As is familiar to every student of the classic past the Greeks and
Romans hailed a female deity, Pallas Athene, or Minerva, as the
protectress of their arts and industries. She was believed to have
invented spinning, weaving, embroidering, painting, and every other
handicraft that has brought mankind comfort and happiness.
Of course this goddess had many eager women disciples. There was hardly
any Greek or Roman woman without a thorough command of the above named
crafts. Since the days of Homer, who praised Penelope, the beautiful
wife of Ulysses, for her skill in tapestry-weaving, all women devoted
themselves to useful arts. In Ephesus Pliny admired a picture of Diana,
painted by =Timarata=, the gifted daughter of an able artist. He also
praises =Laya= for her excellent miniature portraits on ivory, which
were held in great favor by the rich ladies of Rome. The names of
several other female artists are known, but unfortunately none of their
works have come down to us.
Enthusiastic authors of the Middle Ages glorify =Agnes, Abbess of
Quedlinburg=, for her great skill in illuminating manuscripts with
figures, beautiful initial letters and elaborate border ornaments, which
she enriched with all the splendor of color and gilding.
It was only natural, that the magnificent works of art, produced by
Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Correggio, Tintoretto and other
great masters of the Italian Renaissance, inspired the women who came in
daily contact with these men; especially their daughters, many of whom
inherited their fathers’ enthusiasm for beauty and art. Constantly
witnessing the origin and progress of the products of their fathers’
genius, it could not fail that such women likewise devoted themselves to
art. As did =Lavinia Fontana=, the daughter of Prospero Fontana of
Bologna, whom Michael Angelo recommended to Pope Julius III., in whose
service he remained for many years. Lavinia was born in Rome in 1552.
Inspired by her father’s art, she too won great fame. The old patrician
palaces of Rome, Bologna, and other Italian cities still contain many
portraits of beautiful women and illustrious men, who once were among
her sitters. She likewise painted various other works which show great
care and delicacy.
Among her most admired works are a Venus, now in the Museum at Berlin;
the Virgin lifting a veil from the sleeping infant Christ, now in the
Escurial; and the Queen of Sheba visiting Solomon. Her masterpiece,
however, is her own portrait, which shows her in all her radiant beauty.
=Sofonisba Anguisciola=, born in 1533 at Cremona, likewise ranks high
among the foremost portrait painters of the 16th Century. On
recommendation of the Duke of Alba, Philippe II., King of Spain, invited
her to his court in Madrid, where she was received with extraordinary
honors. Here she painted numerous portraits of the king as well as of
the queen, the infantas and the members of the court. A few specimens of
her art are still to be seen in the Escurial at Madrid and at Florence.
Van Dyck acknowledged himself more benefited by her than by his study of
all other masters.
=Marietta Tintoretto=, born in 1560, a daughter of the great Venetian
artist Jacopo Robusti, commonly called Tintoretto, was one of the most
appreciated portrait painters in the “Queen City of the Adriatic.” She
was so favorably known for the beauty of her work and the exactness of
resemblance that she was solicited by Emperor Maximilian as well as by
Philippe II., King of Spain, to visit their courts. But her affectionate
attachment to her father was so great that she declined these honors,
and remained in Venice, where she died in 1590.
The 17th Century likewise produced a number of excellent women artists.
Bologna, the birth-place of so many famous men and women, was also the
native town of =Elizabeth Sirani=, who, born in 1638 to Gian Andrea
Sirani, a painter of some reputation, attracted attention to her
attempts at drawing when scarcely more than an infant. Her rare talents
developed as she grew older. Before she had attained her eighteenth
year, she had finished several paintings, which were greatly admired and
given places of honor in various churches. Her most admired work, a
Lord’s Supper, grand in conception, is in the church of the Certosini,
and is considered one of the best examples of the Bolognesian School of
art. Unfortunately this promising woman died suddenly when only
twenty-seven years of age.
=Rosalba Carriera=, a Venetian, born in 1675, became famous over all
Europe for her admirable miniature- and crayon- or pastel-portraits,
which, through her, became the fashion of the 18th Century.
Among the Dutch artists of the 17th Century =Maria van Osterwyck= and
=Rachel Ruisch= excelled in painting flowers and fruits. =Elisabeth
Cheron=, a French woman, born in Paris in 1648, was famous for her
miniatures and historical subjects.
England too had some fine women artists: =Mary Beale=, born 1632 in
Suffolk, and =Anne Killigrew=, born in London. Both are known for
excellent portraits of notable persons. The National Portrait Gallery in
London contains for instance Mary Beale’s portraits of King Charles II.,
of the Duke of Norfolk, and of Cowley.
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