Artists

After a distinguished government career, Yao Shou turned to painting, calligraphy, collecting and scholarship.

Xia Chang served as a government calligrapher, draftsman and secretary. He retired in 1439, initially to care for his elderly mother, and his painting matured over the following decade.

Little independent evidence survives about Zhu Yu. A later colophon by Qian Gu calls him Wang Zhenpeng's pupil and records court work in Beijing in 1312–1320.

Wen Zhengming had a studio in Wang Xianchen's garden in Suzhou. At eighty-one he made an album devoted to the garden, combining painting, poetry and calligraphy to describe a familiar place…

Tang Yin was a close friend of the writer Wu Kuan, with tea culture forming part of their intellectual circle.

The Chai sisters lived in Hangzhou and were known as poets and painters. Jingyi favored freer, partly abstract nature imagery, while Zhenyi was admired for close observation.

Wang Meng worked as a legal scribe for the Yuan government before retiring to a mountain hermitage during its turbulent final decades.

Ren Yi became a leading and sought-after painter of the Shanghai School. His bird-and-flower work developed from clearly outlined color forms based on Song models toward freer brushwork and…

These Korean paintings were made by different unidentified artists. They do not share a single biography or period.

Ghasi is first documented as a draftsman for Colonel James Tod. After Chokha's death around 1824, he became principal painter at the Mewar court.

Both artists worked in Akbar's imperial atelier on the illustrated Akbarnama. Basawan was a leading designer and portraitist.

This conventional name identifies an unknown painter associated with Maharana Amar Singh II of Mewar around the turn of the eighteenth century.

The makers of these Indian works are unidentified. Different periods and centers are represented, so they cannot share one biography.

Jabbadar was a leading painter at the court of the Safavid shah Sulaiman. In 1673 he depicted the Russian embassy led by Prince Andrey Priklonskiy.

This section groups Iranian works without an established painter's name. Individual leaves may have separate histories of creation, binding and later collecting.

The makers of these Tibetan paintings are unidentified. Their work relates to religious patronage and contemplative practice.

The selected double-sided banner was carried above crowds at a religious festival. Hindu deities beside a Buddhist stupa reflect overlapping devotional traditions in Nepal.

The paubha was made for the Newar Buddhist Laksha Chaitya ritual in the Kathmandu Valley. Its inscription records the ceremony, while the painting includes a priest and sponsoring group.

The selected triptych belongs to the courtly First Gonderine style, which flourished under Iyyasu I in 1682–1706. Its subject reflects Marian devotion in Ethiopian Orthodox liturgy.

This section groups works by different Egyptian artists whose names are lost. Court and temple projects employed teams of draftsmen, sculptors and painters.

Bastien-Lepage grew up in a modest farming family in Damvillers and trained with Alexandre Cabanel.

Bellini developed within a Venetian family workshop, shaped by his father Jacopo and his brother-in-law Mantegna.

Born in Bordeaux, Bonheur moved to Paris in 1829 and became known for animal painting. The Horse Fair won acclaim at the 1853 Salon.

Boucher worked across painting, theater, tapestries, book illustration and porcelain. Madame de Pompadour was his principal patron from 1750 to 1764.

Bronzino trained with Pontormo and absorbed Michelangelo's influence. His portrait patrons included Cosimo de' Medici, Eleonora of Toledo, their children and courtiers.

Bruegel adapted themes familiar from prints and manuscript illumination into large landscapes and crowded scenes. Bosch's combination of wit and menace was an important precedent.

Ter Brugghen trained with Abraham Bloemaert in Utrecht and worked in Rome from about 1604 to 1614.

Reading Ruskin at university led Burne-Jones and William Morris to Rossetti, who encouraged him to pursue art. He received little formal training.

The son of a Venetian scene painter, Canaletto organized a workshop supplying views to travelers.

Cardinal Francesco del Monte took Caravaggio into his household in 1595 and helped secure public commissions. He used ordinary working people as sacred models in contemporary settings.

Carpaccio probably trained with Lazzaro Bastiani and was influenced by Giovanni Bellini. His Venetian Saint Ursula cycle bears dates from 1490 to 1495.

Annibale founded a Bologna academy with his brother Agostino and cousin Ludovico, teaching artists including Guido Reni and Domenichino.

Christus was born in Baerle and is documented in Bruges from 1444. He drew strongly on Jan van Eyck.

Born in Lorraine, Claude became Agostino Tassi's assistant in Rome and settled there permanently around 1628. He sketched in the countryside and developed studio paintings.

At twenty-six, Corot gained the independence to leave the cloth trade for painting. He trained with Michallon and Bertin and first visited Italy in 1825–1828.

Courbet trained in Besançon and studied Dutch and Venetian painting in the Louvre. The jury of the 1855 Exposition Universelle accepted some of his works but rejected The Painter’s Studio.