1490s in art

The decade of the 1490s in art involved some significant events.

Events

The Renaissance is in full swing during the 1490s, and Leonardo da Vinci is painting in realistic, chiaroscuro style. In music, many new musical styles were being created, including the motet and madrigal, replacing an emphasis on chanting (and simple melodies) with polyphony and homophony. Christopher Columbus's explorations of the New World captivates the artistic imagination of both artists and the public.

culptures

* 1499: Michelangelo completes his "Pieta" for the Vatican. The marble was from Carrara.

Paintings

* 1490: Leonardo da Vinci paints the portrait "Lady with an Ermine"
* 1492 : Andrea Mantegna paints "" a depiction of Christ descending into limbo to liberate the souls of the righteous
* 1495: Giovanni Donato da Montorfano paints "The Crucifixion"
* 1495: Sandro Botticelli paints "Calumny of Apelles"
* 1498: Leonardo da Vinci paints "The Last Supper" (Santa Maria delle Grazie (Milan))

Births

* 1490: Agostino Musi - Italian engraver (d. 1540)
* 1490: Giovanni Maria Francesco Rondani - Italian painter of the Parmesan school of painting (d. 1550)
* 1490: Gregório Lopes - Renaissance painter from Portugal (d. 1550)
* 1490: Hans Dürer - German Renaissance painter, illustrator, and engraver
* 1490: Adriaen Isenbrandt - Flemish painter (d. 1538)
* 1490: Battista Dossi - Italian painter who belonged to the Ferrara School of Painting (d. 1548)
* 1490: Dosso Dossi - Italian Renaissance painter who belonged to the Ferrara School of Painting (d. 1542)
* 1490: Diego Siloe - Spanish Renaissance architect and sculptor (d. 1563)
* 1490: Marinus van Reymerswaele - Dutch Renaissance painter (d. 1546)
* 1490: Stanisław Samostrzelnik - Polish Renaissance painter and Cisterian monk (d. 1541)
* 1490/1491: Altobello Melone - Italian painter of the Renaissance (d. 1543)
* 1491: Francesco Melzi - Italian painter and pupil of Leonardo da Vinci (d. 1570)
* 1492: Michelangelo Anselmi - Italian Renaissance-Mannerism painter active mostly in Parma (d. 1554)
* 1492/1495: Polidoro da Caravaggio - Italian early Renaissance painter (d. 1543)
* 1493: Bartolommeo Bandinelli, Florentine sculptor (d. 1560)
* 1493: Marco Dente - Italian engraver of the Renaissance (d. "unknown")
* 1494: Qiu Ying - Chinese painter who specialized in the "gongbi" brush technique (d. 1552)
* 1494: Lucas van Leyden - Dutch engraver and painter (d. 1533)
* 1494: Rosso Fiorentino - Italian Mannerist painter, in oil and fresco (d. 1540)
* 1494: Innocenzo di Pietro Francucci da Imola - Italian painter and draftsman (d. 1550)
* 1494: Pontormo - Italian Mannerist painter and portraitist from the Florentine school (d. 1557)
* 1495: Jan van Scorel - Dutch painter credited with the introduction of High Italian Renaissance art to the Netherlands (d. 1562)
* 1495: Paris Bordone, Venetian painter (d. 1570)
* 1496: Dirck Jacobsz - Dutch Renaissance painter (d. 1567)
* 1496: Lu Zhi - Chinese landscape painter, calligrapher, and poet during the Ming Dynasty (d. 1576)
* 1497: Hans Holbein the Younger - German artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style (d. 1543)
* 1498: Giulio Clovio - Renaissance illuminator, miniaturist, and painter, born in Croatia, who worked in Renaissance Italy (d. 1578)
* 1498: Moretto da Brescia - Italian Renaissance painter of Brescia and Venice (d. 1554)
* 1498: Marten Jacobszoon Heemskerk van Veen - Dutch portrait and religious painter (d. 1574)
* 1499: Jan Steven van Calcar - Flemish painter and a pupil of Titian (d. 1545)
* 1499: Hans Asper, Swiss painter (d. 1571)
* 1499: Michael Coxcie, painter (d. 1592)
* 1499: Giulio Romano - Italian painter and architect (d. 1546)

Deaths

* 1491: Martin Schongauer - German engraver and painter (b. 1448)
* 1491: Neri di Bicci, painter in Florence (b. 1419)
* 1491: Domenico di Michelino - Italian painter of the Florentine school (b. 1417)
* 1491: Bertoldo di Giovanni - sculptor (born c. 1435/1440)
* October 12, 1492: Piero della Francesca - painter (b. 1412)
* 1492: Domenico Gagini - Italian sculptor (b. 1449)
* 1493: Jacopo da Sellaio - Italian painter from the Florentine School (b. 1442)
* January 11, 1494: Domenico Ghirlandaio - painter (b. 1449)
* 1494: Ludwig Schongauer, German painter (b. 1440)
* 1494: Giovanni Santi - Italian painter, poet, and father of Raphael (b. 1435)
* 1494: Hans Memling - Early Netherlandish painter (b. 1430)
* 1495: Carlo Crivelli - Italian Renaissance painter of conservative Late Gothic decorative sensibility (b. 1430)
* 1495: Geertgen tot Sint Jans - Early Netherlandish painter from the northern Low Countries (b. 1465)
* 1495: Cosimo Tura - Italian early-Renaissance painter and one of the founders of the School of Ferrara (b. 1430)
* 1495/1496: Pietro Vannini - Italian artist and silversmith (b. 1413/1414)
* 1495/1496: Antonio Missaglia - Italian armourer (b. 1416/1417)
* 1496: Pietro di Francesco degli Orioli - sculptor (b. 1458)
* 1496: Piero del Pollaiolo - painter (b. 1443)
* 1497: Benedetto da Maiano - sculptor (b. 1442)
* 1497: Benozzo Gozzoli - Italian Renaissance painter from Florence (b. 1421)
* February 4, 1498: Antonio del Pollaiolo - painter (born c. 1429/1433)
* 1498: Domenico Rosselli - sculptor (b. 1439)
* 1498: Bartolomé Bermejo - Spanish painter who adopted Dutch painting techniques (b. 1440)
* 1498: Fra Diamante - Italian fresco painter (b. 1430)
* 1498: Michael Pacher - Austrian Tyrolean painter and sculptor (b. 1435)
* 1499: Alesso Baldovinetti - painter (b. 1427)