* Great Artists (2001)

An illuminating documentary series examining the lives and works of 14 of the greatest artists of the western world. What influences shaped these outstanding artists and what makes their work so remarkable and draws us to these paintings centuries later? Written and presented by art historian Tim Marlow.

Episode 1: Giotto
Tim Marlow presents the life and work of the Western world's most gifted artists, beginning with Giotto di Bondone, the son of a Tuscan shepherd. Born in 1267, Giotto began his apprenticeship at the age of 12, and with his naturalistic treatment of medieval Christian iconography, was recognised as the first in a line of great painters and architects who contributed to the Italian Renaissance.

Episode 2: Leonardo
Profile of scientist, engineer and inventor Leonardo da Vinci, whose extraordinary artistic genius gave rise to masterpieces including the Mona Lisa, the Annunciation and the Last Supper. Breaking new ground in portraiture and historical imagery, this giant of the Italian Renaissance applied his considerable and wide-ranging skills to make a unique contribution to the development of European art.

Episode 3: Duerer
Tim Marlow examines the life and legacy of German painter Albrecht Durer, who set a new benchmark in self-portraiture and raised the artistic traditions of northern Europe to rival those of Renaissance Italy. Like his contemporary Leonardo da Vinci, Durer perceived the world with a scientist's eye, and his detailed studies of plants and animals remain unrivalled to this day. Featured works include The Four Apostles and Self-Portrait Holding a Thistle.

Episode 4: Michelangelo
Tim Marlow charts the life and work of celebrated Renaissance sculptor, architect and painter Michelangelo, most famous for the extraordinary scenes that adorn the ceiling of St Peter's Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.

Episode 5: Raphael
Tim Marlow examines the work of Italian Renaissance painter Raffaello Santi, known better simply as Raphael, who was born in 1483 and achieved so much in his short life that he was considered equal to Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. He was highly regarded for his many studies of the Madonna and Child, and artists adopted his idealised forms as the model of beauty until the end of the 19th century.

Episode 6: Titian
Tim Marlow reveals how the Renaissance movement found a new centre in the city of Venice and examines the life and work of Tiziano Vecellio, known to English speakers as Titian, who pioneered the use of oils with a radical approach to light, colour and brush strokes. His talent was recognised across Europe and he painted portraits of some of the 16th century's most powerful figures, including Pope Paul III and Charles V of Spain.

Episode 7: Bruegel
The life and work of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, generally considered the greatest Flemish painter of the 16th century, whose enigmatic works remain among the most distinctive examples of Dutch art, combining gritty humour with political comment. Tim Marlow reveals how Bruegel lived through a period of immense social change, whereby religious upheaval and the growth in trade and commerce had a monumental impact on him and his paintings and he was among the first artists to paint almost exclusively for the growing class of merchants and intellectuals.

Episode 8: El Greco
Tim Marlow charts the life of Greek artist Domenicos Theotocopolous, dubbed El Greco, one of the most distinctive painters of the 16th century. His work was considered in advance of its time - so much so that it was all but ignored for 300 years. El Greco developed a highly individualistic style which was initially criticised but went on to prove enormously influential, paving the way for the baroque and providing the inspiration for 20th-century expressionism.

Episode 9: Rubens
Tim Marlow explores the life and work of ground-breaking 17th century artist Peter Paul Rubens, who enjoyed an active and eventful career during the early 17th century. He was regarded as the chief exponent of the Baroque style, merging the grace of the Italian High Renaissance with the realism and landscapes of the northern tradition, and was perhaps best known for painting voluptuous female nudes within large-scale mythological allegories.

Episode 10: Velazquez
Tim Marlow explores the life and work of ground-breaking artist Diego de Silva y Velazquez, whose paintings provide a unique insight into the development of the Spanish monarchy in the 17th century - and the decline of the most powerful royal court in Europe.

Episode 11: Rembrandt
Historian Tim Marlow explores the life and work of 17th-century visionary Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmenszoon Van Rijn, who was famed for his skilful handling of light and shade in paintings portraying the human form. Born in Leiden, he was the eighth of nine children, whose passion for art led him to an apprenticeship with a local painter, and by 1625 he had a studio in Amsterdam, where he began painting the heads of relatives and neighbours, as well as producing 75 self-portraits. Demand for his talents soon grew and success came when he was commissioned to paint The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tull.

Episode 12: Vermeer
Born the lowly son of an innkeeper and art-dealer, Dutch painter Jan van der Meer, better known as Vermeer, lived an uneventful life during which he created less than 40 works and died unknown outside his home town. Tim Marlow investigates how he came to be regarded as a talent as masterful as Rembrandt, examining the simple domestic scenes which led to his posthumous rise to fame.

Episode 13: Turner
Art historian Tim Marlow profiles influential visionary painter JMW Turner (1775-1851), who divided the critics with his rapid brushstrokes, treatment of light and tendency toward abstraction, but is now hailed as possibly the greatest British artist of all time.