Our programme on the history of Female Artists with Jennifer resumed on 10 January 2025 with a quick recap of what we had seen in the previous lectures. We were then straight into 6 new female artists, 4 from Italy and 2 from the Iberian Peninsular.
We started with Suor Eufrasia Burlamacchi who had provided illustrations to many manuscripts covering holy texts as well as musical scores in need of illustration. The colours in these illustrations were particularly vibrant and characters portrayed were clear, even though much of the work originated from around 1500 AD. She was based in Lucca, and a book illustrating her career and her work is expected in March 2025.
We then jumped forward to the late 1500s for Barbara Longhi and were introduced to what is presumed to be her self portrait in the role of St Catherine, in almost the same pose as Artemisia Genteleschi which we studied in an earlier lecture. The Gentileschi is believed to have come some 36 years later. Many of Barbara’s subjects appear to re-interpretations of works by her artist father, Luca Longhi. Most of her work was done in Ravenna, and there was a strong religious note to many of her works. There were also a portrait of Judith with the head of Holofernes – one of the more frequent subjects on this course!
We then moved on to Marietta Robusti who was the daughter of the famous artist known as Tintoretto. Taught by her father, her work is often taken to be her father’s work – and vice versa. Jennifer described in detail the many elements in Marietta’s portrait of Ottavio Strada – a wealthy art dealer – and used the portrait as an example of the father/daughter confusion. Marietta also had a brother who painted, and that adds a further layer to the puzzle. Marietta was based in Venice.
The next artist was Fede Galizia whose area of focus was Milan. She too painted Judith and Holofernes – twice we saw – firstly with a dagger and then with a large sword. Many of her works were commissioned by the churches in Milan and therefore religious in nature, but there were also a number of portraits, with one thought to be a painting of her father. Her speciality however was still life subjects, and bowls of fruit in particular.
We then left Italy for Portugal to look at some of the works of Josefa de Ayala Figueira, later Josefa Osbidos who produced many paintings of a religious nature. Many of the works were paintings of statues or statuettes and were intensely coloured, with a pinky-purple shade appearing in many. There was almost a chocolate box look to some of the works. There was then just a little time to enjoy the terracotta statuettes and scenes of Luisa Roldan (shown at the top of this piece) who was based in Cadiz. There was much to take in with the polychromists and carpenters as well as the tiny detailed figures of many religious topics.
Our next session is on 24 January 2025 at 10:00am, and will feature female artists from the Netherlands, specialising in portraiture and genre painting.