List of Italian Renaissance female artists

Marginal self-portrait of Maria Ormani, 1453.

Italian Renaissance female artists (Italian : Le donne pittrici del Rinascimento italiano) included painters, manuscript illustrators and sculptors who lived in Italy in 15-16th centuries. ^{[1] [2]}

For other countries see List of 16th-century women artists.

List

15th century

• Onorata Rodiani (1403–1452) – semi-legendary painter
• Catherine of Bologna (Caterina de' Vigri) (1413–1463) – nun, artist, writer, later saint
• Maria Ormani (1428–c.1470) – manuscript illustrator and nun
• Elena de Laudo (fl. 1445) – Venetian glass artist.
• Antonia Doni (Antonia di Paolo di Dono, Antonia Uccello) (1446-1491) – painter, daughter of Paolo Uccello. Mentioned in documents as "pittoressa" – first usage of feminine term. ^[3] Nun.
• Barbara Ragnoni (1448 – 1533) – painter, nun
• Eufrasia Burlamacchi (1482–1548) – manuscript illuminator, nun
• Marietta Barovier (fl. 1496) – Venetian glass artist

16th century

More than 25 women active in 20 cities from Venice to Naples have been recorded as artists during the Cinquecento. Most were painters, but 2 were called intagliatrici, 4 (all Milanesi) ricamatrici, Properzia De'Rossi was the sole scultrice. ^{[4] [5]}

• Properzia de' Rossi (1490-1530) – sculptor, the only woman to receive a biography in 1st edition of Vasari's Lives of the Artists. ^[6]
• Elisabetta Alberti (d. 1555) – painter, daughter of painter Alberto di Giovanni Alberti.
• Teodora Danti (c.1498–c.1573) – painter, writer. Aunt of sculptor Vincenzo Danti.
• Plautilla Nelli (1524–1588) – painter, nun. Her disciples: Suor Prudenza Cambi, Suor Agata Trabalesi, Suor Maria Ruggieri, and three others as additional producers: Suor Veronica, Suor Dionisia Niccolini, and his sister Suor Maria Angelica Razzi.
• Anguissola family:
  • Sofonisba Anguissola (c.1532–1625), painter
  • Elena Anguissola (c.1532–1584), painter
  • Lucia Anguissola (c.1538 – c.1565), painter
• Irene di Spilimbergo (1540–1559) – painter and poet
• Lucrezia Quistelli della Mirandola (1541-1594), painter countess
• Diana Scultori Mantuana (1547-1612) – engraver, daughter of the sculptor and engraver Giovanni Battista Ghisi. One of the first female engravers.
• Mariangiola Criscuolo (c.1548–1630) – painter, daughter of painter Giovanni Filippo Criscuolo.
• Cecilia Brusasorzi (1549 – 1593) – painter, daughter of painter Domenico Brusasorzi.
• Barbara Longhi (1552-1638) – painter, daughter of painter Luca Longhi
• Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614) – painter, daughter of painter Prospero Fontana. First female career artist in Western Europe as she relied on commissions for her income.
• Marietta Robusti (La Tintoretta) (c.1560–1590) – painter, daughter of Tintoretto
• Maria Angelica Razzi (16th century) – sculptor, nun

Torah binder attributed to embroidery artist Miriam Foa, 1615-1616.

Baroque female artists

• Geronima Parasole (1569–1622) – wood block cutter and print maker
• Isabella Parasole (c.1570–c.1620) – wood engraver
• Fede Galizia (1578 – c. 1630) – pioneering still-life painter, daughter of painter Nunzio Galizia.
• Chiara Varotari (1584–1663) – painter, daughter of painter Dario Varotari the Elder
• Lucrina Fetti (c.1590–1651) – painter, daughter of painter Pietro Fetti, nun
• Angelica Veronica Airola (c.1590–1670) – painter, nun
• Caterina Ginnasi (1590–1660) – painter, niece of cardinal
• Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–c.1656), painter
• Orsola Maddalena Caccia (1596–1676) – religious mannerist painter, daughter of painter Guglielmo Caccia, nun
• Maria Eufrasia della Croce (1597–1676) – nun, painter
• Arcangela Paladini (1599–1622) – painter, daughter of painter Filippo Paladini
• Giovanna Garzoni (1600-1670) – painter, niece of painter Pietro Gaia
• Miriam Foa (active 1615-1616) – Judaica embroidery artist, featured in exhibitions by the Metropolitan Museum of Art ^[7] and Boston Museum of Fine Arts. ^{[8] [9]}
• Elisabetta Sirani (1638-1665) - painter and etcher from Bologna

See also

• Art by Women in Florence (book)
• Invisible Women: Forgotten Artists of Florence (book)
• Advancing Women Artists Foundation

Bibliography

• Ambrogio Levati. Donne illustri. 1822
• Gadol, Joan Kelly, Did Women have a Renaissance?, in: Renate Bridenthal, Claudia Koonz, Becoming Visible. Women in European History, Boston 1970.
• Graziani, Irene (2021). Le Signore dell'Arte. Storie di donne tra '500 e '600.
• King, Margaret L., Simpson, Catherine L., Women of the Renaissance, University of Chicago Press 1991.
• Garrard, Mary D., Angouissola and the Problem of the Woman Artist, Renaissance Quarterly 24, 1994.
• Zwanger, Meryl, Women and Art in the Renaissance, in: Sister, Columbia University 1995/6.
• Judith Brown. Gender and Society in Renaissance Italy (Women And Men In History). 1998
• Letizia Panizza, Women in Italian Renaissance Culture and Society. Oxford, 2000. ISBN 1-900755-09-2.
• Mary Rogers, Paola Tinagli. Women in Italy, 1350—1650.. Manchester University Press, 2005
• Gaia Servadio. Renaissance woman. 2005
• Nicholson, Elizabeth S. G. "Diana Scultori." Italian Women Artists from Renaissance to Baroque: National Museum of Women in the Arts. Milano: Skira, 2007
• Anne Sutherland Harris. Sofonisba, Lavinia, Artemisia, and Elisabetta: Thirty Years after Women Artists, 1550-1950. 2017
• Robin, Diana Maury, Larsen, Anne R. and Levin, Carole. Encyclopedia of women in the Renaissance: Italy, France, and England. — ABC-CLIO, Inc, 2007. — P. 160—161.
• Sheila Barker. Women Artists in Early Modern Italy: Careers, Fame, and Collectors. 2016
• Tanja L. Jones (ed.). Women Artists in the Early Modern Courts of Europe. c. 1450-1700
• Fortunati, Vera, Jordana Pomeroy, and Claudio Strinati, Italian Women Artists from Renaissance to Baroque, Milan, Skira, 2007

See also

• List of Italian women artists

References

1. Field, Tara (2013-10-07). "Women Painters during the Italian Renaissance". Artnet News. Retrieved 2023-02-20.
2. "Italian Women Artists from Renaissance to Baroque". www.artcyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2023-02-20.
3. "TLION MSS b - Indice degli indici di manoscritti medievali in rivista". 2018-12-26. Archived from the original on 2018-12-26. Retrieved 2023-02-20.
4. Fredrika H. Jacobs (1993) The construction of a life: Madonna Properzia De'Rossi ‘Schultrice’ Bolognese, Word & Image, 9:2, 122-132.
5. The intagliatrici: the unnamed daughter of Valerio Vincentino and Diana Scultori. Ricamatrici Veronica Sala, Margarita Barza, and Caterina Leuca Cantona and her daughter Barbara. The wife and daughter of Guido Mazzoni reportedly worked in the family bottega.
6. "Rediscovering Italy's women artists of the Renaissance". Wanted in Milan. 2021-08-17. Retrieved 2023-02-20.
7. "Torah binder". MET Museum. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 8 March 2025.
8. "Strong Women in Renaissance Italy". MFA Boston. Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Retrieved 8 March 2025.
9. Salazar, KB. "ANOTHER FOA FAMILY ARTIFACT". String-or-Nothing. Wordpress. Retrieved 8 March 2025.