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Abbott Thesis.Pdf LEGENDARY LADIES FEMALE ARTISTS OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE IN SEARCH OF FAME A Thesis Presented to the faculty of the Department of Art California State University, Sacramento Submitted in partial satisfaction of The requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in Museum Studies with an Art Historical Emphasis by Sabrina Abbott FALL 2013 2013 Sabrina Jayne Abbott ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii LEGENDARY LADIES FEMALE ARTISTS OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE IN SEARCH OF FAME A Thesis by Sabrina Jayne Abbott Approved by: __________________________________, Committee Chair Catherine Turrill __________________________________, Second Reader Patrick Ettinger _____________________________ Date iii Student: Sabrina Jayne Abbott I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University format manual, and that this thesis is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to be awarded for the thesis. _________________________________, Dean __________________ Chevelle Newsome, Ph.D. Date Office of Graduate Studies iv Abstract of LEGENDARY LADIES FEMALE ARTISTS OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE IN SEARCH OF FAME by Sabrina Jayne Abbott During the Italian Renaissance female artists were able to emerge from the confines of the convent and develop their skills in the outside world due to changing attitudes towards women and the heightened status of art. The intelligent and artistically talented woman was seen as a miraculous person and often compared more closely to a man. Due to their extraordinary status, it can be argued that these women behaved similarly to their male counterparts in their search for special consideration and legendary status. This paper will contribute to the scholarly studies surrounding women in the visual arts in Renaissance Italy by analyzing writings, lifestyle, and the method of creation and content of the art, particularly the self-portrait paintings, of these women. Through this analysis it will be revealed that these women used their special status to promote themselves and actively sought recognition and fame like their male predecessors and contemporaries. v These women achieved legendary prominence through the careful navigation of their careers, setting a new precedent for women in the arts, laying the foundation for future female artists, and demonstrating that women could be just as capable as men. __________________________________, Committee Chair Catherine Turrill _____________________________ Date vi DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my family and all the female artists, past and present and the men and women who believed in them. vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Professor Turrill, for her time, patience, and assistance in the creation of this thesis. A special thanks to Dr. Giovanna Giusti who sparked my interest in Renaissance self-portraiture and the Ford Family Foundation for their kindness and for funding my education. Finally, I would like to extend my gratitude to my family. In particular I would like to thank my mother for her encouragement, my father for providing me with my first art education, and my husband, Alexander Golé, for his constant love and support. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Dedication ...................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................... viii List of Illustrations ......................................................................................................... x Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 2. CREATING A CONTEXT The Ascent of Visual Art .................................................................................. 2 A Woman’s Worth ............................................................................................ 5 3. LEGENDARY LADIES Becoming a Professional Female Artist Outside the Convent ........................... 12 The Female Artists’ Pursuit of Fame ................................................................. 15 Leaving a Legacy ............................................................................................... 41 4. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 43 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 47 ix LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Illustration Page 1. Sofonisba Anguissola, Self-Portrait with Medallion, ca. 1550s (Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) .............................................................. 21 2. Sofonisba Anguissola, Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola, ca. 1559 (Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena) ............................................................................. 25 3. Sofonisba Anguissola, Self-Portrait at the Easel, ca.1556 (Muzeum Zamek, Lancut) ................................................................................. 27 4. Sofonisba Anguissola, Self-Portrait, 1554 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) ................................................................. 28 5. Lavinia Fontana, Self-Portrait at the Keyboard with Maidservant, 1577 (Accademia di San Luca, Rome) ........................................................................ 31 6. Sofonisba Anguissola, Self-Portrait at the Keyboard with Maidservant, ca. 1550s (Althorp House, Northampton) ........................................................................... 32 x 7. Lavinia Fontana, Self-Portrait in the Studiolo, 1579 (Uffizi, Florence) ................................................................................................ 36 8. Marietta Robusti, Self-Portrait, 1580 (Uffizi, Florence) ................................................................................................ 38 9. Sofonisba Anguissola, The Chess Game, ca. 1555 (Muzeum Narodowe, Poznan) ............................................................................ 40 xi 1 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION To become a successful artist has been a challenge throughout history, but the difficulty was even more pronounced for women. Societal changes that took place during the Italian Renaissance created a new vision of art and the artist. As Renaissance society embraced ideas from ancient Rome and Greece, including the ancients’ inclusion and admiration of female artists, some women were able to find acceptance as professional artists. In an attempt to justify their position in a male-dominated field and to ensure their names would be remembered, female artists in the Renaissance created artwork that was designed for self-promotion. Although these women presented themselves in a socially acceptable manner, through the action of self-promotion they demonstrated that they were exceptional and, like their male counterparts, aspired to achieve legendary status. There is always a fear of applying contemporary views when analyzing people of the past, yet there are certain qualities that have always existed in human beings. Emotions like love, sorrow, fear and courage are ingrained in our very nature. The desire for recognition and praise is another one of these inherent emotions. Nonetheless, suggesting that female artists of the Renaissance sought recognition and fame, and saw themselves as equal, if not superior to their male counterparts, may at first seem like viewing these women of the past with a contemporary lens. In order to present a credible analysis of the works of these female artists, a solid foundation will first be laid to demonstrate the likelihood of the validity of these arguments. 2 Chapter 2 CREATING A CONTEXT The Ascent of Visual Art Male artists of the Early Italian Renaissance argued that good visual art was not just a craft, but a creative act that required intelligence similar to liberal arts like music and poetry. By presenting information that illustrated the need for intelligence in creating exceptional art and the precedent of a heightened regard for the visual arts and artists in ancient history, male Renaissance artists in Italy were able to raise the classification of the visual arts from craft to liberal art and raise the status of visual artists. Artists argued that in addition to being talented, an artist had to be educated and intellectual in order to create great works of art. Beginning in the 1300’s artists were describing the many talents needed for an artist to succeed. Cennino Cennini states in Craftsman’s Handbook that “the occupation of painting calls for imagination and skill of hand…”1 Imagination, or fantasia, in the Renaissance was considered an intellectual and almost divine inspiration, a sign of genius, that was encouraged by princely patrons.2 Leon Battista Alberti’s treatise, On Painting, written in 1435, describes an artist’s need for mathematics and an understanding of nature and explains that the art of painting 1 Francis Ames-Lewis, The Intellectual Life of the Early Renaissance Artist (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), 177. 2 Joanna Woods-Marsden, Renaissance Self-Portraiture: The Visual Construction of Identity and the Social Status of the Artist (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), 274. 3 “has always been most worthy of liberal minds and noble souls”.3 Lorenzo Ghiberti in his Commentaries, written in 1450, provides not only the first coherent history of Italian art, but also attempts to describe
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