Test 1 Study Guide

Women Artists in History

Study Guide (Test 1)

Chapter 1-5

Slide Identification

Medieval

●      Artist Unknown, Nativity from Hitda Codex (c. 1020)

●      Artist Unknown, Hildegard von Bingen from Scivias (1142-1152)

●      Artist Unknown, Syon Cope (1300-1320)

●      Bourgot le Noir (and Jean le Noir), Flight into Egypt and Entombment from the Hours of Yolande of Flanders (c. 1353)

Italian Renaissance

●      Properzia de’Rossi, Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife (c. 1520)

●      Sofonisba Anguissola, Portrait of the Artist’s Sisters Playing Chess (1555)

●      Sofonisba Anguissola, Self-Portrait at the Easel, (c. 1556)

●      Sofonisba Anguissola, Self-Portrait Playing the Virginal (c. 1561)

Northern Renaissance

●      Caterina van Hemessen, Self-Portrait (1548)

●      Levina Teerlinc, Portrait Miniature of Elizabeth I as Princess (c. 1550)

Mannerism

●      Lavinia Fontana, Self-Portrait at the Spinet (1577)

●      Lavinia Fontana, Self-Portrait in the Studio (1579)

●      Lavinia Fontana, Consecration of the Virgin (1599)

Italian Baroque

●      Elisabetta Sirani, Self-Portrait (1658)

●      Elisabetta Sirani, Portia Wounding Her Thigh (1664)

●      Elisabetta Sirani, Judith with the Head of Holofernes (date unknown, Walters Museum version)

●      Artemisia Gentileschi, Susanna and the Elders (1610)

●      Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and her Maidservant (1612-1613, Palazzo Pitti version)

●      Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes (c. 1614-1620)

●      Artemisia Gentileschi, La Pittura (Self Portrait as the Allegory of Painting) (1638-1639)

Northern Baroque

●      Clara Peeters, Still-Life with Nuts, Candy, and Flowers (1611)

●      Judith Leyster, Self Portrait (c. 1633)

●      Judith Leyster, The Proposition (1631)

●      Rachel Ruysch, Flowerpiece (after 1700)

Rococo

●      Rosalba Carriera, Self-Portrait as Winter (1731)

●      Elisabeth Vigée le Brun, Marie Antoinette and Her Children (1787)

Reaction to Rococo (18th Century Naturalism)

●      Elisabeth Vigée le Brun, Self Portrait (1790)

●      Elisabeth Vigée le Brun, Self Portrait with Her Daughter (1786)

●      Adelaide Labille-Guiard, Self-Portrait with Two Pupils (1785)

●      Anne Vallayer-Coster, Allegory of the Visual Arts (1769)

Neoclassical 

●      Angelica Kauffmann, Cornelia Presenting Her Children As Her Treasures (c. 1758)

●      Angelica Kauffmann, Self-Portrait Hesitating Between the Arts of Music and Painting (1791)

Short Answer

1.   What are two major problems of attribution art historians must consider when dealing with the oeuvres of women artists?

2.   Define oeuvre.

3.   Within which institution were women most likely to get an education in the Middle Ages?

4.   During the Middle Ages, why were most nuns originally from the upper class?

5.   What is a double monastery? And how did the disappearance of double monasteries in Britain lead to a diminished tradition of learning for women?

6.   What is the subject of the Bayeux Tapestry?

7.   What was the Hortus Deliciarum by Herrad of Landsberg and what was its purpose?

8.   What was the Opus Anglicanum? How did its popularity affect its method of production?

9.   During which historical period were painting, sculpture, and architecture elevated to the status of ‘liberal arts’, and how did this affect the history of women artists?

10.  In the Renaissance, a boy hoping to become a painter would have to complete an apprenticeship with a master painter. Why were girls unable to take on apprenticeships?

11. How did the majority of known women artists learn their craft?

12.  Marietta Robusti (La Tintoretta) was invited to the courts of Emperor Maximilian and King Philip II but did not accept either of the invitations. Why did she remain at home?

13.  Which social class was Sofonisba Anguissola born into?

14.  How did Sofonisba Anguissola receive her artistic training?

15.  Where did many women artists of the Renaissance (such as Sofonisba Anguissola, Caterina van Hemessen, and Levina Teerlinc) find patronage?

16.  Bologna was a city that produced more female artists of note than any other Italian city during the Renaissance. Name one of the possible reasons for this.

17.  What was the Counter Reformation and what effect did it have on art production in Italy during the Baroque period?

18.  In which city did Artemisia Gentileschi grow up and why is this important to her development as a painter?

19.  What kind of subject is Artemisia Gentileschi best known for painting?

20.  Why was still-life considered to be an appropriate genre for women artists?

21.  What was the Protestant Reformation? How did it affect art production in Protestant countries in the 17th century, and what did this mean for women artists?

22.  How did the rise of the middle class affect art production in Holland and what did this mean for women artists?

23.  How does Judith Leyster’s depiction of The Proposition differ from other works of the same subject by her contemporaries?

24.  Which type of still-life painting commanded the highest prices in the Dutch Baroque art market?

25.  What is a vanitas still-life?

26.  Which genre of painting was the highest in the hierarchy of genres established in the 17th century?

27.  Describe the Rococo style.

28.  What artistic medium did Rosalba Carriera explore and help to popularize?

29.  What major obstacle stood between women artists and history painting?

30.  Angelica Kauffmann was instrumental in the popularization of which style in Britain?

31.  Why did Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun leave France in 1789?