The Female Masters of the Italian Renaissance

“The Old Masters” is a term used to evoke the “greats” or the “legends” of Art History from the late-Middle Ages/early-Renaissance to the beginning of the 19th Century. For over two centuries, there has been an erroneous public assumption that the majority of these Old Masters were men and there has been scant mention of their female contemporaries; in many instances, there may be a brief mention of a female artist or two sprinkled within each major art movement such as Artemisia Gentileschi in the Italian Renaissance or Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun in the latter stages of Rococo. Such an imbalance in the Art Historical narrative will inadvertently establish a false narrative that few women artists were active in the Early Modern era.?

In order to remedy this academic dilemma, it is imperative to reframe the Art Historical narrative at the inception of the first generations of Old Masters with whom we have become familiar - the Italian Renaissance (c. 1400 - c. 1650).?

This revolutionary period witnessed dramatic changes in the fields of art, history, literature, politics, science, religion, and philosophy. A cultural rebirth of the ideas associated with Classical Greco-Roman civilizations introduced this sea change in the Italian peninsula before it spread across the European continent. Humanism was the overarching philosophical construct that pervaded all aspects of life during the Renaissance. Its adherents centralized the importance of the human, from anatomical studies in the visual arts and sciences, to the publication of texts that delineated the tenets of proper moral conduct.?

Focusing exclusively on art, Italian artists were and remain extraordinary for their inventive, naturalistic, and poetically invigorating advancements in painting, sculpture, and architecture, to which the ripples of these luminaries persist two decades into the 21st Century. Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Brunelleschi, and Pontormo are but a fraction of the artists who typified the mastery inherent in Italian Renaissance art. Yet, a major issue with this summation is that it appears as if the Renaissance was a cultural reawakening solely undertaken by men; or, for those who have encountered a slightly more progressive take on this narrative, Artemisia Gentileschi and possibly Sofonisba Anguissola are briefly cited.?

As the Art History canon’s parameters continue to expand and become more inclusive of artists beyond white male heteronormativity, so, too, will public perception of who were the “Old Masters” that encompassed the Italian Renaissance. The art historical record reveals the astounding output of works by women concurrent with their male counterparts. Although there is not enough space to chronicle the entire history of women artists in the Italian Renaissance, an overview of the female Old Masters will ensure that individuals will acquire a much more comprehensive understanding of the groundbreaking women who formed this zeitgeist.?

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 - 1653)

Artemisia Gentileschi, Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, c. 1638 - 1639, oil on canvas.?

Artemisia Gentileschi remains one of the most prolific artists whose works straddled the late-Renaissance and early-Baroque periods. In addition to the scores of wealthy patrons scattered throughout the Italian city-states, Gentileschi attracted international collectors and patrons from as far away as England and Spain. She is best known for her portraits, self-portraits, and biblical narratives that are naturalistically rendered amidst scenes of psychological intensity and pictorial drama.?

Born and raised in Rome, Gentileschi studied art under the direction of her father, the accomplished painter Orazio Gentileschi. During the early stages of her career, she was raped by Agostino Tassi, an artist and collaborator of her father. Tassi and Gentileschi became embroiled in a controversial court case that ruled in her favor and culminated in Tassi’s expulsion from Rome.?

Gentileschi later settled in Florence where she married a minor local painter, Pierantonio di Stiatessi, with whom she had five children. Even after she became a mother, Gentileschi proceeded to paint and secured a position as the first female member of the prestigious Academy of the Arts of Drawing in 1616.?

In Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, Gentileschi presents herself caught in the act of painting. Armed with a palette in her left hand, she wields a paintbrush in her right while exerting all of her attention on the canvas. Here, Gentileschi has mythologized herself as the female embodiment of painting.?

From a technical standpoint, this self-portrait speaks to her advanced painterly skills as the ability to render herself in this particular pose would have been incredibly difficult. As the United Kingdom’s Royal Collection Trust notes in an online entry, she may have been able to successfully depict herself in this manner through a strategic positioning of two mirrors opposite one another. Nonetheless, her upwards facing head was likely the most challenging part to finish with complete anatomical accuracy and perspectival proportionality.?

Sofonisba Anguissola (c. 1532 - 1625)

Sofonisba Anguissola, The Chess Game, c. 1555, oil on canvas.

Sofonisba Anguissola was one of the first female Italian artists to attain international recognition. A native of Cremona in Northern Italy, she developed her artistic training through her educational background. Anguissola’s nobleman father was fascinated by Baldassare Castiglione’s writings on the necessity of access to education for young women. Artemisia and her sister Elena were sent to the home of the painter Bernardino Campi to receive formal instruction. Going forward, this marked the first of multiple apprenticeships with established painters for Anguissola.?

Though she is now celebrated for her emotionally resonant portraits of royalty like the Queen of Spain Elisabeth de Valois and King Philip II, she is also known for her self-portraits. A pursuit of self-portraiture was a rare practice among Italian artists in general as it did not yet become more popular until later in the 17th Century through Gentileschi and Rembrandt.?

Portraits of her family comprised another facet of Anguissola’s corpus. The Chess Game is an intimate scene of Anguissola’s three sisters and their older nurse. The eldest of the three sisters here, Elena, is shown on the left as she plays a game of chess with Minerva who sits on the opposite half of the canvas. The youngest sister Europa stands next to the table with her nurse. Each of the figures are fashioned in the finest textiles and the exquisitely carved chess board and game pieces are placed on top of a table draped with an elaborate cloth. Behind the figures, a verdant green landscape of mountains, rivers, and trees can be discerned.?

The serenity of this moment contains subtle humor as Elena gazes toward the viewer (possibly Anguissola herself) as it appears her hands have just taken the last chess pieces of her opponent. Minerva seems to be in mid-conversation, likely conceding defeat in this friendly competition as Europa giggles in her direction.?

Although this image operates as a slice of life view into a blissful moment with Anguissola’s sisters, the scene also reinforces the wealth of her family and the sophisticated lifestyles she and her sisters led thanks to an access to classical modes of education.?

Fede Galizia (1578 - 1630)

Fede Galizia, Cherries in a silver compote with crabapples, oil on panel.

Fede Galizia was a Milanese painter who was believed to have been an artistic prodigy around the time she was 12 years old, according to the Italian historian Giovanni P. Lomazzo. Of any Italian Renaissance painter, Galizia embarked on an unusual path as she avidly pursued still life subjects, even though she exhibited equal skillfulness in portraiture. The still life genre was not commonly associated with Italian artists but more so in Northern Europe. The possibility of this choice of content was likely informed by an encounter with the Flemish painter Jan Bruegel the Elder during a visit to Milan in 1595. According to a Christie’s lot description, there are currently 26 surviving still life paintings that have been ascribed to her.?

Cherries in a silver compote with crabapples is a carefully orchestrated composition that imbues a seemingly ordinary image of cherries with vivacity and aesthetic charm. There is an overflow of cherries atop a silver vessel which has led to several of them falling off onto a stone surface. A conjoined pair of cherries hang from the edge of the compote. Nearby, a fritillary butterfly with patterned wings flitters around a pile of crabapples that lie next to the compote’s base. The incorporation of the butterfly and the dangling cherries energize this simple scene with gentle movement as opposed to an immobile arrangement that appears perpetually frozen in time. The blackened background and almost spotlight effect on the central objects convey a dramatic element that beckons the viewer’s attention.?

Plautilla Nelli (1524 - 1588)

Plautilla Nelli, The Last Supper, c. 1568, oil on canvas.

Plautilla Nelli was a Florentine nun and self-taught painter who specialized in religious subjects. Purportedly the first female Florentine artist, Nelli’s well-to-do upbringing put her in direct contact with professional artists and permitted her access to the drawings of Fra Bartolomeo and Perugino. A member of the Dominican order, she operated a studio and workshop within her convent, Santa Caterina di Siena. Not only did she produce paintings, but she also delegated artistic responsibilities to her fellow nuns who worked in the convent’s studio.?

The Last Supper is the first depiction of this subject by the hand of a female artist. Its longitudinal orientation is a somber scene in which the central Christ figure is surrounded by his twelve apostles in a darkened brown room. Eleven of the apostles express signs of distress, concern, and confusion upon Christ’s revelation that one of them will betray him. Jesus comforts one of his disciples by holding their head close to his chest. The guilty Judas, the twelfth apostle, is the only figure painted sans halo and is seated alone on the opposite side of the table to reinforce his isolation from the piety and devotion of the eleven apostles.?

Elisabetta Sirani (1638 - 1665)

Elisabetta Sirani, Timoclea Kills the Captain of Alexander the Great, 1659, oil on canvas.?

Elisabetta Sirani was a painter from Bologna, which earned a reputation as one of Italy’s more forward-thinking centers for women’s education and professional opportunities. Through her artist father, she acquired a richly multidisciplinary educational foundation in art, music, philosophy, and the classics. These experiences provided the subtext for much of the content and themes behind her religious and mythological paintings.?

At age 19, Sirani’s father became incapacitated upon his diagnosis of arthritic gout. With the family mired in financial debt and her father’s workshop without any leadership, Sirani utilized her artistic skills and took over her father’s business. She oversaw all of its operations and supervised the artistic production of around twenty pupils in training. Through these endeavors, Sirani was able to financially support her parents and four siblings and simultaneously carved an independent career as a painter. Once she received enough funding, Sirani opened a school to train women artists, which became the first institution in Europe that was not a convent where women could study painting.?

Timoclea Kills the Captain of Alexander the Great is a powerful example of how Sirani’s paintings embodied proto-feminism. The image is both a visual interpretation of an historical event and a literary passage from the Ancient Greek historian Plutarch’s Life of Alexander. During the Battle of Thebes (335 BC), Alexander the Great’s army pillaged the city of Thebes. In an infamous episode from this event, several of his soldiers and a captain broke into the home of a wealthy woman, Timoclea, and demanded her to give them all of her money and valuable possessions. The captain raped Timoclea and was convinced she still had more wealth hidden on her property, to which she informed him that there was money in a well in the back garden. Upon his arrival at the well, the captain peered inside only for Timoclea to rush behind and shove him in headfirst. He was still alive but badly wounded, to which Timoclea threw multiple heavy stones at him until he succumbed to his injuries. This was both an historical and literary example of female fortitude in the Ancient Greco-Roman world whose social and political climate was steeped in abhorrent acts of sexual violence toward women.?

Sirani’s Timoclea depicts the heroine in her lavish clothing as she forcefully pushes the lecherous captain down the well under the cover of the night. Timoclea is portrayed as the ultimate victor with her defiant expression in contrast to the look of combined shock and terror on the captain’s face as he struggles to prevent his fall while flailing his legs in the air.?

Properzia de’ Rossi (1490 - 1530)

Properzia de’ Rossi, Grassi Family Coat of Arms, c. 1510 - 1530.

While much of her early life and background remain shrouded in mystery, Properzia de’ Rossi, too, was a product of Bologna’s support for women’s education and professional pursuits in the arts. She is regarded as one of, if not, the first European woman to legitimize the field of sculpture as a viable artistic career for women. De’ Rossi received formal artistic training under the tutelage of the engraver Marcantonio Raimondi. She defined her skills as a sculptor through a masterful handling of diverse types of stones in both standard sculptures and architectural adornments, of which marble and fruit stones were recurring materials.?

Although the painter and historian Giorgio Vasari mentions several female artists in his seminal Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, De’ Rossi is the only woman to be afforded an expansively detailed biographical entry.?

One of her most important commissions came from the Grassi’s, a significant Bolognese family who exerted much political and social influence in the early-16th Century. Tasked with designing the sculptural details of their coat of arms, De’ Rossi carved minutely graceful images of Catholic martyrs, saints, the Virgin Mary, and Jesus Christ that perfectly conformed to the scale and rounded surfaces of the inlaid peach and plum stones. The meticulous sculpted stone images are balanced within a double-headed eagle metal framework.?

Caterina Angela Pierozzi (active c. 1670 - 1690)

Caterina Angela Pierozzi, The Annunciation Miniature, 1677, tempera and gold leaf on vellum.

Presently, there is only one work attributed to Caterina Angela Pierozzi, a Florentine painter who was a protege of the Grand Duchess Vittoria della Rovere. Remarkably, her life has been receiving more attention thanks to a current group exhibition at the art gallery Colnaghi’s London location, Forbidden Fruit: Female Still Life (April - June 2022). As the name suggests, the exhibition traces the history of still life paintings and images with still life elements produced by women in Western Art History.?

A truly praiseworthy initiative on the part of the curators, her The Annunciation Miniature (1677) hangs alongside the works of female artists with much larger bodies of attributed paintings such as Rachel Ruysch and Clara Peeters.?

The Annunciation Miniature is a key moment in the Catholic faith in which the Archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she is to be the mother of Jesus Christ. Unlike other Annunciation subjects from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, this scene is presented as a close-up rather than a full-bodied composition replete with architectural surrounds or objects. Viewers are able to recognize the sense of peace that radiates off of Mary’s face and her heavenward gaze as Gabriel smiles toward her. The border outside of the enclosed rectangular scene abounds with a gorgeously decorated bouquet of flowers whose curvy stems and colorful petals are entangled over one another in great textural detail.?

Though only a brief summary of a few of the accomplished women artists from the Italian Renaissance, it is evident that female artistic activity flourished with considerable consistency and rapidity in tandem with the pursuits of their male contemporaries. Many of the women mentioned above and beyond this article were subjected to criticism, rejection, and abuse. However, their popularity was not simply a posthumous occurrence, but was a reality that existed within their lifetimes as seen in the respect and support they received from fellow male artists, patrons, and collectors in the Italian and European art markets - from Michelangelo’s generous gifting of one of his drawings to aid Anguissola’s maturation as a draftsman, to Pope Clement VII’s insistence upon meeting Properzia de’ Rossi (who, sadly, died from a plague shortly before their scheduled meeting). By now, one’s understanding of an “Old Master” should not be limited to a select grouping of male painters and sculptors, but should be inclusive of the likes of well-known, established figures Artemisia Gentileschi to recently discovered icons Caterina Angela Pierozzi.