"WHY ARE THERE

N O G R E AT W O M E N A R T I S T S ?

“INSPIRED BY THE GOLERIA GIRLS”

•I’m sure women have contributed a
great deal to these time periods and
movements that we study. I decided to
do women artists because studying
about man dominated art history is
frustrating. Women artist were somehow
forgotten and underrepresented. This
goes to show that there is so much
inequality in our world.
• In 1883 women were allowed to take
up drawings though some art schools
didn’t allow women until 1860
• Women were pushed to decorative
art like crafts & manuscripts
• The art pieces that they were able to
produce were not looked after so
there isn’t a lot to show.
• Some women adopted a manly
name, or some female artists worked
as models and learned from there
masters(Tate).
Late Medieval Italy
Motherhood from the Spirit and the Water”, 1165 from Liber divinorum operum by Hildegard of Bingen

The Black Death and the cult of the

Virgin Mary were changing the role of
women. change in a senses woman or the
virtuous women were accepted. Which
allowed women like Hildegard of Bingen to
work in different areas of art (manuscripts
and literature)
Hildegard’s manuscripts were
extremely charming, created for religious
guidance, they were handwritten, painted and
organized. They were divided into different
scenes of images that depicts Hildgard’s
mystical experiences. It incorporates detailed
works of art with elaborated ornate gold
decoration borders.

Perhaps Ducciona and Gittos paintings were

inspired from these manuscript.

I chose this work to show that women

contributed to the changes of art from the
beginning. Whatever medium they were
allowed to work with they were able to thrive,
share, and achieve their work with the public.
Late Medieval Italy

•The Black Death and the cult of the Virgin Mary was changing the
role of women.
•This doesn’t mean it was great but better in a senses woman or
the virtual women were accepted. Which allowed women like
Hildegard of Bingen to work in different areas of art (manuscripts
and littrtues)
•Hildegard manuscripts were extremely charming created for
religious guidance they were handwritten and painted and
organized by dividing it into different seen of images that depicts
Hildgard’s mystical experiences. It incorporates detailed works of
art with elaborated ornate gold decoration borders.

•Perhaps Ducciona nd Gittos paintings were inspired from these

manuscript

• I chose this work to show that from the beginning, women

contributed to the changes of Art. Whatever medium they
were allowed to work with, they were able to achieve, thrive
and share their work with the public.
Late Medieval & Early Renaissance
Properzia de’ Rossi

Joseph Fleeing Potiphar’s Wife, 1525-1526,

marble. Museo di San Petronio,
Bologna. Photo: Web Gallery of Art.

•
•Rossi was a sculptor from Bolognese. She might have been one of the
first women in Renaissance Italy to be in the field of sculpture
(Alambritis)
•she worked alongside of many artist and sculptors according to city
documents found; she worked on the commission of Basilica of San
Petronio. Out of 142 artist
•Rossi is the only female artist who has her own chapter on Vasari first
edition Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects (Chernick) her
story is very interesting to read. (Art)

•Properzia de’ Rossi (about 1490 – 1530)

•The marble bas-relief depicts the biblical story of Joseph’s escape.
Human figures with movements and expressive emotions. Detailed
woks of drapery folds.
•
•Sculpting is hard work it’s uncommon for women to be in that
environment especially with the definition of women being virtuous at
this period of time.
 Renaissance in Quattrocento Italy

Plautilla Nelli, Pained Madonna, Museum

of the Last Supper of Andrea del Sarto,
Florence, Italy.

•Sister Plautilla Nelli

•It the beginning she worked on intricate carvings on cherry- and peach-stones
and later advanced to sculpting on a bigger scale in marble. (Chernick)
•Nelli was an influential artist and contributed a great deal to the art
movement of the Renaissance. Her artistic work with religious themes
brought vivid portrayals of emotions that was relatable to people till this day.
•Plautilla Nelli was born in 1523 in Florence, she entered the Dominican
Convent of Santa Caterina da Siena in Piazza San Marco when she was very
young. She is the first known self-taught woman painter of Florence.
•She founded the first workshop for women and trained other nuns to paint.
•Twenty of Nelli’s artworks, including The Last Supper have been restored by
Women Artists Foundation (AWA)
•Her work has not been in the public eye for more than 450 years. Nelli was
also mentioned in Vasari’s history book “The Lives of the Artists”. (Cole)
Renaissance & Mannerism in Cinquecento Italy

Portrait of a Girl Covered in Hair by

Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614) / Photo ©
Bonhams, London, UK / Bridgeman
Images

•Lavinia Fontana 1552–1614

•Her father was her tutor, and she was also
educated as a noble women. She joined
university academia de sant luca her husband
stayed home to take care of her children. She
had 11 children she supported her family. Her
work was a huge breakthrough for female
artist.
•Laviania was known for her portrait paintings.
Her commissioned worked included noble
women, pops and cardinal. She was recognized
as the first professional female painter
•was the first artist to paint women nude
•She created incredibly detailed paintings.
Sofonisba
Anguissola; also note
worth to mention.

Portrait of a Young
Lady (c. 1580)
by Sofonisba
High Renaissance & Mannerism in
Northern Europe & Spain
•Title: The Entombment of Christ
•Artist: Luisa Roldán, called La Roldana (Spanish, Seville 1652–1706 Madrid)

•Date: 1700–1701
•Culture: Spanish, Madrid
•Medium: Polychrome terracotta
•Dimensions: Overall (confirmed): 19 1/2 × 26 × 17 in. (49.5 × 66 × 43.2 cm)

•Luisa Roldán was born in 1652, She was Spain’s first female artist, and she learned the craft from her father,
the sculptor Pedro Roldán. At nineteen, she married a man of her choosing who was a sculptor. She was her
family's primary source of income, carving life size wooden polychrome sculptures for the cathedral and working on
statues for the town council.

•Later in 1688 she took a risk, moved to Madrid and became a court sculptor for King Charles until her death.

•Luisa reached the top of her profession by overcoming societal boundaries.

•She worked independently with her husband as polychromist creating many small polychrome terracotta
groups that she called “jewels”.
•Luisa figures are characterized by defined images, mystical faces with delicate figures and draperies.
•Some of her lovely and unique work includes a wood St. Michael and her “jewels”.
Baroque in Italy & Spain
• Susanna and the Elders (c. 1610) by Artemisia Gentileschi. Oil on canvas. Schloss
Weißenstein collection, Pommersfelden, Germany. Source
• Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 – 1653).
• Artemisia was born in Rome; her father was a known artist who tutor her.
• She worked in Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples, London, and for the highest
classes of European society, including the Grand Duke of Tuscany and Philip IV of
Spain.
• At young age Artemisia was raped by her teacher, the artist Agostino Tassi.
• In 1612 she testified in court against her attacker as well as endured the 7-month
trail.
• Tassi was found guilty but set free following his conviction because of his
connection to the pope. Despite it all she went on to become a great painter.
• She was an extraordinary artist who captured emotional and psychological
strength and sufferingbof women.
Baroque in Northern Europe
• Leyster, “Self-Portrait, “ c. 1630. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss.

•Judith Leyster (1609–1660. She was one of one of the first female artists allowed into the painters’ guild in the Dutch city of
Haarlem.
•She chose to be an artist; she didn’t come from a family of artists.
•Northern Europe baroque paint. more painting was done for the home
•More protestant less religious seen
•Judith’s art is composed of ordinary peoples’ daily life, images of children at play with facial expressions and gestures that
depict happy faces. This type of daily life portraits was new.
•The way she creates texture on her fabrics demonstrates her talent.
•200 years after her death, it was discovered that 7 of her paintings were wrongly given credit to Frans Hals.()
 Rococo to Neoclassicism: 18th
Century in Europe & America
• Élisabeth Louise Vigée was born in Paris, in 1755. She achieved success in France
and Europe during the French revolution, the most difficult period in European . She
was on exile for 12 years, traveling to different places like Italy and Russia. She was
painting incredibly detailed, almost life like paintings since she was 15. Her paintings
consists of mostly women and aristocrat’s portraits.

• Marie Louise Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755-1842)

• Title: Self-Portrait

• Artist: Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (French, Paris 1755–1842 Paris)

• Date: 1790

• Medium: Oil on canvas

• Dimensions: 39 3/8 × 31 7/8 in. (100 × 81 cm)

• Classification: Paintings

• Credit Line: Gallerie degli Uffizi, Corridoio Vasariano, Florence (1890, n. 1905)
 Rococo to Neoclassicism: 18th
Century in Europe & America

• Portrait of Muhammad Dervish

Khan, full-length, holding his sword
in a landscape
• Signed and dated lower right: L.
Vigée Le Brun / 1788
• Oil on canvas
• 88 3/4 by 55 1/2 in.; 225.5 by 136
cm.
 Romanticism, Realism, Photography Europe &
America, 1800 to 1870
• First Japanese female artist in Europe.

• Kiyohara Tama is a very interesting Japanizes female painter, born in 1861 Tokyo.
She met her husband, who was an Italian sculptor Vincenzo Ragusa, when he was
teaching art in Japan.

• She moved to Palermo, Sicily and became one of the most popular local artists. An
innovator of art….

• She was a courageous woman that left her homeland and managed to learn and
thrive in a new world.

• Tama is a good example of the exchange of culture and connections between Italy
and Japan through art.

• Kiyohara Tama or Otama (later known as Eleonora Ragusa)

• It would have taken great ambition to have found a Japanese art school in Sicily.

• She was the first to paint a night scene.

• Died: 1939 - Tokyo, Japan

• Known for: Flower, figure, still life, landscape painting

• Name variants: Tama Otama Kiyohara, Tama Eleonara Ragusa, Eleonora Tama
Ragusa Kiyohara
Impressionism, Post-Impressionism,
Symbolism: Europe & America
• Berthe Morisot 1841, was the first women impressionist she was dedicated hard working.
• copied famous artists at louver to master her skills with her teacher.
• painted in different styles, then eventually become an impressionist. She used oil paint, combining
several mediums for her paintings(Libretexts)
• Morisot’s work focused on the daily life of women. Her work was accepted in famous salons.
• The only women impressionist to exhibit along with Degas and 816 mae artist
• Impressionism was modern art movements that rejected most previous styles of artwork. The
romanticists were rejected by Acadmi de Bosar so they founded their own exhibition
• The focus of realists was to create work that reflected the world in which they lived in. Capturing light
and weather conditions in different times of the day and daily moments. (Libretexts)

•“On the Terrace at Sèvres”, Marie Bracquemond, 1880, oil on canvas

•Original Title: Sur la terrasse à Sèvres
•Date: 1880
•Style: Impressionism
•Genre: genre painting
•Media: oil, canvas
•Location: Petit Palais, Geneva, Switzerland
•Dimensions: 88 x 115 cm
These remarkable female artists were not allowed to
participate in the training male artists received. The little
training they had was by their fathers or in their father's or
husband’s workshops. Regardless of all the obstacles female
artists faced, they were still able to persevere.

I often wonder what they would have achieved if given the

same education and privileges as the men around them.

This was an interesting subject; I was able to see and

appreciate female artists for all they’ve contributed and fought
for.
 Works Cited
Tate, director. Where Are the Women Artists? Tate, https://www.tate.org.uk/. Accessed 23 Oct. 2022.
“Hildegard of Bingen.” Studylib.net, https://studylib.net/doc/8520385/hildegard-of-bingen.
Art, National Gallery of. “Excerpts from Giorgio Vasari's ‘Life of Madonna Properzia De' Rossi," Sculptor of Bologna.” Italian Renaissance
Learning Resources, http://www.italianrenaissanceresources.com/units/unit-3/sub-page-03/excerpts-from-giorgio-vasaris-life-of-
madonna-properzia-de-rossi-sculptor-of-bologna/.
Alambritis, Maria. “Properzia De' Rossi (about 1490 – 1530) among the Small but Significant Group of Women Known to Us Today Who
Succeeded as Artists in Renaissance Italy, Properzia De' Rossi Was a Pioneer.” Italian Art Society,
https://www.italianartsociety.org/2018/10/properzia-de-rossi-about-1490-1530-among-the-small-but-significant-group-of-women-
known-to-us-today-who-succeeded-as-artists-in-renaissance-italy-properzia-de-rossi-was/.
Cole, Margherita. “How Sister Plautilla Nelli Became the First Woman to Paint 'The Last Supper'.” My Modern Met, 8 Sept. 2020,
https://mymodernmet.com/sister-plautilla-nelli-last-supper/.
“Plautilla Nelli: Florence's First Woman Artist.” CIU Travel, 9 Mar. 2021, https://ciutravel.com/plautilla-nelli-florence-woman-artist/.
“Luisa Roldán (Called ‘La Roldana’) (the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection).” Getty, https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/person/103KVC.
Loh, Maria H. “In the Sixteenth Century, Two Women Painters Challenged Gender Roles.” ARTnews.com, ARTnews.com, 19 Dec. 2021,
https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/sofonisba-anguissola-lavinia-fontana-italian-renaissance-women-painters-1202678831/.
Solomon, Tessa. “The Women of Impressionism: Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, and Other Pioneering Figures Who Shaped the Movement.”
ARTnews.com, ARTnews.com, 28 July 2020, https://www.artnews.com/feature/who-are-the-most-important-female-impressionist-artists-
1202695284/.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2259136/pdf/16197730.pdf