AHIS Block 3 Artists

European women artists of the premodern era

Clara Peeters 1594

Still life (requires two steps of creation, the set up and the painting) Pioneered breakfast piece and banquet piece still life paintings. Vanitas paintings. (work considered appropriate for women)

Judith Leyster 1609-1660

unknown artistic training. didnt sign work so it was often attributed to her contemporary (a man) or her husband. worked in genre painting which is uncommon for women.

Sofonisba Anguissola 1532-1625

educated, lady in waiting painting tutor to court painter for Queen of Spain. Because of gender, art is not sold, copied by men for additional copies, and consider copies themselves rather than creations from aesthetic judgments.

Artemisia Gentileschi 1593-1654

Artistic family but had notable talent from young age. More naturalistic than her father. Dramatic emotional scenes from mythology. Court painter for Medici family. First woman accepted into the academy of the arts of drawing. Lived in many places and received commission.

Maria Sibylla Merian 1647-1717

Entomologist and botanist, one of the first women to travel abroad to study subjects for art. was trained as a still life painter. became serious about insects due to seeing unlabeled and incomplete insect collections. had two daughters who worked with her and may have created work.

Rosalba Carriera 1673-1757

painted miniature paintings on snuff boxes, first woman to use ivory supports for paintings. best known for pastels and helped legitimize and popularize the medium. Rococo style, was popular with upper class. eventually lost eyesight and stopped painting around 1738.

Angelica Kauffman 1741-1807

swiss born, moved to italy and then london. talented from young age and debated between singer and painter. acquaintance of great thinkers and artists. founding member of royal academy in england. work was reproduced as engravings making her more popular. challenged the assumption that historical painting was a male genre.

Adelaide Labille-Guiard 1749-1803

Began with pastel miniatures. Received training at Académie de Saint-Luc, an establishment made by guilds to control art production. Took up oil painting after the academie closed, painting members of Parisian society in the 1770s. Became member of french royal academy of painting and sculpture and then a court painter. was one of marie antoinette’s painters. Advocated for and taught young female artists.

Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun 1755-1842

Attended Academie de Saint Luc. Portraitist at 15, artistic material confiscated by government at 19. accepted into the French royal academy of painting and sculpture in 1783. Painted over 30 portraits of Marie Antoinette in the 1780s. A royalist that fled France after the revolution.