Women Artists in the Renaissance and Baroque Periods | Art Trippin' Lecture Series (S1 - Episode 21)

You've probably heard of Leonardo da Vinci and you may be familiar with his painting The Last Supper. But did you know that there was a woman artist in the Renaissance famous for her depiction of The Last Supper as well? Her name is Plautilla Nelli and she was a cloistered nun who became a successful artist in Renaissance Florence. So do you want to know more about women artists during the Renaissance and Baroque periods? Let's get into it. I'm Dr. Megan Lorraine Devin and I'm an art historian and this is Art Trippin Lecture Series. Dr. Megan Lorraine Devin and this is Art Trippin. Welcome back Art Trippers. Today we are talking about women artists during the Renaissance and Baroque periods in Europe. We're going to start off in Bologna, a city that at that time during the Renaissance and even today in our modern era is seen as a somewhat open-minded, relatively liberal and forward-thinking kind of place. This is the location of the oldest continually operating university in Europe. The University of Bologna was founded in the 11th century by monks and continues to be one of the most important universities in Europe today. So Bologna has always been a place that nurtured and fostered education and creativity and so we see women artists had some access to an artistic education and an artistic career in places like Bologna and Florence. Let's start with one of the early Renaissance artists who happens to be a woman. We're talking about Saint Catherine of Bologna. She is a 15th century cloistered nun so that means she is not out in these streets. She is living a cloistered lifestyle in the nunnery and she lived and died in relative obscurity after coming from a wealthy educated family. She is now considered patron saint of the arts and she had a successful artistic practice. She painted, she played the viola, she wrote treatises and she experienced ecstatic mystical visions. After her death her body remained intact and is on view in the Chapel of the Poor in Bologna. So let's look at an example of one of these artworks by Saint Catherine of Bologna. Here we are looking at a Madonna and Child from about 1440 and you can see by looking at it we see a late medieval early renaissance transitional style. We do still see visible halos, some kind of flattened figures and abstraction. So we see elements of medieval art but we start to see the beginnings of naturalism and attempt to use chiaroscuro light and dark to shape and model the forms. Remember that Saint Catherine of Bologna was a cloistered nun so she was not able to be out and about in the world traveling and gaining an arts education outside of her nunnery. So she's maybe not in touch with the most relevant up-to-date techniques in renaissance art but she's definitely worth mentioning as we begin our exploration of women artists of the renaissance. Another key artist from this early period that we should look at is Propezia de Rossi. Propezia de Rossi is one of the first female renaissance sculptors at a time when sculpting was really considered to be a men's work because of the strength and stamina that was required, the physicality of this job. Now Propezia de Rossi was one of the few women artists that was included in Giorgio Vasari's famous book The Lives of the Artist. In this book Vasari writes about all of the artists that are around him, his contemporaries, so artists like Michelangelo, Raphael, and out of hundreds of male artists he does include about three or four women artists, Propezia de Rossi being one of them. She was described by her contemporaries as being brilliant, fickle, and untamable and she was said to have a somewhat tumultuous life both in private and professional realms. So for example, and who doesn't love the art history gossip, it was rumored that she had an unrequited love for a powerful man Anton Galeazzo Malvasia and that she vented her passion for him through her art. And some documents point to a relationship between the two suggesting that her relationship with this man helped her to get some commissions for the large artwork shop that was set up at the construction of the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna. De Rossi first came to prominence for her fine tiny sculptures on peach and cherry pits. That's right, she did sculptures on the pits of fruits. Her ability with sculpting soon attracted the envy of her male peers, especially Amico Aspertini who worked alongside Propezia in the San Petronio workshop. And as pointed out by Vasari in his The Lives of the Artists, he says that Propezia de Rossi was paid a much lower salary than her male colleagues, almost a beggarly price for her work. He wrote, despite the fact that she was a skilled and talented artist in her own right, she did not receive equal pay for her work. Let's look at perhaps one of her most well-known works. This is a bas-relief panel from San Petronio, a 16th century sculpture by Propezia de Rossi depicting a story from the Old Testament. And we see these figures really depicted in a very contemporary 16th century style. We see that Propezia de Rossi has a knowledge of classical subject matter and that she has studied the human body. There's really an element of the musculature and the details of the human body being depicted really skillfully. For example, look at the male figure who's sort of pulling away. Look at the definition in his calf muscles, for example. And this subject matter is popular by this point in history. We're in the 16th century, in the early days of the counter-reformation, where we start to see the dangers of immorality associated with the female nature. Despite her low pay, she still had a successful career as an artist. Another Renaissance artist I would like us to look at is Lavinia Fontana. Lavinia Fontana is a painter of the Mannerist school. So she's painting in the late 1500s, where we start to see a taste for this very elongated, sort of stretched out, elegant style that we call Mannerism. It's still under the umbrella term of High Renaissance, but it's a very sort of elegant style that's popular at the end of the 16th century. Lavinia Fontana is one of the most important portrait artists in Bologna in the later 16th century, and she happens to be a woman. She was the mother of 11 children and the family's breadwinner as a painter. She was the daughter of a well-known Bolognese painter, Prospero Fontana, and she grew up surrounded by artists and intellectuals. By the age of 25, she married another painter, a painter from Imola, Zappi. Alas, he was much less gifted than she was, and Lavinia Fontana was already acknowledged as a professional painter. So he became her assistant and helped take care of the children in the house. She is regarded as one of the first women to really paint outside of the convent or of the court, and one of the first female painters to paint female nudes. She's perhaps most famous for her portraiture and her religious subject matter. I think her specialty, I would say, was doing portraits of the Bolognese noble women. In 1603, Lavinia Fontana was invited to Rome by Pope Clement VIII, where she continued painting portraits and altarpieces, making a name for herself in Rome, just as she had done in Bologna. Let's look at a few paintings by Lavinia Fontana. First, we're looking at Self-Portrait with the Clavichord and a Servant from 1577. This is oil on canvas, and here we can see the artist depicting herself in the act of playing this Renaissance-era instrument, the clavichord. So she's depicting herself as successful in all of the arts, including music, even though she's painting this portrait of herself. And she's looking out to the viewer with a strong, direct gaze. So there is this element of self-assuredness that we can see through this self-portrait. We also see rich brocade, a lace collar, really elaborately decorated clothing that indicate not only the artist's expertise at depicting a variety of textures and materials, but also the artist's wealth and status. The fact that she also has a servant with her holding open this book with the music notes also asserts her status in Renaissance Italy. You can see the long, elongated fingers playing the instrument. This is a key characteristic of a Mannerist painting. Let's look at a few more paintings by Lavinia Fontana, and I really want to look at what she's known for, which are her portraits of noblewomen. So here's one from 1580, where you see this woman with this very elaborate clothing, this elegant collar, lace details, brocade embroidery, rich, sumptuous jewelry, those elongated Mannerist fingers, and a little puppy. And in fact, you will start to see this reoccurring theme of this little puppy in these Renaissance portraits by Lavinia Fontana. Many scholars argue that this little dog was a symbol of the fidelity and loyalty that the Renaissance woman would be expected to give to her husband. Now, it's important to remember that men were not held to this same standard, but the wives were expected to remain loyal. And the wives may have wanted to highlight this aspect of their character by holding these little doggies in the portraits. And this one, I made a TikTok about this because these portraits always remind me of Paris Hilton and the little chihuahua in the purse that's like so popular in early 2000s Hollywood. Here's another Lavinia Fontana. This is Portrait of the Lady with the Dog from 1590. The dog really is a popular symbol of fidelity in marriage. This is a sign of a good wife. And perhaps these women were trying to express this element of their character. So Lavinia Fontana is known for not just depicting the likeness of the individual, but also telling us a little bit about the character of her sitter through her paintings. Now, even as Fontana's gender may have hindered her career in a society less accustomed to female artists, it may have made these women who were sitting for their portraits somewhat more comfortable. So she may have been able to access a level of safety and comfort for these women that allowed their character to shine through in their portraits. Here we're looking at another Lavinia Fontana, the Portrait of the Gozzadini Family. This is in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna. So to see some of these, you may have to travel to Bologna, Italy. And you can see she has taken on a family portrait here. So she really became one of the portrait artists par excellence in the late 1500s in Bologna. Probably one of my favorite paintings by Lavinia Fontana is this Portrait of Bianca dei Utili Maselli and Six of Her Children from the early 17th century. This is done in oil on canvas. And we can see this noble woman dressed in her finery with a huge lace collar, very dramatic brocade clothing, a giant pearl necklace. And she is, of course, holding this little cup, this little symbol of her fidelity as a wife. And she's And if you zoom in and look at the details, you can see that Lavinia Fontana has taken time to give a little bit of attention to the personalities of each of these children. So for example, the child who is to the left of Bianca dei Utili Maselli, this child has a little feathered pen in his hand. So perhaps he's the writer. There's a little chubby child in the front, holding a little platter of fruits and snacks. A child behind this one with a little bird on their shoulder. And the youngest who adorably is grabbing on to the sitter's finger and also holding on to the little pup. So we get these really sentimental and sweet details in this portrait by Lavinia Fontana. This portrait is so extra that it always reminds me of luxury and Italian fashion. Like this could be in a Gucci ad. You just need some modern sunglasses and we're ready to go. Okay, let's look at one more painting by Lavinia Fontana. Let's look at Minerva Dressing from 1613. This one is located in the Galleria Borghese in Rome. So you'll have to go Rome to see this one. And this comes from the later part of her life. Remember that Lavinia Fontana lived and worked in Bologna much of her life, but she ended up in Rome where she died just a year after completing this painting. So what's the subject matter? Here we see Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare. So we see classical subject matter, but we also see a nude woman. And this is extremely rare. Basically, women generally could not paint nude figures. They were not allowed to observe the nude male body. And some scholars believe that Lavinia Fontana may have studied her own body in the mirror to paint this. So this is one of the things that's kind of like revolutionary about this painting is that this is classical subject matter with the female nude painted by a woman artist. This woman, Lavinia Fontana, was elected into the Accademia di San Luca in Rome and died in the same city on August 11, 1614. Lavinia Fontana grew up in a family of artists. Her father, Prospero Fontana, was born in Bologna. He was a pupil of Innocenza da Imola. Michelangelo introduced him to Pope Julius II, and he joined the papal court. Later, he joined Vasari School in Florence and was a representative of the Bolognese school. So he was really setting up his daughter, Lavinia, for success by surrounding himself with all of these well-known artists. And you let me know in the comments, do you think that his daughter surpassed him in skill and technique? Okay, so we've been in Bologna. Now we're going to move over to Florence and look at the artist, Plautilla Nelli, who's known for her recently restored Great Last Supper that hangs now in the Santa Maria Novella Museum in Florence. Plautilla Nelli, like many of the women artists at the time, was a cloistered nun. So she was a Florentine painter and a nun. Plautilla Nelli lived in the Dominican Monastery of Santa Caterina in Florence. Plautilla Nelli was one of only four women artists that Giorgio Vasari discussed in the second edition of his very important book, The Lives of the Artists. Vasari praised the nun's skill, particularly as someone without professional training, and noted that her artworks were prevalent in private collections and sacred sites throughout Florence. So again, she did not have formal training since she was a nun, but she was exposed to a great deal of art in and around Florence. Many Renaissance monastic women made art to fundraise for their convents, so they might make small-scale paintings that they would sell on the side. They're trying to bring a little money in to the convent. But Plautilla Nelli kind of broke that mold when she created this large-scale painting. This was unprecedented. Plautilla Nelli's Last Supper painting measures about six feet tall and 21 feet long. This would have required numerous assistants, probably her fellow sisters, and the construction of a scaffolding to create. While most Florentine Last Suppers were done in fresco, Nelli's is oil paint on canvas, and this is probably in part because Nelli was self-taught. She might not have had the training to complete a fresco, which required considerable technical training. It doesn't mean that oil painting is not difficult, but this is something that you could perhaps pick up more than fresco painting. As a woman under a religious vow, decorum would have prohibited her to study in an artist's studio. So, for example, artists like Lavinia Fontana or Artemisia Gentileschi, who I will discuss in a future video, they were born into families of artists and they had the opportunity to study in an artist's studio. But these women who were nuns, like Saint Catherine of Bologna and Plautilla Nelli in Florence, did not have access to that same artistic education. Okay, now let's look a little more closely at Plautilla Nelli's depiction of the Last Supper, and let's think about it in the context of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. We see in Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper a very calm, cool, collected depiction of this important event. We, of course, see Leonardo da Vinci using this really skilled hand to create the illusion of three-dimensional space. He's using linear perspective to create a sense of that room receding back behind him. We have this strong horizontal line of the table that creates a sense of stability. We have Jesus right in the center and a very symmetrical composition. Now, when we look at Plautilla Nelli's painting, which, by the way, was recently restored by the Foundation Advancing Women Artists, this is an American non-profit based in Florence, and they have really sponsored and championed the restoration of women artists in Florence. Now, let's look at Plautilla Nelli's Last Supper. We see that same strong horizontal line of the table, this idea that Christ and Christianity bring sense and stability and order to the world. Now, in contrast, when we look at Plautilla Nelli's depiction, we see perhaps a more gentle and more emotional depiction of Christ, where Leonardo da Vinci's Christ is somewhat reserved and stoic. In contrast, Plautilla Nelli's Jesus is in the act of comforting one of his followers. So here we see a really nurturing depiction of Christ, a really selfless, kind, and sort of softer kind of masculinity. Perhaps this is because the gender of the artist is that of a woman, and so she may have been more attuned or interested in depicting this subject matter at that time in the 16th century. Another artist that we might want to look at is Fede Galizia, Federica Galizia, who's known for her depiction of Judith beheading Holofernes. Another important woman artist that you should check out is Sofonisba Anguissola. Sofonisba Anguissola is known for her strength and her power in her painting. Let's look at this depiction of her sisters playing chess. Here you see a very direct gaze, the sitter looking out at the viewer engaged in the act of playing chess, so pursuing a sort of academic or scholarly activity like playing chess. Sofonisba Anguissola went on to become a court painter in Spain, so she really established herself outside of Italy and was able to get a secure position in the court where she painted portraits of the royal family. Okay, so this is not an exhaustive list, these are just some of the important artists who happened to be women during the Renaissance. Now let's look at a few Baroque artists. We'll look briefly at Elisabetta Sierrani and everyone's favorite Artemisia Gentileschi. So when we're talking about Baroque art, we're moving into the 1600s and Elisabetta Sierrani lived from about 1638 to 1665. Let's look at one of her self-portraits. Here we're looking at Elisabetta Sierrani's self-portrait as an allegory of painting from 1658. Here we see the artist depicting herself as the allegorical figure standing in for painting and she is in fact in the act of painting. You can see she's holding the paintbrush and you can see the little edge of canvas in the lower part of the picture plane. You will see behind her a stack of books, a feather quill for writing, and on the other side you'll see a sculpture of a sort of classical figure. So these objects behind her indicate her knowledge of reading, writing, and classical subject matter. So we see all of these references to her profession, to the artistic profession. She's also wearing the laurel wreath, the symbol of victory. Now Elisabetta Sierrani was a major artist of 17th century Europe. She was a Baroque painter and one of the most famous women in early modern Bologna, where again women artists were more likely to emerge thanks to the city's progressive attitude. By the time she died in mysterious circumstances at the early age of 27, Sierrani had produced over 200 paintings, 15 etchings, and hundreds of drawings. And she focused on portraits and subject matter that depicted female heroines. So for example, we might see Portia wounding her thigh, or Judith with a head of Holofernes, or Timoclea of Thebes throwing her rapist down a well. So she really was honed in on these powerful women from biblical history and she depicted those in her art. And because of this subject matter, she has sometimes been compared to Artemisia Gentileschi, one of the most accomplished and progressive female painters of the Baroque age. Like many other female artists at the time, Elisabetta Sierrani was trained by her father, who was a painter of the Baroque painting movement. And her father was a pupil of Guido Reni, the important Baroque Bolognese artist. Sierrani distinguished herself for the originality and boldness of her work. And when her father became sick, she took over the family's workshop and she became famous all over Europe. Her paintings were acquired by nobles, by royal patrons, including the Grand Duke Cosimo III de' Medici. And when illustrious people traveled through Bologna, they requested to visit her female-only studio and watch her work. That's right, she employed women as her assistants to help her in her studio. When she died, she was given a kind of celebrity funeral with music and poetry and a life-size sculpture of the artist herself. And as I mentioned, she died under mysterious circumstances at the early age of 27. So just imagine how much amazing artwork she could have produced. As I mentioned earlier, her father became incapacitated and so she took over running the family's workshop. And she also took on students, female students. So with her student fees and her portrait commissions, she was able to be the sole supporter of her family. And her studio was wildly successful, likely due in part to the more progressive atmosphere of Bologna, where women artists were more welcome and celebrated. Let's look at an example of Sierrani's work. Here's Timoclea of Thebes throwing a rapist down a well from 1659. So this story is told by Plutarch in his biography, The Life of Alexander. So you know, Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great's forces took Thebes in 335 and one of his captains was accused of sexually assaulting Timoclea. During the assault, he asked if she knew where there were any hidden treasures. She said yes, lured him into the garden, and once she got to the well, she pushed him over and threw him in, throwing rocks at him until he died. She was called before Alexander the Great. And in theory, she would have been put to death because she killed one of the generals. However, Alexander the Great pardoned her and ordered noble families to be protected in the future. So basically, he still went around conquering, but he promised to protect the nobles in this test. In this artwork, we can see this really strong, dramatic lighting, this tenebrism, which Caravaggio is sort of credited with inventing in the Baroque era. We also see really strong diagonal lines, the body of this general as he's being thrown down this well, the legs kicking up, her arms pushing him down. All of these diagonal lines create a sense of drama and movement and action in the scene. Another Baroque period artist who's often talked about in conjunction with Elisabetta Sierrani is everyone's favorite Artemisia Gentileschi. Artemisia Gentileschi, like Elisabetta Sierrani, is known for depicting powerful women from history, from biblical subject matter, and from ancient mythology. Here we see Artemisia Gentileschi's perhaps most well-known work, the depiction of Judith beheading Polifernes. Now, this painter, Gentileschi, deserves her own video. So if you want to know more about Gentileschi, stay tuned for another video that I will make about Artemisia Gentileschi herself. So, what do you think? Did you learn something new? Did you learn about women artists during the Renaissance and Baroque period? Maybe someone you had never heard of? Hopefully this balances out your education about some of the typical and renowned artists from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. And remember that history is a living thing, that there are lots of artists out there that have been written out of the histories that we now have a chance to write them back in and right those wrongs. So let me know in the comments if you want to hear more about women in art history. I'm Dr. Megan Lorraine Devin, and this has been Art Trippin' Lecture Series.