<p>To appreciate the meaning and beauty of the great works of art we must be familiar with the lives of the geniuses who created them for in their personalities and life-stories lie the key to their masterpieces. Here are the vivid stories of these twenty painters who dreamed struggled and suffered so that they might give expression to their divine gifts: Giotto Michelangelo Raphael da Vinci Titian Rubens Rembrandt El Greco Diego Velasquez William Hogarth Joshua Reynolds Joseph Turner Goya Jean Baptiste Corot Jean François Millet Van Gogh Whistler Renoir Cézanne and Winslow Homer.</p>