Events from the year 1550 in art.

• Antonis Mor is commissioned by Mary of Hungary to travel around Portugal and paint portraits of the Portuguese branch of her family.
• Giorgio Vasari publishes Le Vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori (The Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects) in Florence.

• Sofonisba Anguissola – Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola
• Bronzino - PortraIt of a Young Man (possibly Pierino da Vinci)^[1]
• Lucas Cranach the Elder – Self-portrait at 77
• Frans Floris – Banquet of the Gods
• Maarten van Heemskerck – Adam and Eve/Gideon and the Fleece
• Dirck Jacobsz. – Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen Painting a Portrait of His Wife
• Jan Mandijn – The Temptation of St. Anthony
• Francesco de' Rossi – Portrait of a Young Man
• Titian – Venus and Musician (Venus with an Organist and a Dog, Museo del Prado)

• April 18 - Alessandro Pieroni, Italian mannerist painter and architect (died 1607)
• date unknown
  • Cristoforo Augusta, Italian painter, pupil of Giovanni Battista Trotti (died 1600)
  • Matthijs Bril, landscape painter of frescoes who worked in Rome (died 1583)
  • Aert Pietersz, Dutch painter (died 1612)
  • Jan Sadeler I, Flemish engraver of the Sadeler family (died 1600)
• probable
  • Piermaria Bagnadore, Italian painter and architect of the late-Renaissance period (died 1627)
  • Pier Angelo Basili, Italian painter born in Gubbio (died 1604)
  • Pieter Bast, Dutch cartographer, engraver and draftsman (died 1605)
  • Giovanni Paolo Cavagna, Italian painter, active mainly in Bergamo (died 1627)
  • Giovanni Battista Cremonini, Italian painter of primarily frescoes (died 1610)
  • Pedro de Bolduque, Spanish sculptor of Flemish origin (died 1595)
  • Wendel Dietterlin, German painter/architect, author of a treatise on the five orders entitled Architectura (1598) filled with Mannerist ornament (died 1599)
  • 1548/1550: Palma il Giovane, Italian Mannerist painter from Venice (died 1628)
  • Marcin Kober, Polish court painter to King Stefan Batory (died 1598)
  • Giovanni Paolo Lolmo, Italian painter (died 1593)
  • Sampson Strong, Dutch-born portrait painter (died 1611)
  • Nicolas van Houy, Dutch Golden Age painter (died 1611)
  • Hendrik van Steenwijk I, Dutch painter, earliest-known painter of architectural interiors (died 1603)
  • Giovanni Vasanzio, Dutch-born architect, garden designer and engraver (died 1621)
  • (born 1550/1551) Scarsellino, Italian painter, of the School of Ferrara (died 1620)
  • Hans van Steenwinckel the Elder, Flemish/Danish sculptor and architect (died 1601)
  • Đorđe Mitrofanović, Serbian portraitist, icon painter and muralist (died 1630)

• September - Giovanni Maria Francesco Rondani, Italian painter of the Parmesan school (born 1490)
• September 7 - Niccolò Tribolo, Italian Mannerist artist (born 1500)
• 22 November - Sebald Beham, German printmaker, engraver, designer of woodcuts, painter and miniaturist (born 1500)
• October 11 - Georg Pencz, German engraver, painter and printmaker (born 1500)
• December 6 - Pieter Coecke van Aelst, Flemish artist of paintings and tapestries (born 1502)
• date unknown
  • Antonio da Trento, Italian artist especially of woodcuts (born 1508)
  • Antonio Fantuzzi, Italian etcher (born 1510)
  • Gregório Lopes, Renaissance painter from Portugal (born 1490)
  • Girolamo Marchesi, Italian painter (born 1471)
• probable - Innocenzo di Pietro Francucci da Imola, Italian painter and draftsman (died 1494)