P. 39 As a woman’s respectability was inevitably dependent upon her status as a wife, it is little wonder that at least 70% of the female artists in the list were married, the real percentage was probably even higher since the material status of some remains unknown. Many of the women examined in this study were married to artists or members of a court… In the case of Anelika Kauffmann, it was reported that her husband cared for her interests like a manager. By contrast, the busbands of Roman-born Artemisia Gentileschi and the French Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun squandered their wives carefully managed gains, an abuse which led in both cases to separation. Unmarried female artists appear to have been generally accepted as is demonstrated by the notable example of the 18th-century Venetian artist Rosalba Carriera, who remained single throughout her life. (A further example is Madeleine Francoise Basseport). Remarkably, only half the married female court artists researched here appear to have had children. Whether this statistic is a result of gaps in the available documentation or a conscious decision to forego having children remain a subject of speculation.
P. 43 Lavinia Fontana, a native of Bologna, may be taken as an example of a female artist who followed in Sofonisba Anguissola’s footsteps. Unlike Anguissola, Fontana did not come from a noble family but rather an artistic one. Nonetheless, she sought to style herself upon an aristocratic model in order to demonstrate her suitability for a court appointment. Fonatan who, according to a 17th-century source, acquired a doctorate from the University of Nologna, presented herself as a highly refined and well-educated lady. She appears in elegant attire, seated at her desk and surrounded by a collection of antiques. She is not engaged in the potentially messy act of painting, but is rather just beginning to sketch her ideas on paper.
P. 45 Another career strategy was to capitalise upon the perceived novelty of the female artist…. Some female artists reinforced their exotic status by developing unusual artistic techniques. The Italian artist Giocanna Garzoni, who was famed for her still-life paintings, originated an innovative painting technique using a multitude of single-coloured dots, which resulted in an aesthetically pleasing pointillist effect. Rosalba Carriera had great success in adopting the medium of pastels, innovative in the early 18th century. The Dutch 17th-century artist Johanna Koerten made court protraits in the form of extremely fine, filagreed paper silhouettes. Her unique mastery of this unusual and difficult technique earned her high honour in the courts of Europe. Luisa Roldan, appointed court sculptor by the Spanish King Carlos II in 1692, mastered the physically demanding art of woodcarving, rarely practiced by women, and innovated in creating terracotta sculpture at court. .. Rachel ruysch, court painter to Prince Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz, delighted the court in Dusseldorf with her minutely detailed and realistic still-life compositions. She also remained active until a very advanced age, a marvel that Ruysch emphasized by both signing and dating her works.
P. 52 Misogynist criticism was certainly not lacking. Many female artists were accused of succeeding only on the basis of their femininity. The English painter Nathaniel Hone, for example, insinuated this in his painting The Conjuror, which created a major scandal following its public display in 1775. The magician after whom the work is titled alludes to the British Academy’s president, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and is depicted with a young girl nestled up against his leg. The girl’s pose recalled a painting by Angelika Kauffmann, who was rumoured to have a relationship with Renolds… a highly compromising scene could be observed in the background. Before the silhouette of St Paul’s Cathedral there appeared to be a bacchanalian dance in progress, with an attractive young woman at its centre, naked but for her boots. This scene referred to a 1773 commission to numerous Academy members who had been given the task of decorating the great London cathedral. Hone had not been among those chosen by Reynolds, though Kauffmann was.”
P.62 The highest genre of art, history painting, reamined the sole purview of male artists at court,.. The relatively high number of court appointments declined by women artists show that it was more attractive for them to strive for a balance between court and civil commissions.
P. 105 “Sofonisba seems to have had a strong personality and force of will. And even though she did not serve Anne of Austria officially, the two seem to have forged a close relationship. This is suggested by Queen’s intercession in 1571 on Sofonisba’s behalf with Phillip II when the artists, along with a group of damas, was involved in an act of Household rebellion. On that occasion a group of ladies in waiting gathered trunks and pulled them against windows that had been closed with padlocks, by order of the King, to keep the ladies from contact with suitors or others… Philip II became very upset and threatened to send the ladies in waiting back to their families without dowry or wedding … It was the queen’s responsibility to decide what happened to them… While the offenders were briefly confined, Queen Anne allowed them out after a day and a half, despite the fact that the King considered the punishment insufficient. … another episode involving Sofonisba in which the damas, taking advantage of the absence of the king, snuck into his chambers and, using spearheads or metal, wrote on the windows.”
P. 139 Grand Duchess Vittoria della Rovere (1622-94) was an important patron of women artists and artisans at the Medici court whose impact on humanist culture has only recently begun to be explored in depth. .. training and education she provided for two embroiderers and lacemakers, Caterian Angiola Pieroncini and another woman known only to us by the moniker “La Trottolina” in the 1660s. Both ladies in waiting, the young women were sent to Paris to perfect their needlework skills in the new French styles. Having gained proficiency in France, both were repatriated to Florence. There they continued in service to the Grand Duchess, alongside other dame, among themMaria Maddalena Caligari, who were trained by nuns at the city’s convents.”
Related to a big digital project on women makers.
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