Art Through The Ages
Unknown Artist of Lascaux (c. 15,000 BCE)
The anonymous painters of the Lascaux Caves in France left the earliest known masterpieces of humanity. Their “Great Hall of the Bulls” – vivid red and black ochre images of aurochs, horses, and deer – demonstrates astonishing observation of animal movement and the birth of symbolic representation.
Unknown Artist of Chauvet (c. 30,000 BCE)
Even older than Lascaux, the Chauvet Cave artists created breathtaking charcoal drawings of lions, rhinoceroses, and horses in dynamic motion. The “Panel of the Lions” remains one of the most powerful expressions of Paleolithic genius.
Unknown Egyptian Painter, Tomb of Nakht (c. 1400 BCE)
Anonymous artisans of Dynasty XVIII painted delicate, lively scenes of daily life. The famous “Fishing and Fowling in the Marshes” (TT52) shows Nakht spearing fish and throwing a boomerang at birds in a vibrant papyrus thicket – the epitome of Egyptian elegance.
Unknown Master of Knossos (c. 1600 BCE)
Minoan fresco painters produced the luminous “Prince of the Lilies” and leaping dolphins. Their fluid, joyful style influenced all later Mediterranean art.
Phidias (c. 480–430 BCE)
The greatest sculptor of Classical Greece directed the Parthenon project. Though no painting survives, his lost chryselephantine Athena Parthenos was described as the most beautiful image ever made.
Apelles (4th century BCE)
Alexander the Great’s court painter, famed for “Aphrodite Anadyomene” (Venus rising from the sea). Pliny wrote that no one could match his grace and illusionistic skill.
👇Fascinating Facts👇
Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267–1337)
The father of Western painting. His fresco cycle in the Scrovegni Chapel (Padua), especially “The Lamentation,” introduced natural emotion, three-dimensional space, and narrative clarity that broke from Byzantine stiffness.
Duccio di Buoninsegna (c. 1255–1319)
Sienese master whose “Maestà” (1308–1311) for Siena Cathedral remains a jewel of refined Byzantine-Gothic synthesis, glowing with gold and tender feeling.
Jan van Eyck (c. 1390–1441)
Inventor of oil painting technique as we know it. The “Arnolfini Portrait” (1434) is a miracle of microscopic detail, symbolism, and luminous color.