Baroque, classicism, chiaroscuro and Golden Age
Top 100 painters of the 17th century
From Caravaggio, Rubens, Rembrandt, Velazquez and Vermeer to Poussin, Claude Lorrain, Artemisia Gentileschi, Frans Hals and Georges de La Tour, here are the great painters who shaped the 17th century.
The 17th century is one of the most powerful ages in the history of painting. It saw the birth of Baroque, the triumph of chiaroscuro, the rise of Dutch genre painting, the grandeur of French and Roman classicism, Flemish aristocratic portraits, refined still lifes and landscapes that had become major subjects.
Before the grid
Why the 17th century changed all painting
Around 1600, European painting changed. Caravaggio imposes dramatic light and popular models; the Carracci reinvent the great classical decor; Rubens gives the baroque an imperial energy; Velazquez and Rembrandt make portraiture an inner experience.
At the same time, the United Provinces invented an artistic market of incredible richness: landscapes, seascapes, interiors, still lifes, tavern scenes, civic portraits and architectural paintings. Painting is no longer just religious or princely: it also looks at the house, the city, the table, the sea and daily life.
Top 1 to 10
The peaks of the 17th century
Caravaggio, Rubens, Rembrandt, Velázquez, Vermeer, Poussin, Claude Lorrain, Van Dyck, Artemisia Gentileschi and Frans Hals concentrate the great revolutions of the century: light, portrait, classicism, theater and modern gaze.
#1
Caravaggio
It opens the 17th century with radical chiaroscuro, present bodies and religious painting that has become the theater of reality.
See the Caravaggio collection
#2
Peter paul rubens
Rubens gives the century a monumental energy: mythology, history, diplomacy, flesh, movement and triumphant color.
See the Peter Paul Rubens collection#3
Rembrandt
Rembrandt transforms portrait, biblical story and self-portrait into meditation on light, time and human interiority.
See the Rembrandt collection
#4
Diego Velazquez
Velazquez achieves incredible optical freedom, from court portraits to the Meninas, where seeing becomes almost thinking.
See the Diego Velazquez collection
#5
Johannes Vermeer
Vermeer condenses silence, window light and domestic life into images of mysterious precision.
See the Johannes Vermeer collection
#6
Nicolas Poussin
Poussin imposes a great narrative order: composition, ancient history, mental landscape and painting as moral architecture.
See the Nicolas Poussin collection
#7
Claude Lorrain
Claude Lorrain invents a landscape of golden light where ports, ruins and horizons become poetry of space.
See the Claude Lorrain collection
#8
Anthony van Dyck
Van Dyck gives the European aristocratic portrait a supple, nervous and lastingly influential elegance.
See the Anthony van Dyck collection
#9
Artemisia Gentileschi
Artemisia takes Caravaggio towards a dramatic, heroic and powerfully embodied painting.
See the Artemisia Gentileschi collection
#10
Frans Hals
Hals makes the portrait vibrate with a quick touch, fleeting smiles and an immediate social presence.
See the Frans Hals collectionRanks 11 to 20
Italy, Spain and France of the Grand Siècle
From Carracci to Le Brun, this chapter follows classical reform, tenebrism, Spanish religious painting and the birth of a monumental French Baroque.
#11
Annibale Carracci
Annibale Carracci prepares the classical 17th century with a synthesis of nature, antique, color and great decor.
See the Annibale Carracci collection
#12
Guido Reni
Reni embodies a clear, elegant and spiritual ideal, between classical grace and contained religious emotion.
See the Guido Reni collection
#13
Domenichino
Domenichino favors readable composition, measured narrative and sustained dramatic intensity.
See the Domenichino collection
#14
Guercino
Guercino combines movement, chiaroscuro and direct emotion in a very expressive religious painting.
See the Guercino collection
#15
Jusepe de Ribera
Ribera paints saints, philosophers and martyrs with harsh material, sharp light and physical humanity.
See the Jusepe de Ribera collection
#16
Francisco de Zurbaran
Zurbaran gives monks, saints and still lifes a silent, almost sculptural gravity.
See the Francisco de Zurbaran collection
#17
Bartolome Esteban Murillo
Murillo combines religious sweetness, popular scenes and tender light in baroque Seville.
See the Bartolomé Esteban Murillo collection
#18
Georges de La Tour
The Tower transforms the flame into a subject: immobile figures, inner nights and silent spirituality.
See the Georges de La Tour collection
#19
Simon Vouet
Vouet imported into France a colorful baroque scale which prepared the decorative art of the Grand Siècle.
See the Simon Vouet collection
#20
Charles Le Brun
Le Brun organizes the royal image of Louis XIV, from great history painting to the decorations of Versailles.
See the Charles Le Brun collectionRanks 21 to 30
Flanders, Rome and great baroque settings
Jordaens, Snyders, Teniers, Champaigne, Rosa, Sacchi, Maratta, Cortona and Preti show the amplitude of the Baroque, between Flemish abundance, dramatic landscape and Roman decor.
#21
Jacob Jordaens
Jordaens gives Flemish Baroque a popular, festive and carnal vigor, close to daily life.
See the Jacob Jordaens collection
#22
Frans Snyders
Snyders magnifies game, markets, animals and abundance with spectacular decorative energy.
See the Frans Snyders collection
#23
Jan Brueghel the Elder
Jan Brueghel the Elder excels in refined landscapes, bouquets, allegorical scenes and precious details.
See the Jan Brueghel the Elder collection
#24
David Teniers the Younger
Teniers observes taverns, peasants and amateur cabinets with clear and narrative virtuosity.
See the David Teniers the Younger collection
#25
Philippe de Champaigne
Champaigne unites spiritual rigor, psychological portrait and classic sobriety.
See the Philippe de Champaigne collection
#26
Salvator Rosa
Rosa gives the landscape a wild, philosophical and pre-romantic force, between rocks, soldiers and storms.
See the Salvator Rosa collection
#27
Andrea Sacchi
Sacchi defends noble, clear and measured painting against excessive Baroque exuberance.
See the Andrea Sacchi collection
#28
Carlo Maratta
Maratta extends Roman classicism with elegance, religious gentleness and academic balance.
See the Carlo Maratta collection
#29
Pietro da Cortona
Pietro da Cortona explodes painted ceilings, allegories and architecture in a total baroque setting.
See the Pietro da Cortona collection
#30
Mattia Preti
Preti combines luminous violence, decorative scale and religious intensity throughout the Mediterranean basin.
See the Mattia Preti collectionRanks 31 to 40
Daily life and Dutch light
Jan Steen, De Hooch, Ter Borch, Metsu, Dou, Fabritius, Maes, Cuyp, Ruisdael and Hobbema make ordinary life, landscape and interior complete worlds.
#31
Jan Steen
Steen recounts everyday life with humor, morality, domestic disorder and narrative virtuosity.
See the Jan Steen collection
#32
Pieter de Hooch
De Hooch builds bright interiors where courtyards, thresholds and rooms become architecture of ordinary life.
See the Pieter de Hooch collection
#33
Gerard ter Borch
Ter Borch excels in fabrics, restrained conversations and elegant interiors of great psychological subtlety.
See the Gerard ter Borch collection
#34
Gabriel Metsu
Metsu refines the domestic scene with soft lighting, precise gestures and narrative elegance.
See the Gabriel Metsu collection
#35
Gerrit Dou
Dou pushes fine painting to an extreme degree of precision, between niche, workshop, candle and illusion.
See the Gerrit Dou collection
#36
Carel Fabritius
Fabritius renews space and light in a brief work, stretched between Rembrandt and Delft.
See the Carel Fabritius collection
#37
Nicolaes Maes
Maes moves from Rembrane interiors to elegant portraits, with a keen sense of domestic silence.
See the Nicolaes Maes collection
#38
Aelbert Cuyp
Cuyp bathes riders, rivers and herds in a golden light that will fascinate English collectors.
See the Aelbert Cuyp collection
#39
Jacob van Ruisdael
Ruisdael gives the Dutch landscape a dramatic depth: immense skies, mills, forests and waterfalls.
See the Jacob van Ruisdael collection
#40
Meindert Hobbema
Hobbema paints paths, mills and woods with structured clarity, inherited from Ruisdael but more serene.
See the Meindert Hobbema collectionRanks 41 to 50
Landscape, animals and still life
Van Goyen, Ruysdael, Avercamp, Potter, Hondecoeter, Heda, Claesz, Kalf, De Heem and Rachel Ruysch take specialty genres to an exceptional level.
#41
Jan van Goyen
Van Goyen invents a poetry of low rivers, gray skies and breathable horizons.
See the Jan van Goyen collection
#42
Solomon van Ruysdael
Salomon van Ruysdael paints waters, containers, trees and skies with a soft and atmospheric tone.
See the Salomon van Ruysdael collection
#43
Hendrick Avercamp
Avercamp makes frozen winters a popular, meticulous and joyful theater of Dutch society.
See the Hendrick Avercamp collection
#44
Paulus Potter
Potter elevates cattle, horses and pastures to the rank of noble subjects, observed with new precision.
See the Paulus Potter collection
#45
Melchior d'Hondecoeter
Hondecoeter transforms birds, farmyards and parks into large decorative scenes full of movement.
See Hondecoeter's Melchior collection
#46
Willem Claesz Heda
Heda gives monochrome tables, glasses, silver and lemons a silent and meditative elegance.
See the Willem Claesz Heda collection
#47
Pieter Claesz
Pieter Claesz perfects Dutch vanity: low light, fragile objects and suspended time.
See the Pieter Claesz collection
#48
Willem Kalf
Kalf magnifies porcelain, glasses, fruits and precious metals in sumptuous darkness.
See the Willem Kalf collection
#49
Jan Davidsz de Heem
De Heem orchestrates flowers, fruits, insects and precious objects with extraordinary baroque richness.
See Heem's Jan Davidsz collection
#50
Rachel Ruysch
Ruysch takes floral painting to a peak of precision, color and dynamic composition.
See the Rachel Ruysch collectionRanks 51 to 60
Portraits, schools of Rembrandt and Caravaggesque Utrecht
Leyster, Van der Helst, Flinck, Bol, De Keyser, Lievens, Honthorst, Ter Brugghen and Van Baburen show the diversity of the Dutch Golden Age.
#51
Maria van Oosterwijck
Van Oosterwijck combines bouquets, religious symbols and meditation on the fragility of life.
See the Maria van Oosterwijck collection
#52
Judith Leyster
Leyster paints musicians, children and lively scenes with a freedom of touch close to Hals.
See the Judith Leyster collection
#53
Bartholomeus van der Helst
Van der Helst excels in the great civic portrait, clear, elegant and socially readable.
See the Bartholomeus van der Helst collection
#54
Govert Flinck
Flinck adapts Rembrandt's lesson to a more decorative, official and brilliant painting.
See the Govert Flinck collection
#55
Ferdinand Bol
Bol transforms the Rembranesque heritage into clearer, worldly and monumental portraits and stories.
See the Ferdinand Bol collection
#56
Thomas de Keyser
De Keyser renews Dutch portraiture with lively formats, precise gestures and great urban elegance.
See the Thomas de Keyser collection
#57
Jan Lievens
Lievens, close to Rembrandt in his youth, boldly explores portraits, tronies and dramatic effects.
See the Jan Lievens collection
#58
Gerard van Honthorst
Honthorst transposes Caravaggio to the Netherlands through night scenes, candles and theatrical figures.
See the Gerard van Honthorst collection
#59
Hendrick ter Brugghen
Ter Brugghen gives Caravaggio a soft, musical and deeply human color.
See the Hendrick ter Brugghen collection
#60
Dirck van Baburen
Van Baburen paints musicians, religious scenes and half-figures with powerful theatrical realism.
See the Dirck van Baburen collectionRanks 61 to 70
Late mannerism, taverns, architecture and navy
Bloemaert, Wtewael, Van Ostade, Wouwerman, De Witte, Saenredam, Berckheyde, Van der Heyden and Bakhuizen broaden the painting of the century towards the city, the church, the sea and the people.
#61
Abraham Bloemaert
Bloemaert crosses mannerism and baroque, forming several generations of Utrecht painters.
See the Abraham Bloemaert collection
#62
Joachim Wtewael
Wtewael extends a virtuoso, erotic and meticulous mannerism into the heart of the Dutch 17th century.
See the Joachim Wtewael collection
#63
Adriaen van Ostade
Van Ostade observes taverns, workshops and farmers with humor, brown warmth and attention to detail.
See the Adriaen van Ostade collection
#64
Isaac van Ostade
Isaac van Ostade combines peasant scenes, roads, inns and winters with remarkable freshness.
See the Isaac van Ostade collection
#65
Philips Wouwerman
Wouwerman excels in horses, military stops, hunts and landscapes animated by great finesse.
See the Philips Wouwerman collection
#66
Emanuel de Witte
De Witte transforms churches and interiors into experiences of space, light and perspective.
See the Emanuel de Witte collection
#67
Pieter Saenredam
Saenredam paints Dutch churches with geometric, almost abstract clarity.
See the Pieter Saenredam collection
#68
Gerrit Berckheyde
Berckheyde gives squares, canals and facades a luminous urban precision.
See the Gerrit Berckheyde collection
#69
Jan van der Heyden
Van der Heyden perfects the city view, meticulous, calm and bathed in clear light.
See the Jan van der Heyden collection
#70
Ludolf Bakhuizen
Bakhuizen dramatizes the Dutch sea with powerful winds, ships, clouds and foam.
See the Ludolf Bakhuizen collectionRanks 71 to 80
Visionary landscapes and European crossroads
Van de Velde, Berchem, Dujardin, Seghers, Savery, Hoogstraten, Elinga, Vrel, Elsheimer and El Greco connect sea, dreamed Italy, perspective, silence and spirituality.
#71
Willem van de Velde the Younger
Van de Velde the Younger imposes the navy as a great genre, between naval precision and a silver atmosphere.
See the Willem van collection by Velde the Younger
#72
Nicolaes Berchem
Berchem people Italianate landscapes of shepherds, ruins and animals in a southern light.
See the Nicolaes Berchem collection
#73
Karel Dujardin
Dujardin mixes Italian animals, figures and landscapes with clear and pastoral grace.
See the Karel Dujardin collection
#74
Hercules Seghers
Seghers invents visionary landscapes and graphic effects that will fascinate Rembrandt.
See the Hercules Seghers collection
#75
Roelant Savery
Savery people landscapes, paradises and bouquets of rare animals, birds and naturalistic sightings.
See the Roelant Savery collection
#76
Samuel van Hoogstraten
Van Hoogstraten explores trompe l'oeil, perspective, theory and interior scenes with experimental intelligence.
See the Samuel van Hoogstraten collection
#77
Pieter Janssens Elinga
Elinga creates quiet interiors where perspective, open doors and light become subject.
See the Pieter Janssens Elinga collection
#78
Jacob Vrel
Vrel paints enigmatic streets and interiors, bare, almost modern in their silence.
See the Jacob Vrel collection
#79
Adam Elsheimer
Elsheimer concentrates nocturnal landscapes, mythology and sky effects in small formats of great influence.
See the Adam Elsheimer collection
#80
El Greco
El Greco crosses the beginning of the 17th century with his stretched figures, his spiritual light and his visionary color.
See the El Greco collectionRanks 81 to 90
Caravaggios, decorators and baroques from Europe
Orazio Gentileschi, Manfredi, Saraceni, Lanfranco, Albani, Strozzi, Cano, Coello, Maíno and Van der Meulen extended the Baroque throughout Europe.
#81
Orazio Gentileschi
Orazio Gentileschi softens Caravaggio in clear, elegant and theatrical scenes.
See the Orazio Gentileschi collection
#82
Bartolomeo Manfredi
Manfredi broadcasts Caravaggesque half-figures, musicians, players and soldiers throughout Europe.
See the Bartolomeo Manfredi collection
#83
Carlo Saraceni
Saraceni unites Caravaggesque light, Venetian color and refined formats.
See the Carlo Saraceni collection
#84
Giovanni Lanfranco
Lanfranco energizes domes and religious compositions through great upward movements.
See the Giovanni Lanfranco collection
#85
Francesco Albani
Albani cultivates mythologies, idealized landscapes and graceful figures in the Carracci orbit.
See the Francesco Albani collection
#86
Bernardo Strozzi
Strozzi combines warm color, free touch and expressive realism between Genoa and Venice.
See the Bernardo Strozzi collection
#87
Alonso Cano
Cano brings together painting, sculpture and architecture in a religious elegance specific to Granada.
See the Alonso Cano collection
#88
Claudio Coello
Coello extends the great Spanish religious and court painting with a theatrical sense of decor.
See the Claudio Coello collection
#89
Juan Bautista Maino
Maíno introduced a refined Caravaggesque light into Spanish painting of the turn of the century.
See the Juan Bautista Maino collection
#90
Adam Frans van der Meulen
Van der Meulen puts the war and the glory of Louis XIV into panoramic, precise and political images.
See the Adam Frans van der Meulen collectionRanks 91 to 100
Classical France and Flemish heritage
Callot, La Hyre, Le Sueur, Bourdon, Mignard, Rigaud, Noël Coypel, Stella, Coques and Brouwer close the classification between war, portrait, decor, genre scene and classicism.
#91
Jacques Callot
Callot marks the century with its scenes of war, theater and poverty, of a capital graphic invention.
See the Jacques Callot collection
#92
Laurent de La Hyre
The Hyre brings poetic, tender and skillfully composed clarity to French classicism.
See the Laurent de La Hyre collection
#93
Eustache Le Sueur
Le Sueur develops a sober, spiritual and linear painting, emblematic of Parisian Atticism.
See the Eustache Le Sueur collection
#94
Sébastien Bourdon
Bourdon moves from landscape to history with a very broad visual culture, between Rome, Paris and Protestantism.
See the Sébastien Bourdon collection
#95
Pierre Mignard
Mignard rivals Le Brun with his portraits, domes and elegant images of the Grand Siècle.
See the Pierre Mignard collection
#96
Hyacinthe Rigaud
Rigaud fixed the monarchical image at the end of the century, with drapes, prestige and psychological presence.
See the Hyacinthe Rigaud collection
#97
Noel Coypel
Noël Coypel participates in the major official and religious settings of Louis-Quatorzian France.
See the Noël Coypel collection
#98
Jacques Stella
Stella develops a delicate classicism, nourished by Rome, Poussin and a taste for clear lines.
See the Jacques Stella collection
#99
Gonzales Coques
Coques adapts Van Dyck's elegance to small social portraits and family scenes.
See the Gonzales Coques collection
#100
Adriaen Brouwer
Brouwer paints taverns, grimaces and smoke with a biting freedom that will influence Rubens and the Dutch.
See the Adriaen Brouwer collectionMethod
How the 100 painters were selected
The selection favors artists who played a major role in 17th century painting, through their influence, their pictorial quality, their place in a school or their contribution to a genre: history, portrait, landscape, still life, genre scene, marine, architecture or religious painting.
The ranking balances the great universal names and specialized masters. He not only seeks the most famous painters, but those who best explain the variety of the century: Baroque Italy, Mystical Spain, Rubenian Flanders, Dutch Golden Age and Classical France.
Where to start?
Three simple routes in the 17th century
For chiaroscuro and drama, start with Caravaggio, Artemisia Gentileschi, Ribera, Georges de La Tour, Honthorst and Ter Brugghen. For baroque grandeur, look at Rubens, Van Dyck, Jordaens, Cortona, Lanfranco and Le Brun.
For daily life and silent light, go to Vermeer, Pieter de Hooch, Ter Borch, Metsu, Dou, Fabritius and Maes. For the landscape and still life, continue with Claude Lorrain, Poussin, Ruisdael, Cuyp, Heda, Kalf, De Heem and Rachel Ruysch.
The 17th century, laboratory of modern painting
This century is often summarized in Baroque, but it is much broader: he invents a new way of painting light, the body, the city, the house, power, the sea and objects. Its strength comes from this tension between spectacle and intimacy.
From Caravaggio to Vermeer, from Rubens to Rembrandt, from Velazquez to Poussin, the painters of the 17th century opened an immense part of our modern gaze: dramatic intensity, observation of reality, inner emotion and scholarly construction of the image.
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