1556 in art

Events from the year 1556 in art.

Works

 * Sofonisba Anguissola – Self-portrait at the easel
 * Jan Sanders van Hemessen – The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
 * Paolo Veronese - Jupiter Hurling Thinderbolts at the Vices (Begun in 1554 - completed in 1556 - created for the Sala dei Consiglio dei Dieci,  of the Palazzo Ducale in Venice, now in the collection of the Louvre)

Births

 * August 16 - Bartolomeo Cesi, Italian painter of the Bolognese School (died 1629)
 * October 24 - Giovanni Battista Caccini, Italian sculptor (died 1613)
 * date unknown
 * Giovanni Bizzelli, Italian painter (died 1612)
 * Aurelio Lomi, Italian painter of frescoes (died 1622)
 * Carlo Maderno, Italian sculptor (died 1629)
 * Alessandro Maganza, Italian Mannerist painter (died 1630)
 * Pietro Malombra, Italian painter (died 1618)
 * Lazzaro Tavarone, Genoese painter (died 1641)
 * probable
 * Adrien de Vries, late Mannerist sculptor born in the Netherlands (died 1626)
 * Otto van Veen, painter, draughtsman, and humanist (died 1629)

Deaths

 * April - Cristofano Gherardi, Italian Mannerist painter (born 1508)
 * August 1 - Girolamo da Carpi, court painter and decorator to the Duke d'Este (born 1501)
 * date unknown
 * Luca Penni, Italian painter, member of the School of Fontainebleau (born 1500)
 * Girolamo da Santa Croce, Italian Renaissance painter (born 1480/1485)
 * probable – Jan Mostaert, Haarlem painter (born 1475)