Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago holds 100 Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces in the Paintale collection, including works by Correggio, Jacopo da Empoli, Moretto da Brescia, Girolamo da Carpi. Each painting page unpacks the symbolism, technique, and provenance of the work — turning a gallery visit, or a search for a single canvas, into a deeper encounter with the period.
Famous paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago
Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist, Saint Cecilia, and Angels
Piero di Cosimo
Venus and Mars with Cupid and the Three Graces in a Landscape
Domenico Tintoretto
Saint Anthony Appearing to a Sick Man
Follower of Domenico Robusti, called Tintoretto Italian
Portrait of Sir Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex (1485-1540)
Attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger
Portrait of Magdalena of Saxony, Wife of Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Young Woman at an Open Half-Door
Rembrandt van RijnWorkshop of Rembrandt van Rijn
Apollo Granting Phaeton Permission to Drive the Chariot of the Sun
Johann Michael Rottmayr
Trompe-l'Oeil Still Life with a Flower Garland and a Curtain
Adriaen van der SpeltFrans van Mieris
The Adoration of the Christ Child
Jacob Cornelisz. van OostsanenWorkshop of Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen
Still Life with Ostrich Egg Cup and the Whitfield Heirlooms
Pieter Gerritsz. van Roestraeten
Virgin and Child in Glory with Saints Sebastian, John the Evangelist, and Roch
Pasquale Ottino Italian
About the Art Institute of Chicago’s Renaissance and Baroque collection
The Art Institute of Chicago’s holdings of Renaissance and Baroque painting in Chicago sit among the most significant surviving collections of pre-modern European art. The works in this group — 100 paintings — span the themes of power & politics, portrait, tragedy & death, religion & mythology, love & romance, daily life and the hands of artists from Correggio, Jacopo da Empoli, Moretto da Brescia, Girolamo da Carpi, Piero di Cosimo.
If you’re planning a visit, use this page as a starting list of the must-see paintings. If you’re researching from a desk, each painting page goes deeper than a museum label: the patron, the symbolism a 17th-century viewer would have recognised, the technique under the surface, and where the painting fits in Art Institute of Chicago’s longer history.