Painting by Hans Baldung Grien: Death and the Maiden. Baldung may have been a pupil of Dürer. His paintings and prints included a variety of subjects, but he is best known for macabre, erotic allegories involving witches or young women being embraced by death. The inevitability of death was a favorite theme among many North Renaissance artists.

Painting by Raphael: The Transfiguration is the last painting by the Italian High Renaissance master Raphael. Cardinal Giulio de Medici — who later became Pope Clement VII (in office: 1523–1534) — commissioned the work, conceived as an altarpiece for Narbonne Cathedral in France; Raphael worked on it in the years preceding his death in 1520. The painting exemplifies Raphael's development as an artist and the culmination of his career. Unusually for a depiction of the Transfiguration of Jesus in Christian art, the subject is combined with the next episode from the Gospels (the healing of a possessed boy) in the lower part of the painting. The work is now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana in the Vatican City. From the late 16th century until the early 20th century, various commentators regarded it as the most famous oil painting in the world.

Suleiman I, also known as Suleiman the Magnificent, became Sultan in 1520 and led the Ottoman Empire to its greatest height. He expanded the empire's territory, reformed its legal system, and oversaw a cultural and artistic flourishing known as the Ottoman Renaissance.

Beginning of anabaptist movement in Germany under Thomas Münzer.

Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther.

Ferdinand Magellan passes through a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The strait is approximately 570 km (310 nmi; 350 mi) long and 2 km (1.1 nmi; 1.2 mi) wide at its narrowest point. Magellan was the first European to discover it. Magellan's original name for the strait was Estrecho de Todos los Santos ("Strait of All Saints"). The King of Spain, Emperor Charles V, who sponsored the Magellan-Elcano expedition, changed the name to the Strait of Magellan in honor of Magellan.

Jacopo Berengario da Carpi publishes Commentaria cum amplissimus additionibus super anatomiam Mundini in Bologna, containing the first printed anatomical illustrations taken from nature and including observation of the vermiform appendix. His book Isagoge breves published in 1522 made him the most important anatomist before Andreas Vesalius.

Pope Leo X confers title Defender of the Faith on King Henry VIII for his Assertio septem sacramentorum against Luther.

Francisco de Cordillo explores the American coast up to South Carolina.

Slave Revolt: the Caribbean Slaves rebel on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, which now comprises Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Adrian of Utrecht, Regent of Spain, elected Pope Adrian VI, the last non-Italian Pope for some time.

The Victoria (nau Vittoria), one of the surviving ships of the Magellan expedition, returns to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain under the command of Juan Sebastián Elcano, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the world. It carries the first (dead) examples of the bird-of-paradise ever to be seen in Europe. Venetian cardinal Gasparo Contarini, in Spain at this time, is the first European to give a correct explanation of the one-day discrepancy in dates observed by the crew on their return.

Painting by Titian: Bacchus and Ariadne, an oil painting that is one of a cycle of paintings on mythological subjects produced for Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, for the Camerino d'Alabastro — a private room in his palazzo in Ferrara decorated with paintings based on classical texts. An advance payment was given to Raphael, who originally held the commission for the subject of a Triumph of Bacchus. At the time of Raphael's death in 1520, only a preliminary drawing was completed. The commission was then handed to Titian. In the case of Bacchus and Ariadne, the subject matter was derived from the Roman poets Catullus and Ovid, and perhaps other classical authors. The painting, considered one of Titian's greatest works, is now in the National Gallery, London. The other major paintings in the cycle are The Feast of the Gods, mostly by Giovanni Bellini, now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C, and Titian's The Bacchanal of the Andrians and The Worship of Venus, both now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. The series was a very early treatment of subjects from classical mythology on a heroic scale in painting, rather than in small decorative pieces, and very influential on later works.

Pope Adrian VI dies, Giulio de' Medici becomes Pope Clement VII. Deemed the most unfortunate of the popes, Clement VII's reign was marked by a rapid succession of political, military, and religious struggles — many long in the making — which had far-reaching consequences for Christianity and world politics. Elected in 1524 at the end of the Italian Renaissance, Clement came to the papacy with a high reputation as a statesman. He had served with distinction as chief advisor to Pope Leo X (1513–1521, his cousin), Pope Adrian VI (1522–1523), and commendably as gran maestro of Florence (1519–1523). Assuming leadership at a time of crisis, with the Protestant Reformation spreading, the Church nearing bankruptcy, and large foreign armies invading Italy, Clement initially tried to unite Christendom by making peace among the many Christian leaders then at odds. He later attempted to liberate Italy from foreign occupation, believing that it threatened the Church's freedom. The complex political situation of the 1520s thwarted Clement's efforts.

Anthony Fitzherbert publishes The Boke of Husbandry (Book of Husbandry), one of the classics of English agriculture, containing directions for draining, clearing, and enclosing a farm; and for enriching and reducing the soil to tillage. Lime, marl, and fallowing are strongly recommended. The landlords are advised to grant leases to farmers who will surround their farms, and divide them by hedges into proper enclosures. The Boke of Husbandry gives a clear and minute description of the rural practices of that period.

Painting by Parmigianino: Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror, a small painting, only 24.4 cm diameter (9.6 in). The work is mentioned by Late Renaissance art biographer Giorgio Vasari, who lists it as one of three small-size paintings that the artist brought to Rome with him in 1525. Vasari relays that the self-portrait was created by Parmigianino as an example to showcase his talent to potential customers. The painting depicts the young artist (then twenty one) in the middle of a room, distorted by the use of a convex mirror. The hand in the foreground is greatly elongated and distorted by the mirror. The work was painted on a specially-prepared convex panel in order to mimic the curve of the mirror used.

Giovanni da Verrazzano becomes the first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between Florida and New Brunswick in 1524, including New York Bay and Narragansett Bay.

Painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder: Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg before Christ on the Cross, a painting executed with oil on firs and measures 158 cm in height and 112 cm in width. Originally belonging to the Collegiate Church of Aschaffenburg, it passed in 1829 to the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, where it is shown with the title Kardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg vor dem Gekreuzigten kniend.

First publication of Galen's Of the method of curing diseases in the original Greek, by the Aldine Press in Venice.

Publication of Richard Banckes' Herball, the first true herbal printed in Britain.

Christoff Rudolff introduces the mathematical sign designating square root.

Albrecht Dürer's book on geometry and perspective, Underweysung der Messung (Instructions on Measurement) is published at Nuremberg. It is the first book for adults to be published on mathematics in German.

First publication of the collected works of Hippocrates translated into Latin, in Rome.

Painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder: Cupid Complaining to Venus is one of 20 similar works by Cranach and his workshop, with the figures in a variety of poses and differing in other details. The Metropolitan Museum of Art notes that the number of extant versions suggests that this was one of Cranach's most successful compositions. This version was acquired by the National Gallery, London in 1963 and is perhaps the earliest example. It depicts two classical gods of love, standing naked amid a verdant landscape under a blue sky. The work has been interpreted as an allegory of the pleasure and pains of love, and possibly also a warning of the risks of venereal disease. The winged infant Cupid stands the left of a tree which bears red apples. He is holding a honeycomb, possibly taken from a hole towards the bottom of the tree's trunk. He is being assailed by honeybees, infuriated by his theft of their sweet treasure. Venus is depicted as a voluptuous woman to the right of the tree. She is holding up a branch with her left hand, and rests her left foot on another. A stone below Venus's raised foot bears an inscription of a winged serpent with a ring in its mouth, a heraldic device granted to Cranach by Frederick the Wise in 1508. Venus is wearing only a hat of red and gold cloth decorated with a wide circle of ostrich plumes, and two necklaces: a gold chain and a jewelled choker. The pose of Venus, and the apples, allude to paintings of Eve by Cranach.

Transit of Venus occurs. A transit of Venus takes place when Venus passes directly between the Sun and the Earth (or any other superior planet), becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a transit, Venus is visible as a small black circle moving across the face of the Sun.

Publication of Peter Treveris's The Grete Herball (a translation of Le Grant Herbier) in England.

Painting by Parmigianino: Vision of Saint Jerome, was commissioned on 3 January 1526 in Rome, by Maria Bufalini, wife of Antonio Caccialupi, to decorate the family chapel in the church of San Salvatore in Lauro. The contract mentioned "Francesco Mazola de Parma" and one "Pietro" with the same name, perhaps Parmigianino's uncle Piero Ilario Mazzola. The elongated shape derives from its original destination as part of a triptych, whose sides (never painted) should represent the Immaculate Conception (to which the chapel was dedicated) and the saints Joachim and Anna. According to late Renaissance art biographer Giorgio Vasari, Parmigianino was working to this painting during the Sack of Rome, and he had to stop when the city was ravaged by the imperial troops. He was able to escape paying a ransom, while his uncle remained in Rome, being able to hide the painting in the refectory of Santa Maria della Pace. The painting is divided into two narrative sectors: a lower one, with Saint Jerome is sleeping near the crucifix (with his traditional symbol, the cardinal hat visible near a skull) and receives the vision of St. John the Baptist, identified by the long cross and the baptismal washbasin which is tied at his belt; St. John indicates the Child, represented in the upper sector between the legs of the Madonna, with a shining background behind them. Parmigianino's attention to detail is shown by the Baptist's reed cross, the speckled skin which covers him, the undergrowth near the sleeping Jerome, and the sheen on Mary's dress, the last perhaps inspired by classical sculptures seen by Parmigianino during his trips.

Painting by Hans Holbein, the younger: portrait of Sir Thomas More, an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, amateur theologian, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to May 1532. He wrote Utopia, published in 1516, which describes the political system of an imaginary island state. More opposed the Protestant Reformation, directing polemics against the theology of Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli and William Tyndale. More also opposed Henry VIII's separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge Henry as supreme head of the Church of England and the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was convicted of treason on what he stated was false evidence, and was executed. At his execution, he was reported to have said: "I die the King's good servant, and God's first." Pope Pius XI canonised More in 1935 as a martyr.

Painting by Lorenzo Lotto: The Annunciation, an oil-on-canvas painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Lorenzo Lotto, executed around somewhere between 1527 and 1534 and housed in the Civic Museum of Villa Colloredo Mels, Recanati, Italy. The painting depicts a bedroom where an Annunciation takes place following an unusual scheme: the angel is on the right, holding a white lily, and has got in from a loggia which opens to a garden (the hortus conclusus). His right arm is pointing at the Father God who has shown in a cloud and is blessing Mary from inside the loggia. Mary is portrayed in the left foreground, looking at the spectator and raising her hands in a surprised gesture. Stylistically, Lotto used expressive gestures and somewhat under-size heads. The number of carefully painted details show the influence of Northern European paintings: they include the baldachin bed, the small window with sealed glasses, the shelf with a small still life, the hatstand, the stool with an hourglass, the prie-dieu and a scared cat which is fleeing. The baldachin was inspired by a relief by Andrea Sansovino at Loreto.

Petrus Apianus publishes a handbook of commercial arithmetic, Ein newe und wolgegründete underweisung aller Kauffmanns Rechnung in dreyen Büchern, mit schönen Regeln und fragstücken begriffen, at Ingolstadt.

Painting by Hans Holbein the Younger: Portrait of the Artist's Family, a portrait of the family of the painter Hans Holbein the Younger by the artist himself. It depicts Holbein's wife Elsbeth Binzenstock, their son Philipp and their daughter Katharina. Holbein painted it during his stay in Basel after his return from England. It was painted, between 1528 and 1529, on paper and glued on wood.

Painting by Jacopo Pontormo: The Deposition from the Cross is an altarpiece, completed in 1528, depicting the Deposition of Christ. It is broadly considered to be the artist's surviving masterpiece. Painted in tempera on wood, it is located above the altar of the Capponi Chapel of the church of Santa Felicita in Florence.

(no entry for this year)