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WORLD'S BEST ART
For a list of the finest works of
painting and sculpture, by the
world's most famous artists, see:
Greatest Paintings Ever
Oils, watercolours, mixed media
from 1300-present.
Greatest Sculptures Ever
Works in stone, bronze, wood
from 33,000 BCE-present.
JEWISH ART
For an outstanding collection of
Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Oriental
Judaica, crafts and artifacts,
see: Jewish Art Museum.
RENAISSANCE
POPES
Papal leaders, some of
whom were active patrons of
architecture and other visual
arts, include:
Innocent VII 1404-1406
Gregory XII 1406-1415
Martin V 1417-1431
Eugenius IV 1431-1447
Nicholas V 1447-1455
Callistus III 1455-1458
Pius II 1458-1464
Paul II 1464-1471
Sixtus IV 1471-1484
Innocent VIII 1484-1492
Alexander VI 1492-1503
Pius III 1503
Julius II 1503-1513
Leo X 1513-1521
Adrian VI 1522-1523
Clement VII 1523-1534
Paul III 1534-1549
Julius III 1550-1555
Marcellus II 1555
Paul IV 1555-1559
Pius IV 1559-1565
St. Pius V 1566-1572
Gregory XIII 1572-1585
Sixtus V 1585-1590
Urban VII 1590
Gregory XIV 1590-1591
Innocent IX 1591
Clement VIII 1592-1605
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Raphael Tapestries
In 1515, Pope Leo X (1513-1521) commissioned
the famous young painter Raphael
(1483-1520) to design the cartoons for a set of ten tapestries to cover
the lowest tier of the walls, and to compete with the soaring religious
art laid out on the ceiling. He was already involved in the Papal-led
Renaissance in Rome
through his previous work for Julius II, who had entrusted him with the
fresco decoration of the papal apartments (Stanza della Segnatura),
now known as the Raphael Rooms (Vatican),
and he finished the tapestry art designs
within a year. They were then woven in Brussels in the atelier of Pieter
van Aelst during the period 1515-19. Although the cartoons, all based
on images from the Acts of the Apostles, rank among Raphael's noblest
designs, only a proportion of the actual brushwork was executed by the
artist himself.
Last Judgment Fresco
In 1534, some twenty years after completing
the Sistine ceiling fresco, Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Paul
III (1534-1549) to paint a mural depicting the Last Judgment on
the altar wall of the chapel, after plans initially drawn up by Pope Clement
VII (1523-1534). The painting was completed in 1541, 29 years to the day
since the unveiling of the Genesis fresco, but light years away
from it in feeling and meaning, with its menacing figures and mood of
godly wrath. If the earlier High
Renaissance-style Genesis work had captured the triumphant
humanistic aesthetic of an ordered universe, the Mannerism-style
Last Judgment reflected the new insecurity of an era characterized
by the 1527 Sack of Rome and a European-wide contest of militancy between
Protestantism and Catholic Counter-Reformation.
Greatest Religious Paintings Ever
From its very completion in 1512, Michelangelo's
Sistine ceiling fresco was regarded as one of the supreme examples of
pictorial art. His later Last Judgment, while attracting controversy
for its use of nudity, is also thought to be one of the greatest works
of religious painting. Given that Michelangelo is viewed principally as
one of the world's most talented sculptors, one begins to appreciate why
he heads the list of best artists
of all time.
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