Who are these artists?

Question

Today I heard about a Renaissance artists that was accused of murder. He made such good sculptures that people thought he killed people and bronzed them. I also heard about an artist that would paint people and the person would die about a week later.

Do you know what the names of these two artists were?

The first artist might not be from the Renaissance. I'm only going by what someone told me.

The second isn't fiction. He would paint someone and by coinciedence they would die, so people thought he cursed them.

Answer 1

Rodin was accused of using body casts - about the worst thing you could say of a sculptor - but he was not of the renaissance period.
The second artist - that sounds like fiction.

Answer 2

The only artist I can think of is Caravaggio, and he was an Early Baroque painter.

"Caravaggio led a tumultuous life. He was notorious for brawling, even in a time and place when such behavior was commonplace, and the transcripts of his police records and trial proceedings fill several pages."

"On 29 May 1606, he killed, possibly unintentionally, a young man named Ranuccio Tomassoni [alledgedly an altercation about the score of a tennis match EVT]. Previously his high-placed patrons had protected him from the consequences of his escapades, but this time they could do nothing. Caravaggio, outlawed, fled to Naples. There, outside the jurisdiction of the Roman authorities and protected by the Colonna family, the most famous painter in Rome became the most famous in Naples."

"Despite his success in Naples, after only a few months in the city Caravaggio left for Malta, the headquarters of the Knights of Malta, presumably hoping that the patronage of Alof de Wignacourt, Grand Master of the Knights, could help him secure a pardon for Tomassoni's death."

"Exile and death (1606-1610) in "Caravaggio", Wikipedia :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravaggio#Exile_and_death_.281606-1610.29

Benvenuto Cellini would indeed be another good candidate, being a card-carrying Renaissance artist and having killed a few people in his time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellini

But painting someone to death? Reminds me of "Goldfinger"!

Answer 3

Caravaggio was accused of murder, but he was primarily a painter. Michaelangelo secretly dissected corpses in order to study the human body - against both civil and religious law at the time. I've never actually heard of a sculptor accused of bronzing real bodies or an artist whose portraits were an omen of death. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. You've got me curious now.

Answer 4

I think the sculptor was Benevenuto Cellini. Most of his works were sold and melted down over the years (for cannons) and only small pieces of jewellery and some church pieces survive. He was 'world-renowned' (ie in Europe) for his male bronze sculptures.

The second one sounds like "Dorian Gray", a fictional character by Oscar Wilde. He never aged, the portrait of him did and he could kill others by painting them, I believe. Only after he's responsible for killing his longest and best friend does he destroy his own painting and die.

Answer 5

I believe the second one was a fictional character.

Answer 6

This guy?
http://www.theartgallery.com.au/ArtEducation/greatartists/Caravaggio/about/index.html

Answer 7

No, but now I wanna who they are!