Lavinia Fontana

In our class today, our group played the Bolognese artist Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614). So I did a little more research about her paintings and I realized I really enjoy her different style of work. As Dr.Wolbrink showed in class one of her well recognize paintings is the Chess Game, Fontana paints her sisters along with their servant representing their status and wealth. But what really intrigued me was how the artist paints most of her clients looking directly at the artist or “you” the audience. Here are some examples:

The Chess Game

The Madonna and Child with a Donor 

The Madonna and Child with a Donor painting is different from her Chess Game because in this one we don't have the servant or "Donor" looking at the child instead he is looking at the artist. 

In this painting, we see Fontana capturing infidelity and wealth of this family. We know she is portraying infidelity because of the children and the dog in the mother's arms. They are also looking at us or the artist from all different angles and perspective. 

Sources: images on Google

Properzia de'Rossi: Exceptional Artist

    The epitaph for Properzia de'Rossi reads "The bold splendor of two beautiful eyes would have progressed assuredly from marble statue to many sculptures. But it is new and strange cause for amazement that now, alas, envious death has taken the delicate hand, which, only a little while ago, made rough marbles live." Art Historian Catherine King argues that this epitaph captures how female artists were viewed as subordinate to male artists, even after death. She supports her argument with the fact that the author of the epitaph focused more on her beauty and delicacy as a woman than on her career as an artist. This epitaph gives substance to the debate over women's status during the Italian Renaissance and their public as well as private roles. Many modern women would be flattered with an epitaph that called them beautiful, however they would probably not like it if that was the only thing said about them, overshadowing their career or family.
      As noted by Caroline P. Murphy in "The Economics of the Woman Artist," de'Rossi's career was amazing. Records reveal that in 1526, the sculptor received her final sum from the Church of San Petronio for her artwork that had been commissioned a few years earlier. She was payed a comparable sum to that of male sculptors. This fact tells historians that one, it was possible for women to have public lives and to have similar careers to men during this period of time in Italy. It also pays tribute to the talent of de'Rossi who was obviously a highly sought after artist because she was commissioned by one of the most important churches in Bologna, above her male peers. Murphy attributes de'Rossi's public life and role as a female artist as also her ultimate demise because her career has been overshadowed by her death around age forty at a syphilitic hospital and her several run-ins with the law. Murphy states that de'Rossi became an artist out of necessity and she probably developed an aggressive demeanor which was necessary to make money, but also landed her in trouble when colleagues accused her of "disturbing the peace and assaulting a male colleague" (Murphy 23).
      Not much is actually known about de'Rossi's personal life, only records that attest to her public life such as court records and her sculptures remain. Historians estimate that she lived from about 1490 to 1530. In 1550, attesting to her artistic talent, Giorgio Vesari included her short biography in his book Lives of the Most Eminent Architects, Painters, and Sculptors of Italy, in which she was the only woman honored. Later, Vasari would include other female artists in his books. It is also known that d'Rossi trained at the University of Bologna with a master sculptor, and that she did not come from a family of artists, which makes her even more exceptional as woman and a female artist of this time. Below is her most famous sculpture, Joseph Fleeing Potipher's Wife as well as a portrait of Properzia de'Rossi.








Unknown artist, Portrait of Properzia de Rossi, ca.1530. Bronze medal. 1/3 x 1/3 inches (0.8 x 0.8 cm). The British Museum, London, England. Courtesy of The Warburg Institute, London, England





Sources:

King, Catherine. "Looking A Sight: Sixteenth Century Portraits of Women Artists." Zeitschrift fur               Kunstgeschichte 58 (1995): 381-406.

Murphy, Caroline P. "The Economics of the Woman Artist." Course Packet for History of European Women.

"Properzia de'Rossi." Clara Database of Women Artists. National Museum of Women in the Arts. http://clara.nmwa.org/index.php?g=entity_detail&entity_id=13689.

Elisabetta Sirani

Elisabetta Sirani  was born in Bologna in 1638, a city well known for being progressive concerning women's rights, and was running a workshop alone and was an independent painter by the age of 19. Not only did she support herself and her family, she also taught and fostered the talent of dozens of other women artists, including her two younger sisters. She was well-known in her time, especially for her ability to quickly paint works, and often painted large pieces in front of large and adoring crowds of people. Elisabetta painted a variety of subjects, self-portraits and scenes from mythology, but some of her most famous works were of the Holy Family and the Virgin and Child.
 Below is one such work, "Virgin and Child" painted in 1663, where she portrays Mary in the style of the Bologna peasant women. She also often portrayed strong women in her works, below is her work "Judith with the head of Holofernes" and one portraying Timoclea of Thebes. Who it is said that after being raped by invading Thracian's in Thebes, Timoclea tricked the Thracian captian and then pushed him into a well.

http://www.bernheimer.com/node/1892
http://www.nmwa.org/explore/artist-profiles/elisabetta-sirani
http://art.thewalters.org/detail/9874/judith-with-the-head-of-holofernes/
http://womeninthearts.wordpress.com/2009/12/23/artist-spotlight-elisabetta-sirani/

Elisabetta Sirani - The Woman Who Used Shadows

(This is Elisabetta Sirani in her Self-Portrait in 1658 at the age of twenty.)

The female artist I chose to write on this week is Elisabetta Sirani. She lived during the 17^th century, and died at only twenty-seven. Yet by the time, she was nineteen she worked as a painter, in her work she supported her whole family, because her father had gout and could no longer support them. Like Lavinia Fontana, she lived in Bologna, where she painted, and received patrons such as the Grand Duke Cosimo III de Medici. Although we have not mentioned the Medici family much in class, they were a very powerful banking family in Italy with many connections to famous artists who functioned as their patrons. Before her death, Elisabetta taught other young women to paint, including her two sisters and more young women from the area.

As for her painting style, Elisabetta painted in the Baroque style, using details as well as dramatic lighting on her subjects. People would come to watch her paint, even in large audiences because her skill and speed were both noted regularly. Scholars estimate that she painted around 200 paintings in her short life. Three common topics of her paintings were self-portraits, Judith with the head of Holofernes, and the Virgin and Child. Her paintings of the Virgin and Child show the importance of the love between Mary and the Christ-child. She presents Judith in a powerful stance showing her strength as well as her femininity by the choice of clothing. Finally, in her self-portraits she shows herself in women’s dress, but also is quick to place herself with the tools of her trade.

All information came from:

http://www.nmwa.org/explore/artist-profiles/elisabetta-sirani 

Sofonisba Anguissola

One of the women artists in focus this week is Sofonisba Anguissola, who was an Italian painter during the Renaissance. Uniquely, she was both placed in an artist apprenticeship and educated in the humanist tradition from a young age. She became a famous artist, notably acting as Court Painter in Spain and as Lady-In-Waiting to the Queen of Spain. She also employed new techniques in painting, as well as lived in various places throughout Europe. As a woman, her creativity provided her with prestige and money, which enabled her to travel and live a life of her own choosing in many ways. However, her status did not, until more recently, secure her fame after death. For example, the National Museum of Women in the Arts explains that “Anguissola’s fame slowly disappeared towards the eighteenth century with many of her works being ascribed to male artists.” One has to wonder how it is possible that a woman in such a public light, having such a documented presence was not given due credit only a century after her death in 1625? Perhaps, patriarchy had changed its shape by the eighteenth century, strengthening its hold on culture and thus, artwork as a means of expression, revising women’s roles in the art world during the Renaissance and ignoring the tradition of women’s public participation in art even dating to the Ancient world. In addition, Anguissola more than likely does not represent the average woman during the Italian Renaissance, yet her story can demonstrate that women used their means or talents to further their own agency and were not only accepted in, but were inherently a part of the public and cultural sphere.

Source: http://clara.nmwa.org/index.php?g=entity_detail&entity_id=116



The Chess Game -1555
Her most famous painting, showing her three sisters and a servant.
http://favourite-paintings.blogspot.com/2011/03/sofonisba-anguissola-chess-game.html



Self-Portrait, 1554
http://www.csupomona.edu/~plin/women/anguissola.html



Elizabeth of Valois (Spanish Queen)
Sofonisba Anguissola 1565

http://www.mystudios.com/women/abcde/sofonisba_valois.html

Lavinia Fontana

I looked at several paintings by Lavinia Fontana. Based on some of the paintings she seems to be a very religious person. And this painting could be a declaration to that. As what seems common among religious women in these days the virgin Mary is very highly regarded. This painting is in praise to Mary and it even seems to place her higher than other men; even men such as Saint Peter. Mary is the focal point of the picture and all surround her. I feel like in several other of her paintings that she had painted infants; and it looks like all the faces that surround her could be infants too. Is this a representation of Baby Jesus or is there some other kind of significance to that?

Lavinia Fontana

   Lavinia Fontana was from Bologna, Italy and acquired her artist techniques from her father. According to the Coursepacket, Lavinia's father needed his only child to support the family, so he trained her to be a painter (CP 150). Although she may have been taught the basic technique from her father, Lavinia became a master and her work spoke for itself.
  Lavinia had many patrons who requested various works of art from her, many were portraits but one of her largest and most well-known pieces is the "Assumption of the Virgin" that was in Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti's chapel in Bologna cathedral of San Pietro (CP 151).    Lavinia supported her large immediate family, 11 children total, and made such a name for herself that she and her family moved to Rome in 1604 where she became a portraitist for Pope Paul V (National Museum of Women in the Arts 1).
   The year 1604 also marked another milestone in Lavinia's career. According to Encyclopedia Brittanica, "this was the year that she painted her largest work, the "Martyrdom of St. Stephen, an altarpiece for San Paolo Fuori le Mura in Rome, a basilica that was destroyed in the fire of 1823 (1). According to various documents that contained records of the money that Lavinia received from her art work, scholars have found that upon her death, she had acquired a total sum of several thousand scudi (CP 152).
  Lavinia is proof of the fact that women could and can "easily" stand alongside male artists and be successful.

This is a self-portrait of Lavinia:

This is the "Assumption of the Virgin" piece:

 These are various pieces:

Works Cited

"Lavina Fontana." National Museum of Women In The Arts. Accessed March 25, 2014. http://www.nmwa.org/explore/artist-profiles/lavinia-fontana.

"Lavina Fontana." Encyclopedia Brittanica. Accessed March 25, 2014.http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/212506/Lavinia-Fontana. 

All visuals are from Google Images 

Artemesia Gentileschi

Born in 1593 to famous painter Orazio Gentileschi, Artemesia would grow up to be one of the most famous baroque artists from the 17th century. Trained mainly under her father, she drew influence from Caravaggio, using dark colors and shadows and contrasting light and dark for emphasis in paintings. As well as the play on shadows, many of Gentileschi's paintings often depict violence, which relates back to the incidence that happened while she apprenticed with Agostino Tassi. Raped by her father's colleague at the age of 18, she took Tassi to trial. And though she was able to confirm the rape testimony (gathered under torture) and was able to get Tassi convicted, he never served time. Her angst over this can be seen in some of her more brutal paintings, particularly the Judith portrait in which she uses a biblical scene to convey the message that women will achieve justice by whatever means necessary:
 
Gentileschi, in most of her paintings, portrayed women her were both strong and vulnerable, much like herself.
Other paintings:


Source used: http://www.artic.edu/exhibition/violence-and-virtue-artemisia-gentileschi-s-judith-slaying-holofernes

Plautilla Nelli

The work of Plautilla Nelli (1523-1588) consists of a variety of biblical classicism.  According to the source, Nelli is the first documented female artist from Florence, Italy.  She had originated as a nun, serving the church in Piazza San Marco.  The source explains that Nelli discovered the works of Savonarola studied this particular style.  Nelli's work paved the way for other women artists, and brought an original style to the art in which she had created. 


In Nelli's portrayal of The Last Supper, now located in a private viewing collection,  represents the experience of Christ and his disciples.  According to the source, this painting follows the representation of classic still-life paintings, and the smooth transitions in the clothing compliment the overall style of the painting. 

The Pentecost, pictured above, is another celebrated work of Nelli. Like the depiction in The Last Supper,  This image provides smooth, classic transitions and a contrast of light and dark colors.  Nelli's influence from the works of Savonarola and Bartolomeo can  be witnessed in this painting along with many others in Nelli's collection. 


Sources:

http://www.theflorentine.net/articles/article-view.asp?issuetocId=1475

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plautilla_Nelli

http://www.advancingwomenartists.org/suor-plautilla-nelli-restoration.php