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)

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)

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)