Sofonisba Anguissola (1635 - 1625)
Daughter of a wealthy nobleman, Amilcare. She had 5 sisters and a brother and educated them as if they were mail heirs. They received a humanist and art education.
She was apprenticed to Bernatrdino Campi and Bernardino Gatti.
During the Renaissance humanists began to realize that women had other qualities beyond their importance as child bearers, even intellectual capabilities.
Amilcare wrote Michelangelo about his daughter and sent him an example of her drawing. Michelangelo challenged her to draw a crying boy. Michelangelo was astonished with the outcome.
She was intelligent and talented. She met the demands of her father and teachers and later the court. She took a primary role in her own career.
The first woman to receive international recognition
She was not compared to contemporary male artists because most of her pictures were produced as gifts
Portraiture was the main genre - she used herself as a model. Also painted her family
The Chess Game http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?aid=85097&item=833192
Sofonisba was invited to be a lady-in-waiting to Isabel of Valois (Spanish Court of Philip II in 1559). Anguisolla gave drawing lessons and was given one hundred ducats per year as a salary.
She married twice later in life.
Isabel of Valois http://www.bluffton.edu/womenartists/womenartistspw/anguisisabel.html
http://www.mystudios.com/women/abcde/s_anguissola.html
http://www-english.tamu.edu/pers/fac/phillippy/_women_artists/anguissola/
Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614)
First Italian woman to achieve financial and critical success as an artist.
Father - Prospero, was painter in Bologna. He was influenced by Caravaggio and Raphael. Had access to the collections of the Medici's. 1st documented painting was when she was 23.
1577 - married Giovanni Paolo Zappi (minor painter). Her income was listed as her dowry. They lived with her father so she could continue painting. His painting couldn't support them so they depended on hers. They had 11 children and Zappi watched them.
Inappropriate for women to study human form (nudes). Despite this Fontana did historical paintings. Elected to be a member of the Old Roman Academy.
Portrait of Lady with Lapdog
http://www.mystudios.com/women/fghij/fontana_lapdog.html
Portrait of a couple
The Dead Christ with symbols of the passion 1581
http://www.rollins.edu/cfam/images/collection/fontana.jpg
1605 Virgin adoring the sleeping Christ child
http://www.mfa.org/artemis/fullrecord.asp?oid=34787&did=500
Elisabetta Sirani (1638 - 1665)
Daughter of painter , Giovanni Andrea Sirani. Two influences at this time in Bologna - Reni (elegant, refined forms and naturalistic expressions) or Carravaggio (shallow picture space, bold and dramatic use of light and shadow, diagonal movement, dark backgrounds).
Her father favored Reni. Elisabetta was able to incorporate both. She was able to copy Reni's work and middle class people bought them. Influenced by Fontana.
When young she had no access to formal training - family friend Count Carolo Cesare Malvasia persuaded her father to let her into his studio. She studied are, drawing, bible, Greek & roman mythology, poetry, etching and engraving, harp and voice lessons. By 17 she was helping to support the family with her painting.
She was quick and adept at illustrating biblical and mythological subjects. People would come to watch her paint.
In 1657 she won the commission for a large painting for the Certosa of Bologna against her father.
When her father became ill she supported the family. Since he took all the money, sometimes she painted secretly so as to keep the proceeds.
She died early at 27 - her father believed her poisoned. An autopsy revealed what could have been ulcers.
Her Virgin and Child was the first painting by a woman selected for a US Postage Stamp in 1994.
http://www.nmwa.org/collection/detail.asp?WorkID=1339
http://www.mystudios.com/women/pqrst/sirani_virgin.html
Melpomene The Muse of Tragedy
http://www.nmwa.org/collection/detail.asp?WorkID=1338
Portia wounding her thigh
http://www.mystudios.com/women/pqrst/sirani_thigh.html
