List of 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.
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]
Sofonisba Anguissola, also known as Sophonisba Angussola or Sophonisba Anguisciola, was an Italian Renaissance painter born in Cremona to a relatively poor noble family. She received a well-rounded education that included the fine arts, and her apprenticeship with local painters set a precedent for women to be accepted as students of art. As a young woman, Anguissola traveled to Rome where she was introduced to Michelangelo, who immediately recognized her talent, and to Milan, where she painted the Duke of Alba. The Spanish queen, Elizabeth of Valois, was a keen amateur painter and in 1559 Anguissola was recruited to go to Madrid as her tutor, with the rank of lady-in-waiting. She later became an official court painter to the king, Philip II, and adapted her style to the more formal requirements of official portraits for the Spanish court. After the queen's death, Philip helped arrange an aristocratic marriage for her. She moved to Sicily, and later Pisa and Genoa, where she continued to practice as a leading portrait painter.
Properzia de' Rossi was a ground-breaking female Italian Renaissance sculptor and one of only four women to receive a biography in Vasari's Lives of the Artists.
Events from the year 1528 in art.
Sister Plautilla Nelli (1524–1588) was a self-taught nun-artist and the first ever known female Renaissance painter of Florence. She was a nun of the Dominican convent of St. Catherine of Siena located in Piazza San Marco, Florence, and was heavily influenced by the teachings of Savonarola and by the artwork of Fra Bartolomeo.
Caterina Ginnasi was an Italian noblewoman and painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Rome.
Events from the year 1530 in art.
Events from the year 1550 in art.
Mariangiola Criscuolo was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period, active mainly in her native city of Naples. She is known for portraiture and history painting, and excelled in painting altarpieces. She was also involved in the foundation of one of the first female-organized schools of art during the sixteenth century.
Caterina Tarabotti was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. She was born in Venice, and a pupil of Alessandro Varotari, called Padovino, (1588-1649) and his sister Chiara. The sister of proto-feminist writer Arcangela Tarabotti, she practiced chiefly in Vicenza, where she painted historical pictures. She died in financial constraints at the Ospedaletto di San Giobbe in Venice on 8 February 1693, aged 78.
Lucrina Fetti was an Italian painter born in Rome under the name Giustina She was the daughter of a lesser-known painter, Pietro Fetti, and the sister and pupil of the more distinguished painter of the family, Domenico Fetti. She accompanied her family to Mantua when her brother was invited to be court painter to Ferdinando Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. On December 3, 1614, Duke Ferdinando exclusively gave Giustina a dowry of 150 scudi so she could become a Clarissan nun in the Convent of St. Ursula. Once she entered the convent, she chose to change her name to "Lucrina". She was known for her religious works from her family's workshop. They were mostly meant for decorations for the church and convent that were sponsored by Margherita Gonzaga, Duchess of Ferrara. She was also known for doing portraits of the women of the Gonzaga family.
Maria Angelica Razzi was an Italian sixteenth century nun and sculptor at Santa Caterina da Siena in Florence. She primarily worked in clay to make devotional terracotta figures.
Elena Anguissola was an Italian painter and nun. She was the sister of the better-known painter Sofonisba Anguissola.
The Game of Chess is an oil-on-canvas painting executed ca. 1555 by Italian Renaissance artist Sofonisba Anguissola. Anguissola was 23 years old when she painted it.
Self-Portrait is a small oil-on-panel painting by the Italian artist Sofonisba Anguissola, signed and dated 1554 on the open book held by the artist. The portrait is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, in Vienna.
Portrait of Elisabeth of Valois is an oil-on-canvas painting executed c.1561–1565 by the Italian artist Sofonisba Anguissola, now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
Portrait of Bianca Ponzoni Anguissola or Lady in White is an oil-on canvas-painting created in 1557 by the Italian Renaissance painter Sofonisba Anguissola. It is a portrait of the artist's mother. It is now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. It is securely identified as the artist's mother, since it reuses two elements from The Game of Chess, Lucia's pearl headdress and Minerva/Elena's necklace Under the arm of the chair are the signature and date “Sophonisba Angussola Virgo F. 15.5.7.”
Portrait of Massimiliano II Stampa is a c.1558 oil-on-canvas painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Sofonisba Anguissola, now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, USA. It was previously misattributed to Giovan Battista Moroni, possibly due to stylistic similarities with Moroni's The Knight in Black.