Known Names
We know many painters by names other than their real ones.
| Known
name |
Dates |
Real
Name |
Why? |
| Cimabue | 1240 - 1302 | Cennu di Peppi | He was stubborn so he was named 'Cimabue' or 'ox-head.' |
| Fra Angelico | 1395 - 1455 | Guido de Pietro | He was a monk and this was his religious name: Fra meaning Brother. |
| Masaccio | 1401 - 1428 | Tommaso de Ser Giovanni di Mone | He never cared for his appearance so his name became Masaccio, "Messy Tom" |
| Sandro Botticelli | 1444 - 1510 | Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi | Botticelli means 'little barrel.' |
| Hierinymous Bosch | 1450 - 1516 | Jeroen van Aken | He took his name from the town where he was born s'Hertegonbosch in the Netherlands |
| Da Vinci | 1452 - 1519 | Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci", meaning "Leonardo, son of (Mes)ser Piero from Vinci" | He used the name of his Father's birthplace, Vinci. |
| Grünewald | 1470 - 1528 | Matthias Gothardt Neithardt | Not known … his real name was only discovered in 1930 |
| Michelangelo | 1475 - 1564 | Mchelangelo Buonarrotti | He only used his first name - Michael |
| Giorgione | 1477 - 1510 | Gorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco | Little George |
| Raphael | 1483 - 1520 | Raffaello Sanzio | A French variety of his first name. |
| Corregio | 1489 - 1534 | Antonio Allegri | Not known. |
| Titian | 1485 - 1576 | Tiziano Vecellio | An alliterative nick-name |
| Sebastionao del Piombo | 1486 - 1517 | Sebastiano de Luciano | He was made keper of the Papal Seals, the Piombo. |
| Bronzino | 1503 - 1582 | Agnolo di Cosimo | 'Bronzino' means 'bronze colored' or 'tanned' |
| Parmaigiano | 1503 - 1540 | Girolamo Francesco Mazzoia | The Liitle one from Parma after the town in which he grew up |
| Tintoretto | 1518 - 1594 | Jacopo Robusti | His father was a professional dyer |
| Pieter Brueghel | 1525 - 1569 | Bruegel | He spelt his name with an 'h' until 1559 and his sons kept the 'h.' |
| Paolo Veronese | 1528 - 1588 | Paolo Caliani | Nicknamed after the town of his birth: Verona |
| El Greco | 1541 - 1614 | Domenikos Theotocopoulos | Born in Greece he settled in Spain and was known as 'The Greek.' |
| Caravaggio | 1571 - 1610 | Michelangelo di Merisi | He was born near the village of Caravaggio |
| Velazquez | 1599 - 1660 | Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velasquez | His father, Juan Rodriguez, belonged to the Portuguese family of Silva; the child took the name of his mother, Gerónima Velazquez |
| Goya | 1746 - 1828 | Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes | Goya was the simplest part of his family name |
| Hokusai Katsushika | 1760 - 1849 | Hokusai Kawamura | He took the name of a close farming village |
| Utagawa Hiroshige | 1797 - 1858 | Ando Hiroshige | He took the name of his teacher |
| Hitler | 1889 - 1945 | Heidler | The name of his stepfather. |
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