Renaissance Women Artists

By Author: Henry Ford
Total Articles: 189
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During the renaissance period, the role of women in political, social, and culture life was greatly controlled by the society expectations of a woman. They were expected to perform only their domestic works and were heavily influence by men through persuasion (Chadwick, 2007). Women were discouraged from taking up roles in artistic work. Most women who became influential artistic of the time mostly came from artistic family and developed their painting skills under skillful guidance of their fathers, as will be evidenced by review of the three famous Renaissance artists in this study. Though skilled compared to men, they were belittled and stereotyped and suffered gender injustice like rape and others (Tinagli, 1997). However, it was evident that women wanted to develop their paintings which were little influenced by men and as it will be found in the following artists, they managed to come up with their own peculiar artistic work.
Sofonisba Anguissola
One of the inspiration women artists of the Renaissance period was Sofonisba Anguissola. Her birth date is not certain but she was born around 1532. She was the ...
... oldest children of Amilcare Anguissola, a member of Genoese minor nobility. Her mother, Bianca Ponzone, came from an influential affluent noble family. Her family had strong painting background but it was only Sofonisba Anguissola, among the six other six siblings, who became a successful painter.
Sofonisba Anguissola (1532 -1625) is remembered as one of the most renowned Italian Painter owing the extent of influence from her work (Cole-Adams, 2007). She came from an affluent family of noble background and this perhaps gave her a footing in painting compared to other artists of her time. Her father valued education and therefore when she was only fourteen, she had her sisters were sent to study with Bernardino Campi. Bernardino was a respected painter and at Lombard School. It is from this earlier experience that she gained background education on painting although her personal efforts contributed to her success. Her background also exposed her to work with well known artist who greatly influenced her in career growth and development. Over the next several years she also began training with other well known artists Bernardino Gatti and Michelangelo who not only inspired her in painting but also raised her status as a well known artist. It was in Rome where she met with Michelangelo who trained her in some aspects of painting for a period of two years under his guidance.
As a female artist of the time, she was a great inspiration to other women. She could be taken as an example of women success in an era that had strict social expectations from women. Sofonisba's attended an apprenticeship with local painters thereby setting a precedent for other women and inspiring art schools to accept women as students. Since it was not allowed for women to view nudes which meant she could not draw anatomy or other drawing from life which forced her to develop new portraiture painting. He work reflected the intertwined status of women in the society as mothers as it always reflected the family side (Cole-Adams, 2007). She painted portraits of her own self and that of her family members. In reality, her work brought about a new portraiture which had subjects set in different informal ways. He artistic style was had a touch different from other artists. Her work evidenced the humanism side of Renaissance art. This was evident in a number of her paintings like Sell-Portraits (1554) below:

The turning point in her career came when she was invited to Spanish Court to serve as court painter. She had painted Duke of Alba while in Mila who recommended her to Spanish King Phillip II. She also served as lady in waiting to Queen Elisabeth of Valois, third wife of Phillip II and a portraitist. This was a position which was previously held by men and in real sense, her work opened way for man women to purse their artistic careers. She painted portraits of Phillip II’s sister Juana and her son Don Carlos.
When she was thirty she married Don Francisco under after Elisabeth of Valois died in 1571. However, her husband died in 1579. At forty seven, she remarried to Orazio Lomellino who was a ship captain. She spent her later years in her studio. Her influence was based on portraiture and was influenced by art of Parma and Mantua. There were more than 50 works which have been attributed to her and displayed in many galleries around Europe including Bergamo, Budapest, Madrid, Naples, Siena, Florence, and others (Cole-Adams, 2007). She opened up the way for other women like Lavinia Fontana, who we will discuss in details. She influenced a generation of young painters who took over after her. Her portrait of Elisabeth of Valois remains the most copied portrait in Spain
Lavinia Fontana
Lavinia Fontana was born in 1552. She was also an Italian painter and a renowned Renaissance women painter. She was the daughter of a Propero Fontana, a prominent painter who came from School of Bologna. Lavinia Fontana was trained under the watchful eye of her father. In 1577 she was married to Paolo Zapi and the couple was blessed with 11 children although it was only three children who outlived her, which means most of them died before adulthood. Her family was peculiar compared to other families at the time because her husband supported her in her work. Her husband took care of the household and also assisted her wife in painting where he did minor paintings like draperies.
Today, she can be considered to have been a controversial painter of her time since she lived in an era of strict social code that did not allow women to see nudes but she painter nudes of men and women. She was also unusual in the sense that she was commissioned to paint not only portraits, which were subjects for women, but she also made religious and mythological themes like female nudes. She is also remembered as the first woman during the Renaissance period to made career out of painting working within same sphere as her male counterparts outside the court or convent.
She started her career at the early age of 23 when she painted “Monkey Child” in 1575. In 1576 she painted Christ with the Symbols of the Passion, which is displayed in El Paso Museum of Art. In the course of her career she painted different genres of paintings especially among the upper class residents in Bologna. Unlike most female artist of her time, she was devoted to commercialization of female paintings. She started her commercial paintings on copper which was mainly used for paper and diplomatic gives due the luster and value of the metal. She continued to paint larges male nude male and female paintings on religious backgrounds.
Her style of painting depicted and artistic style which showed attention to clothing and jewelry details and close understanding of sitter’s personality. She is classified among few artists who took on the Carracciesque style of painting. However, her style reflected a strong quasi-Venetian coloring. Her success was not only achieved from her style of painting but also on acceptance of her work (Murphy, 2003). She was the first female artist in Italy to have been commission for both private and public sectors which means that her work was accepted in the society, though controversial due to nudes. This implies that she expanded the range of work made available for women.
Later in 1603, together with her family, she was invited by Pope Clement VIII to Rome to receive patronage of the Buoncompagni in which Pope Gregory XIII was also a member. She also had the honor of painting Pope Paul V. She was later to be elected in to the Academia di San Luca in Rome. As the official portraitist for Pope Paul V, she received numerous awards including the bronze portrait medallion which was cast in 1611 by Felice Anotonio Casoni a well known sculptor (Murphy, 2003).

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