Renaissance Artwork is the best artwork done in the history of mankind.  It was right after the dark medieval ages that this unique lifestyle and representations of it.  The world was changing, and these artists created images which portrayed their concern for the new era which was to arise.  Not unlike today, in fact.  This art is amongst the best in the world, and deals with death and pain in such a way that many people may see it as being morbid and wonder how anyone could find fascination with such things.  But they reflect the times in such a way that 600 years later, they have the same impact that they did back then.  Most are religius works.

Hieronymus Bosch was a late gothic painter who focused mainly on religious works, however mostly with hell and the damned. Very little is known about him.  He became a master artist in 1486, and lived until 1516.  He used the painting technuques from the time which most accurately depicted real life, but used it instead to show scenes of demonic upheavals and hellish places.  His dark fascination with the morbid death and damnation of all mankind in its sinister ways created some of the best artwork of the middle ages, and because of this he became a legend in his own time, being perhaps the only painter who could truly conjugate concrete shapes to the fears and anxieties that plagued the minds of people in the middle ages.  Bosch is famous for his representations of evil.  He is really worth checking out.

Pieter Breugel is generally considered to be the greatest flemish painter of the 16th century, also known as pieter breughel the elder to distinguish himself from his eldest son, who was also an artist.  He was influenced heavily by Hieronymus Bosh, and his paintings reflect that.  He was one of the last late gothic painters, and so his works contain that transition and fear displayed in most art of the time, when europe was trying to forget the dark ages and was taking on the workd in a new way.  Also during this time, christianity was at it's peak, and gaining immense power and popularity, so the artwork is generally based on a religious theme.  

Matthias Grünewald was a major figure in the early renaissance/late gothic period along with such other great artists as Dürer and Cranach.  He remained unknown until the 20th century, and still is not very famous, but is not totally unknown, mostly because of his most famous work, the Isenheimer alterpiece.  There is not much on him, since only about 13 of his works remain to this day.  Although he may well have been a contemporary of Dürer, he was not influenced by the renaissance in either his dark themes or his style of painting.  The interesting thing about Grünewald is that, unlike Bosch, he shows us the torments and hellish nightmares of life, yet keeps hold of the idea lsand strength that can be gained from salvation.

Lucas Cranach the Elder was a german painter who became very wealthy and respected in his own time.  His paintings were hungerly sought after by collectors and were copied as popular designs in all sorts of households.  He painted extremely good erotic nudes (none of which are shown here) and also was good at wood cut and painted religious works.  He often did portraits and did several of Martin Luther.

Albrecht Altdorfer was a late gothic/early renaissance painter who was heavily influenced by Durer and Cranach.  Most of his paintings are religious works, or religious in nature but he was one of the first painters to paint landscapes.He sold artwork to Emorors and Dukes and is well known for his series of Battle works, one of which is on this page.  

Albrecht Dürer is usually regarded as the greatest german painter of the entire renaissance period.  He has done tons of different works, ranging from paintings and portraits to engravings and carvings of all sorts.  Dürer was a legend in his own time, such a great artist that his works were sought after all over europe, not just in germany and his woodcuts became the illustrations in many books.  Dürer travelled a lot, and learned more and was more widely appreciated than he was at home.He was heavily influenced by Venitian Italian art, mostly through the great bellini.  He basically ignored Germany's gothic history, and went his own route.  He was also a uniquely protestant artist.  His religious works show that rather well.