Women Artists: Renaissance and Baroque Painters, Sculptors and Engravers

More of this Feature • Page 1: 16th Century Women Artists • Page 2: 17th Century Women Artists

Related Resources • Top Books on Women Artists • Giovanna Garzoni • Judith Leyster • Louise Moillon • Geertruydt Roghman • Josefa de Ayala • Maria van Oosterwyck • Mary Beale • Elisabetta Sirani • Maria Sibylla Merian • Teresa del Po • Anne Killigrew • Rachel Ruysch • Rosalba Carriera • Christine de Pizan (Christine de Pisan) • Queen Elizabeth I of England • Queen Isabella I of Spain • Women and Painting • Medieval and Renaissance Women's History

From Other Guidesites • Women and Art - Women's Issues Guide, Nikki Katz

Elsewhere on the Web • National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington, D.C.) • Women and Art in the Renaissance • Women Artists - 16th/17th Centuries • Women Artists - 17th/18th Centuries • Women Artists of the Baroque Period • Italian Women Artists of the 16th and 17th Centuries • more

Some Flemish and Dutch women were also successful painters, with subjects including portraits and still life pictures, but also more family and group scenes than painters from Italy portrayed.

Women Renaissance and Baroque painters tended, like their male counterparts, to focus on portraits of individuals, religious themes and still life paintings. Some of these women learned to paint in their fathers' workshops and others were noble women whose advantages in life included the ability to learn and practice the art of painting. Their talent is obvious though their names are barely known.

First page > Women Artists of the 16th Century > Page 1, 2

Women Artists of the 17th Century

Giovanna Garzoni (1600-1670): One of the first women to paint still life studies, her paintings were popular. She worked at the court of the Duke of Alcala, the court of the Duke of Savoy and in Florence where members of the Medici family were patrons. She was official court painter for the Grand Duke Ferdinando II.

• Giovanna Garzoni - Biographies and Images

Judith Leyster (1609-1660): A Dutch painter who had her own workshop and students, she produced most of her paintings before she married the painter Jan Miense Molenaer. Her work was confused with that of Frans and Dirck Hals until her rediscovery at the end of the 19th century and subsequent interest in her life and work.

• Judith Leyster - Biographies and Images

Louise Moillon (1610-1696): French Huguenot still life painter, her father was a painter and art dealer and so was her stepfather.  Her paintings, often of fruit and only occasionally including figures, have been described as "contemplative."

• Louise Moillon - Biographies and Images

Geertruydt Roghman (1625-??): A Dutch engraver and etcher, her images of women in ordinary life tasks -- spinning, weaving, cleaning -- are from the perspective of women's experience. Also spelled Geertruyd Roghmann.

• Geertruydt Roghman - Biographies and Images

Josefa de Ayala (Josefa de Óbidos) (1630-1684): A Portuguese artist, Josefa de Ayala painted a wide variety of themes, from portraits and still life paintings to religion and mythology.

• Josefa de Ayala - Biographies and Images

Maria van Oosterwyck (Oosterwijck) (1630-1693): A still life painter from the Netherlands, her work came to the attention of European royalty of France, Saxony and England. She was monetarily successful, but was, like other women, excluded from membership in the painters guild.

• Maria van Oosterwyck - Biographies and Images

Mary Beale (1632-1697): An English portrait painter known as a teacher as well as for her portraits of children. Her father was a clergyman and her husband a cloth manufacturer.

• Mary Beale - Biographies and Images

Elisabetta Sirani (1638-1665): Italian painter, she was also a musician and poet who focused on religious and historical scenes.  She died at 27, possibly poisoned (her father thought so, but a court didn't agree).

• Elisabetta Sirani - Biographies and Images

Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717): Born in Germany of Swiss and Dutch ancestry, her botanical illustrations of flowers and insects are as notable as scientific studies as they are as art. She left her husband to join a religious community of Labadists, later moved to Amsterdam and in 1699, she traveled to Suriname where she wrote and illustrated the book, Metamorphosis.

• Maria Sibylla Merian - Biographies and Images

Elisabeth Sophie Cheron (1648-1711): French painter who was elected to the Royal Academy.

Teresa del Po (1649-1716): A Roman artist taught by her father, her daughter also became a painter. She's best known for a few mythological scenes that survive and she also painted portraits.

• Teresa del Po Biographies and Images

Susan Penelope Rosse (1652-1700): English miniaturist, she painted portraits for the court of Charles II.

Luisa Ignacia Roldan (1656-1704): A Spanish sculptor, she became "Sculptor of the Chamber" to Charles II. Her husband Luis Antonio de los Arcos was also a sculptor.

• Image: "The Death of Mary Magdalene"

Anne Killigrew (1660-1685): Portrait painter at the court of James II of England, Anne Killigrew was also a published poet. Dryden wrote a eulogy for her.

• Anne Killigrew Biographies, Poems and Images

Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750): Ruysch, a Dutch painter, painted flowers in a realistic style, probably influenced by her father, a botanist. Her teacher was Willem van Aelst, and she worked primarily in Amsterdam. She was court painter in Düsseldorf from 1708, patronized by the Elector Palatine. Mother of ten and wife of painter Juriaen Pool, she painted until she was in her 80s. Her flower paintings tend to have dark backgrounds with a brightly-lighted center.

• Rachel Ruysch Biographies and Images

Giovanna Fratellini (Marmocchini Cortesi) (1666-1731): Italian painter who trained with Livio Mehus and Pietro Dandini, then Ippolito Galantini, Domenico Tempesti and Anton Domenico Gabbiani. Many members of the Italian nobility commissioned portraits.

Anna Waser (1675-1713?): From Switzerland, she was known primarily as a miniaturist, for which she was acclaimed throughout Europe. She was a child prodigy, painting a notable self-portrait at age at age 12.

Rosalba Carriera (Charriera) (1675-1757):A Venice-born portrait artist who worked in pastel. She was elected to the Royal Academy in 1720.

• Rosalba Carriera Biographies and Images

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More links to resources on women in art history during this period:

• Definining the Renaissance Virtuosa: Women Artists and the Langue of Art History and Criticism - from CAA Reviews, a review of the book by Fredrika H. Jacobs.
• Women Artists of Bologna: Caterina dei Vigri, Lavinia Fontana, and Elizabetta Sirani - an abstract of a dissertation by Maria Mantziou.
• Underrepresentation of Women Artists

First page > Women Artists of the 16th Century > Page 1, 2