1546 in art

Events

• The plan for the new St. Peter's Basilica dome, begun by Bramante, is continued by the new chief architect, Michelangelo.
• The Farnese Hercules is removed from the Baths of Caracalla by Cardinal Cardinal Alessandro Farnese to the Palazzo Farnese in Rome.

Works

Paintings

• Domenico Beccafumi – Pagan Child Couple
• Jacopo Bassano – The Adoration of the Shepherds
• Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta – Holy Family with Saint Michael
• Lorenzo Lotto – San Giacomo dell'Orio Altarpiece
• William Scrots
• * Anamorphic portrait of Edward, Prince of Wales
• * Henry Howard Earl of Surrey
• * : Elizabeth as a princess
• Titian – ''Pope Paul III and his Grandsons''

Births

• March 21 - Bartholomeus Spranger, Flemish Northern Mannerist painter, draughtsman, and etcher

Deaths

• January 4 - Camillo Boccaccino, Italian painter active mainly in Cremona and regions of Lombardy
• January 11 - Gaudenzio Ferrari, Italian painter and sculptor of the Renaissance
• August 1 - Peter Faber, French Jesuit painter and sculptor
• October 23 - Peter Flötner, German designer, sculptor, and printmaker
• November 1 - Giulio Romano, Italian painter and architect
• date unknown
• *Valerio Belli, Italian engraver and medallion maker
• *Jan van Calcar, Netherlands-born Italian painter, pupil of Titian
• *Bartolomeo Veneto - Italian portrait painter
• probable - Marinus van Reymerswaele, Dutch Renaissance painter (born 1490