1. By: Toni Francis

2. Rembrandt Van Rijn  Known for being one the worlds greatest painter, Rembrandt was born in 1609 in Leiden, Netherlands.  In his religious works, he often chose subject that were uncommon in Catholic art, focusing on the human and even the intimately personal aspects of old and new testament stories.  Rembrandt died in October 4, 1669 at the age of 63, but his life wasn’t in vain because he made marvelous artwork that showed the bible in new ways.

3. Rembrandt’s famous artwork The Return of the Prodigal Son Christ Preaching: The Hundred-Guilder

4. Michelangelo Merisi aka Carvaggio  Born in 1571, the leading painter of the 17 th Century, Carvaggio flouted renaissance artistic conventions.  He flouted the law. He was arrested for the violent acts that ranged from throwing a plate at a taverns keeper to murder.  He killed a tennis player in 1606 he was forced to flee Rome.  In his paintings, Carvaggio dramatized events with strong contrasts of light and dark that give his figures a sculptural presence.  He died in 1610.

5. Caravaggio's Painting The Crucifixion of St. Peter 1601

6. Artemisia Gentileschi  Artemisia was born in Rome in 1593. She was the daughter of a highly esteemed painter, himself a follower of Caravaggio.  Since women were not permitted to draw from nude male models they rarely painted large-scale canvases with biblical historical or mythological themes.  Gentileschi paintings however challenged tradition. Her powerful rendering of Judith Slaying Holofenes, which compares in size and impact with Caravaggio’s crucifixion of St. Peters  Artemisia Gentileschi died in 1653. Judith Slaying Holofenes

7. Andrea Pozzo  Born in1642, he was a master of the techniques of linear perspective and dramatic foreshortening.  He made the ceiling above the clerestory appear to open up so the viewer gazes “through” the roof into the heavens that receive the levitating body of the saint.

8. Apotheosis of St. Ignatius 1691

9. Claude Gellee aka Claude Lorrain  He was born in 1600.  Claude was responsible for popularizing the genre known as the “ideal landscape”. A landscape painted in the high- minded, idealized style usually found in traditional moral subjects.  He died in 1682.

10. The marriage of Isaac and Rebekah

11. Nicolas Poussin  Born in 1594, Poussin spent most of his life in Rome absorbing the heritage of the classical and renaissance past.  He revered the high renaissance master Raphael as the leading proponent of the classical style.  He died in 1665

12. Arcadian Shepherds

13. Peter Paul Rubens  Rubens was born in 1577. Rubens was an internationally renowned Flemish painter.  He established his reputation in the courts of Europe. He was fluent in six language and traveled widely as a diplomat and an art dealer her royal patrons in Italy, England and France.

14. Rape of the Daughters