Events from the year 1591 in art.

Events

• Antiveduto Grammatica leaves the studio of Giovanni Domenico Angelini to set up as an independent artist.
• William Scrots' anamorphic portrait of King Edward VI of England causes a sensation when it is exhibited at Whitehall Palace.

Works

by pupils of Mir Sayyid 'Ali – Bhairava raga, Ragamala, Chunar, Opaque watercolour on paper, Victoria and Albert Museum

• Giuseppe Arcimboldo - Vertumnus (c.1590–91)
• Abraham Bloemaert - Niobe
• Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger - Sir Francis Drake wearing the Drake jewel

Births

• January 12 - Jusepe de Ribera, Spanish Tenebrist painter and printmaker (died 1652)
• February 8 - Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Guercino)), Italian painter (died 1666)
• March 19 - Dirck Hals, Dutch painter of festivals and ballroom scenes (died 1656)
• date unknown
  • Lucas de Wael, Flemish painter active mainly in Genoa (died 1631)
  • Jacques Fouquier, Flemish landscape painter (died 1659)
  • Giovanni Antonio Lelli, Italian painter of the Baroque period (died 1640)
  • Bartlomiej Strobel, painter (died 1650)
  • Cornelis Vroom, Dutch painter (died 1661), known for landscapes and seascapes, son of reverse-named Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom (1566–1640)
• probable
  • Willem Pieterszoon Buytewech, Dutch painter (died 1624)
  • Valentin de Boulogne, French painter (died 1632)

Deaths

• March 17 - Jost Amman, Swiss illustrator (born 1539)
• May 3 - Antonio Abondio, Italian sculptor, best known as a medallist and as the pioneer of the coloured wax relief portrait miniature (born 1538)
• October 3 - Vincenzo Campi, Italian painter (born 1536)
• November 30 (possible date) - Johan Gregor van der Schardt, Dutch-born sculptor working in Denmark (born c.1530/31)
• date unknown
  • Bernardino Campi, Italian Renaissance painter (born 1522)
  • Giovanni Battista Naldini, Italian late-Mannerist painter in Florence (born 1537)
• probable - Crispin van den Broeck, Flemish painter (born 1523)