manet (18320 was an important artist in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. He was one of the first nineteenth century artists to approach modern-life subjects.

Edgar Degas (1834-1917) was a famous French artist regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism, though he rejected the term and regarded himself a realist.

Winslow Homer (1836-1910) was an American landscape painter and printmaker. He was a freelance illustrator who was very prominent in American art during his time.

Cezanne (1839-1906) was a French Post-Impressionist painter who contributed to the transition from the 19th century’s Impressionism to the 20th century’s new line of artistic enquiry: Cubism.

Claude Monet (1840-1926) was a founder of French Impressionist painting. Monet lived by the philosophy of Impressionism that emphasizes the expression of one’s perceptions before nature.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) was a French artist who contributed to the development of the Impressionist style. He emphasized beauty in his artwork, especially of feminine sensuality.

Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) was an American painter and printmaker. Most of her adult life was spent in France, where she met Edgar Degas and later became one of the Impressionists. Her paintings emphasized intimate and private lives of women, especially of those pertaining to the relationship between mothers and children.

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) was a prominent French Post-Impressionist painter, print-maker, writer, sculptor, and ceramist.

Edvard Munch (1853-1944) was a Norwegian Symbolist painter and printmaker. He was an important figure in expressionist art.

Gustav Klimpt (1862-1918) was known as one of the most important Austrian Symbolist artist of the Vienna Secession movement.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) was a French artist who was regarded as one of the best painters from the Post-Impressionist era, alongside Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Cezanne.

20th Century Artists 

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was a French painter, draughtsman, sculptor, and printmaker. He is known alongside Picasso and Marcel Duchamp as the three artists who contributed to the revolutionary developments of plastic arts in the early twentieth century.

Paul Klee (1879-1940) was a Swiss and German painter who found inspiration in expressionism, surrealism, cubism, and orientalism.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was a Spanish draughtsman, sculptor, and painter who spent most of his life in France. Picasso was particularly skilled from childhood and into adolescence, and in his twenties he experimented with different ideas and techniques. His accomplishments in art brought him much fame.

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was a Russian art theorist and painter. He was one of the first artists to experiment with abstract art.

Marc Chagall (1887-1985) was a Russian-French Jewish artist with many art styles. He was an early modernist and was one of the most successful artists of the twentieth century.

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) was an American artist who distinguished herself as one of America’s most prominent modern artists, which is significant because the American art community was dominated by men during her time.

Georges Seurat (1888-1959) was a French Post-Impressionist painter. His most famous painting, "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” ushered modern art into Neo-Impressionism.

Vincent van Gogh (1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist artist whose works carried lots of influence on 20th century art due to their portrayal of colors and emotions.

Joan Miro (1893-1983) was a Spanish artist. His works have been interpreted as Surrealism.

Rene Magritte (1896-1957) was a Belgian Surrealist artist. His goal was to challenge viewers’ preconceptions of reality and force them to become hypersensitive to their surroundings.

Ansel Adams (1902-1984) was an American photographer best known for his photographs of the American West, particularly in Yosemite.

Mark Rothko (1903-1970) was a Russian-born American painter who was interpreted as an abstract expressionist.

Salvador Dali (1904-1989) was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter. Dali was very imaginative and had an affinity for unusual and grandiose behavior.

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) was a Mexican painter. She was best known for her self-portraits. Her art has been celebrated in Mexico as representative of national and indigenous tradition, and by feminists for their forthright depiction of the female form.

Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) was an American painter who spearheaded the abstract expressionist movement.

Andy Warhol  (1928-1987) made Pop Art. His use of immediate culture in all his work is what brought him fame and glory.