Questions · Art

What are the ten greatest painters of all time?

We asked 70 models. 60 put Leonardo da Vinci first.

Michelangelo got one, and one gave another answer.

Eight gave no single answer.

The question“What are the ten greatest painters of all time? Rank them. Give a brief reason for each.”

Leonardo da Vinci60
Michelangelo1
Peter Paul Rubens1
No single answer8
The number is how many models gave that answer.

What they said

in their own words

Claude 3 Haiku · picked Leonardo da Vinci

“Here is my ranking of the ten greatest painters of all time, with a brief reason for each: 1.”

DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp · picked Michelangelo

“Ranking the “greatest” painters is subjective, but here is one plausible top ten based on influence, technical mastery, and lasting impact.”

Claude Haiku 4.5 · picked Leonardo da Vinci

“Ten Greatest Painters of All Time 1. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) The ultimate Renaissance master—revolutionary in technique, anatomy, and perspective.”

Cydonia 24B V4.1 · picked Peter Paul Rubens

“Ranking the greatest painters of all time is inherently subjective, as artistic quality is highly personal and influenced by historical, cultural, and subjective tastes.”

Does the wording change the answer?

no

“What are the ten greatest painters of all time? Rank them. Give a brief reason for each.”

Leonardo da Vinci, 4 of 4

“Rank the ten greatest painters of all time. Give a brief reason for each.”

Leonardo da Vinci, 59 of 61
Every model’s answer (70)
Claude 3 HaikuLeonardo da Vinci
Claude Haiku 4.5Leonardo da Vinci
Claude Sonnet 5Leonardo da Vinci
DeepSeek Chat V3 0324Leonardo da Vinci
DeepSeek Chat V3.1Leonardo da Vinci
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423Leonardo da Vinci
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731Leonardo da Vinci
GLM 4.5 AirLeonardo da Vinci
GLM 4.7 FlashLeonardo da Vinci
GPT OSS 120bLeonardo da Vinci
GPT-4o MiniLeonardo da Vinci
GPT-5.6 TerraLeonardo da Vinci
Gemini 3.1 ProLeonardo da Vinci
Gemma 3 12BLeonardo da Vinci
Gemma 3 27b ItLeonardo da Vinci
Gemma 3 4BLeonardo da Vinci
Grok 4.6Leonardo da Vinci
Hermes 3 405B InstructLeonardo da Vinci
Hermes 3 70B InstructLeonardo da Vinci
Hunyuan 3Leonardo da Vinci
Hunyuan A13B InstructLeonardo da Vinci
Ling 3.0 FlashLeonardo da Vinci
Llama 3 8B LunarisLeonardo da Vinci
Llama 3.1 70b InstructLeonardo da Vinci
Llama 3.1 8B InstructLeonardo da Vinci
Llama 3.1 Euryale 70B v2.2Leonardo da Vinci
Llama 3.2 3B InstructLeonardo da Vinci
Llama 3.3 70BLeonardo da Vinci
Llama 4 MaverickLeonardo da Vinci
MiniMax M2Leonardo da Vinci
MiniMax M2.5Leonardo da Vinci
Minimax M2.1Leonardo da Vinci
Minimax M2.7Leonardo da Vinci
Mistral Ministral 14b 2512Leonardo da Vinci
Mistral Ministral 3 3B 2512Leonardo da Vinci
Mistral Ministral 3 8B 2512Leonardo da Vinci
Mistral Small 2603Leonardo da Vinci
Mistral Small 3Leonardo da Vinci
Mistral Small 3.2 24b InstructLeonardo da Vinci
Muse Glimmer 30BLeonardo da Vinci
MythoMax 13BLeonardo da Vinci
Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3BLeonardo da Vinci
Nemotron 3.5Leonardo da Vinci
Nova Lite 1.0Leonardo da Vinci
Nova MicroLeonardo da Vinci
Phi-4Leonardo da Vinci
Qwen 2.5 72b InstructLeonardo da Vinci
Qwen 2.5 7b InstructLeonardo da Vinci
Qwen3 14bLeonardo da Vinci
Qwen3 235b A22b 2507Leonardo da Vinci
Qwen3 30b A3bLeonardo da Vinci
Qwen3 32BLeonardo da Vinci
Qwen3 Next 80b A3b InstructLeonardo da Vinci
Qwen3 VL 235b A22b InstructLeonardo da Vinci
Qwen3 VL 30b A3b InstructLeonardo da Vinci
ReMM SLERP 13BLeonardo da Vinci
Skyfall 36b V2Leonardo da Vinci
UncensoredLeonardo da Vinci
UnslopNemo 12BLeonardo da Vinci
Weaver (alpha)Leonardo da Vinci
DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision ExpMichelangelo
Cydonia 24B V4.1Peter Paul Rubens
DeepSeek V3.2No single answer
DeepSeek V3.2 ExpNo single answer
ERNIE 4.5 VL 424B A47B No single answer
Inception Mercury 2No single answer
Microsoft WizardLM-2 8x22BNo single answer
Mistral NemoNo single answer
Nemotron 3 SuperNo single answer
Step 3.5 FlashNo single answer

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70 models