Events

Villa Giulia is completed, which now houses the National Etruscan Museum's collection of Etruscan civilization art and artifacts

Paintings

April 21 – Ludovico Carracci, Italian painter (died 1619)
date unknown
- Carlo Antonio Procaccini, Italian painter of still lifes and landscapes (died unknown)
- Dong Qichang, Chinese painter, scholar, calligrapher, and art theorist of the later period of the Ming dynasty (died 1636)
- Aegidius Sadeler I, Flemish engraver of the Sadeler family (died 1609)
- Antonio Tempesta, Florentine painter and engraver, worked in Rome, influenced by Counter-Mannerism (died 1630)
- Giovanni Battista Trotti, Italian painter active mainly in his native city of Cremona (died 1612)
probable
- Jacob de Backer, Flemish Mannerist painter and draughtsman (died 1585)

July 2 - Girolamo dai Libri, Italian illuminator of manuscripts and painter of altarpieces (born 1474/1475)
date unknown
- Giovanni Antonio Amato, Italian painter (born 1475)
- Barthel Bruyn the Elder, German painter (born 1493)
- Niccolò Giolfino, Italian painter (born 1476)
- Gerolamo Giovenone, Italian painter (born c.1486)
probable
- (died 1555/1558): Giovanni Francesco Caroto, Italian painter active in Verona (born 1480)
- (died 1555/1558): Benedetto Montagna, Italian engraver (born 1481)
- (died 1555/1561): Heinrich Aldegrever, German painter and engraver (born 1502)
- Herri met de Bles, Flemish Northern Renaissance and Mannerist landscape painter (born 1510)
- Jan Mostaert, Dutch painter of portraits and religious subjects (born 1475)
- Mir Musavvir, Persian illustrator and painter (born unknown)