Introduction

Lee Lorenz in a comic for the New Yorker poses an interesting question:

Lorenz, Lee. Does it strike anyone else as weird that none of the great painters have ever been men?. ND. Cartoon. New Yorker Magazine. Art.com. Web. 1/3/2017.

The question that Lorenz poses is a legitimate one. Historians have provided very little evidence for female artists before the Mideval era, but there is evidence of many women who have broken the mold of the male-dominated societies throughout the western world and made their mark  in history. 

It is difficult to provide evidence for many early female western artists as they often, out of tradition, changed their names through marriage, or worked assisting within workshops or under relatives who often claimed final credit for any work produced. There is representative evidence of women producing visual artistic products found in paintings, pottery, and other artistic forms, as early as ancient Greece and Rome, but these have also remained unattributed. Pliny the Elder, a Roman writer cites several Greek women painters and an Egyptian female artist, but none of their work survives to lend direct evidnece to their contributions (Heller 12). 

What is important prior to the current documented evidence of specific female artists and their work is the precedents set by visual culture in the images of women. 

This module covers the Medival era through the sixteenth century and focuses on women’s opportunities to access education. Such access was at best difficult, but due to family workshops in guilds, dual monasteries, and nunneries’ scriptoriums, some women learned academic subject matter and received training in the arts. Works produced by women at this time included manuscript illuminations, textile arts (including embroidery), and paintings.

Topics

• educational opportunities for women
• known and unknown women artists and their works
• Hildegard von Bingen–artist, musicologist, mystic, naturalist, and writer of the Middle Ages
• Claricia–Claricia Psalter
• other known Medieval artists such as Guda, Herrad of Landsberg, and Diemud
• Renaissance artists of note–Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, Clara Peeters, Properzia de Rossi, Marietta Robusti Tintoretto, Caterina van Hemessen
• monastic environments for women

Outcomes

By end of this module, you should able to

• recognize the Medieval and Renaissance styles
• list the women artists’ names, if known, and their works
• understand the struggles and successes these women experienced
• describe the historical background and the culture of the regions involved
• discuss the educations and varied life styles of the artists
• analyze the role nunneries and dual monasteries played in the creation, preservation, and dissemination of manuscripts

Women in World History

The “Women in World History” site includes modules and case studies that can be used for project research and discussions.

The Analyzing Evidence section, Paintings and Prints, presents what to look for and consider when analyzing a work of art and offers text, changing imagery, and audio media resource examples.

The Case Studies section is helpful in general to give examples of other types of case studies, from which you may gain and apply different perspectives to your own projects.

The Primary Sources section gives resources from various regions from around the world.

The Modules section provides introductions to different eras in roughly chronological order, including specific artists. Not all topics directly address visual art but enrich with contextual backgrounds of the eras.

Women artists: Self portraits and representation of womanhood from the Medieval period to the present

This resource covers several women artists from the Medieval period to the present. Specific sections will be covered according to the historical chronology in conjunction with all modules related to women in art. 

Women in the Middle Ages

This link provides several resources covering medieval art and architecture. This is useful for your research, especially for term projects.

Scattering light: The traces of some Medieval women artists

This resource addresses lesser-known women artists from the medieval period, their depictions of women, and how the depictions differed from those of male artists. Includes signed depictions of recreation of life, “using the ancient and sacred art of giving forms and colours to the unrepresentable divinity, through weaving, through embroidery, that is, through their most daily, most utilitarian tasks, and also through drawing and painting.”

Women artists through the 17th Century

A list of seventeenth century women artists and thier works. 

Repertorium of manuscripts illuminatd by womein in religous communities of the Middle Ages

This site includes an extensive introduction to the women artists of the Middle Ages, including separate indexes of known artists by name, anonymous artists, and illuminators.

Artists:

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)

Claricia Psalter (c.1200)

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653)

Artemisia Gentileschi Judith Slaying Holofernes, 1614-20

Artemisia Gentileschi was a female artist who was instructed by her father, Orazio, who was strongly influenced by Caravaggio’s style. Her work often depicts dark subject matter. Historians often attribute themes such as Judith slaying Holofernes with Gentileschi's personal struggles as a female within a male dominated society. The story in the painting refers to a Jewish story of Judith who, after coercing the general to take her to his tent, assasinates the Assyrian to avoid battle. The heroic female theme is well painted in comparison to much of her other work, and demonstrates her ability to overcome as a female artist at this time.

Sofonisba Anguissola (1532-1625)

Caterina van Hemessen (1528-1588)

Discussion Questions

Question: After reading our Resources, respond to the following:

What educational opportunities were available to women in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance? How did they receive art training or did they?

1. Select either the Middle Ages or the Renaissance.

2. Give a brief explanation using information about a particular female artist or group.