About us Art news Archive Contact us Logout

Search

Perspectives – who were they? — February 2014

Article — Media

Lavinia Fontana, Portrait of Costanza Alidosi, c.1595, Oil on canvas, 62 x 47 3/8 in. Courtesy of the National Museum of Jenny Kingsley explores the history of women Women in the artists of the Renaissance Arts, Washington, DC, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Recently, I saw a play about Elizabeth Siddal (1829–62), the Pre- Raphaelite Holladay artists’ model, poet and artist. The art critic John Ruskin compared her work to that of her contemporaries J.M.W. Turner and G.F. Watts. But despite Lavinia Fontana, opportunities to study and exhibit, Siddal remained in the shadow of such men. Holy Family with Ill health and a disheartening relationship with Dante Gabriel Rossetti St John, undated. overwhelmed her. She lacked the benefit of a supportive, prosperous, cultured Oil on metal,8 7/8 family or the camaraderie of established female artists. Siddal’s father sold x 7 1/8 in. knives and forks. For a while she earned her living working in a milliner’s shop. Courtesy of the National Museum Aspects of Siddal’s story reflect those of many female artists of the quite recent of Women in the and not-so-recent past. From the Renaissance onwards it became possible for Arts, Washington, some women to identify themselves as artists but, still, this was extremely hard DC, Gift of Wallace to achieve. and Wilhelmina Holladay Economic, political and legal inequality between the sexes, sustained by prevailing cultural norms, served to thwart Renaissance women from pursuing Lavinia Fontana, artistic careers; stars were few and far between. Other reasons for their Portrait of a obscurity are lack of documentation and evidence; for example, despite Noblewoman, documented references to a woman’s oeuvre, it may be that little, if any, of her c.1580, Oil on work can be found. Another factor is incorrect attribution to a male artist, be canvas, 45 1/4x35 he a relative or mentor, in order to retain the value of the work or hide the fact 1/4in. Courtesy the that the ‘Master’ commissioned did not create the work himself. For instance, National Museum some of the paintings attributed to the Venetian painter Tintoretto could have of Women in the been painted by Marietta Robusti (1552/60–90), his daughter. She trained with Arts, Washington her father and was a highly esteemed portrait painter. Until quite late in the DC. Gift of Wallace 20th century the tendency to preserve the status quo within art history & Wilhelmina education curricula has also discouraged reclaiming women artists from Holladay; Funding Renaissance history. for frame generously Furthermore, female Renaissance artists were automatically disadvantaged as provided by the there were no overt opportunities for them to study the nude, without which it Texas State is impossible to paint the clothed body convincingly. Representations of the Committee human form, clothed and unclothed, were central to Renaissance art. Some women attempted to overcome this barrier by ‘copying’ while others concentrated on producing miniatures, portraits and self-portraits. Nonetheless, there were women during the Renaissance who shared the artistic Share this page realm with men, usually because they were encouraged, mostly for economic reasons, to develop their skills by a male relative or family friend who was also Tweet an artist. In their cloistered milieu nuns might be encouraged to nurture their talent. But, always, as a ‘proviso’, the ‘chosen’ had to be seen as virtuous as well Share as personable, reasonably educated, possibly musically gifted, and of good pedigree. While the women artists inhabited the domestic, courtly or religious Affiliated links domain, men marketed their work in the public sphere. Overt aggression would get a woman nowhere.

An account of Siddal’s Renaissance predecessors, mostly Italian, would include the nun Caterina de’ Vigri (1413–63), the daughter of a Ferrarese gentleman. She might have remained behind the veil were it not for her sainthood. The grave and paintings of this patron saint of painters became objects of To buy any of the books pilgrimages. Greer notes that according to her biographer, Sister Illuminata listed below, or just to Bembo, ‘she loved to paint the Divine Word as a babe in swaddling bands, and see more information for many monasteries in Ferrara and for books she painted him thus in about them, follow the miniature’. Still, identifying her work is difficult. Vigri, says art historian embedded links Whitney Chadwick, is a prime example ‘of learning and culture by women in convents’. Another noteworthy nun is the Florentine Dominican Sister Plautilla Nelli (1523–87), the daughter of the painter Lucca Nelli. Although , an artist also known as the first art historian, reported that Nelli made Background info many paintings for both religious establishments and the homes of Florentine gentlemen, few of her paintings and drawings survive. In 1972 the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, hosted Properzia de’ Rossi (c1490?–1530) is a rare Renaissance phenomenon. She the exhibition ‘Old succeeded in winning a commission to provide sculptures for the façade of the Mistresses: Women Artists Basilica of San Petronio in , having carried out work for another city of the Past’. In 1976 the church. Initially she was a pupil of the respected engraver Marcantonio exhibition ‘Women Artists Raimondi. Vasari notes that the citizens and artists of Bologna rejoiced in her 1550–1950’, opened at the talent. Rossi was also hailed for her extraordinary carvings on very small Los Angeles County surfaces, including peach and plum stones. Vasari considered them ‘singular Museum and travelled to and marvellous to behold’. four American cities. It was highly acclaimed: few Irene di Spilimbergo (1540–59) was born into a noble Venetian family. Her people appreciated how fellow Venetian artist Titian apparently was so captivated by her beauty and many gifted women had talent that he painted her portrait and took her on as his student. Diana been omitted from the art Scultori (c.1547–1612) was trained to engrave by her father, Giovanni Battista history canon. The Mantuano. Her engraving was ‘a thing to marvel at’, believed Vasari. Barbara National Museum for Longhi (1552–1638) was the daughter of the Mannerist painter Luca Longhi of Women in the Arts Ravenna, to whom some of her work is still questionably attributed. At an early (NMWA), the first and age she produced small works of religious themes – the Virgin Mary, saints and only museum in the world scenes of the Holy Family – for use during the private prayer of local patrons. devoted to art by women, These were painted with ‘with considerable good grace and style,’ commented opened in 1987 in Vasari. Later she painted larger works. Her work features in national and Washington DC. In 2007, international museums. ‘Italian Women Artists, from Renaissance to Milanese-born Fede Galizia (c.1574–c.1630) was praised for her achievements ’ (NMWA) built on as a copyist, draughtswoman and portraitist. Her father, Nunzio, was an the exhibitions of some of esteemed illuminator. She was revered for her atmospheric and productive the artists’ work in Europe output of still lifes, and regarded as an important figure in the development of over the previous 10 years. still-life painting in Italy. How do the media treat Levina Teerlinc (1510/20–76) and Caterina van Hemessen (1528– c.87) are the women artists now? most noted Northern European Renaissance female painters. Bruges-born The Whitechapel Gallery, Teerlinc was the eldest of five daughters of the miniaturist and book illuminator London, is hosting a Simon Benninck. Initially she assisted him with illuminations. Few works are seminar to discuss this on assuredly identified as hers although there must be a body produced by her as 6 March. More details on she was so well known as a miniaturist in the 16th century. Indeed, she served the gallery's website. as a court painter for King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, Queen Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I, and was paid more for her miniatures than Hans Holbein Books recommended was paid for his court paintings. Her ‘real successor’, assesses Elsa Honig Fine, by Jenny Kingsley was the now rather more famous Nicholas Hilliard. Caterina was the daughter Frances Borzello, A World of the Antwerp Mannerist Jan van Hemessen. Fine comments on her ‘skill in of Our Own – Women as capturing the quality of her sitters’ personalities’. She also produced religious Artists, London, Thames & paintings. Caterina married ‘a gentleman of breeding’, an organist at Antwerp Hudson, 2000. Cathedral. The couple lived in Spain for a period while Caterina served as court Whitney Chadwick, painter to Queen Mary of Hungary after the latter had abdicated her regency of Women, Art and Society, the Netherlands. London, Thames & Hudson, 2002. The two most prominent stars of the Renaissance are Elsa Honig Fine, Women (1532–1625) and Lavinia Fontana. One might consider them ‘greats’. and Art – A History of Anguissola was born into a noble Cremonese family and was the eldest of six Women Painters and sisters and one brother, all of whom were painters. (Sofonisba’s sister, Lucia, Sculptors from the also achieved fame for her paintings. There are pictures by her hand, wrote Renaissance to the 20th Vasari, ‘that are no less beautiful and precious than those of her sister’.) Century, London, Although Amilcare, their father, was not an artist, he encouraged his daughters’ Allenhead & Schram/Prior, artistic potential. Their first drawing master was Bernardino Campi, a Montclair/London, 1978. Mannerist painter, and later Bernardino Gatti, a follower of Correggio. Germaine Greer, The Sofonisba was regarded as a child prodigy. One of her most widely reproduced Obstacle Race – The drawings Boy Pinched By a Crayfish may have been the inspiration for Fortunes of Women ’s Boy Bitten by a Lizard. Vasari commended her ‘rare and beautiful Painters and Their Works, paintings’. Her portraits have a sense of warmth and unpretentiousness, rather London, Secker & than appearing as majestic and imposing; and her self-portraits are spirited Warburg, 1979. and candid. For several years Anguissola was court painter to Philip II of Spain. Griselda Pollock & Rozsika Art historian Elsa Honig Fine considers her the ‘first woman artist to achieve Parker, Old Mistresses; international renown, and the first for whom a large body of work is still Women, Art and Ideology, extant’. London: Routledge & Kegan, 1981. Lavinia Fontana (1552–1614) was the daughter of the Bolognese painter, Ann Sutherland Harris & Prospero Fontana. Her early self-portraits and small panels for private Linda Nochlin, Women devotional pieces reveal the naturalism of and the elegance of Artists: 1550–1950. Correggio. She depicted costume and jewellery with painstaking detail. While Catalogue to accompany an famed for her portraits, Lavinia was also revered for her religious and historical exhibition at the Los paintings including large altarpieces, some of which incorporate domestic Angeles County Museum of motifs, such as in the Birth of the Virgin. Art, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1979. Her marriage to Gian Paolo Zappi in 1577 was contracted on the basis that the Italian Women Artists – couple remain as part of her father’s household, so that Lavinia’s artistic career from Renaissance to could continue. Her husband assisted her by painting backgrounds and Baroque, London & , draperies and by caring for their family. In 1603, she moved to Rome with her National Museum for immediate family in accordance with the wishes of Pope Clement VIII. Women in the Arts Fontana’s work was in great demand. Her fees were as high as those (NMWA), Washington DC, commanded by Van Dyck. She was elected to the Accademia di San Luca in in association with Skira Rome (San Luca – Saint Luke – being a patron saint of painters). Editore, Milan 2007. Exhibition catalogue for There were more women artists working during the Renaissance than space exhibition at NMWA, allows me to discuss – but probably not many more. Will researchers reclaim 2007. Various authors. them? Unfortunately, the walls of museums still cry out for equality of Paola Tinagli, Women in representation or simply representation. Why, in January 2014, should Tracey Italian Renaissance Art, Emin feel compelled to say in an interview, ‘Louise Bourgeois has the highest Manchester, Manchester female sales price at auction but it’s so far below her male counterparts, it’s University Press, 1997. unbelievable. Were she a man it would be ten times more’. Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects. There are many versions, including Credits abridged volumes and Author: Jenny Kingsley translations available. Location: London Available to read online: Role: Writer and journalist Linda Nochlin, ‘Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?’

Editor's notes Cassone is grateful to the National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington DC, and the National Gallery, London, for their help with securing images for this feature.