Women in Art before 1600 CE

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)

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.