Women artists

Learn more about European women artists between 1500–1800.

Female artists in the renaissance

Despite obstacles, women became exceptional artists in the Renaissance

Female painters were rare in sixteenth-century Italy. In self-portraits, Sofonisba made sure to appear virtuous.

Roll up your sleeves, things are about to get bloody! This beheading is vivid, immediate, and physical.

Virtue, or vice? This seated woman is an icon of domesticity, but the man’s money may tempt her away from work.

Professional female artists were few in the Dutch Republic. Here, Leyster cultivates confidence in her abilities.

No wonder Ruysch treats each element of this still life like a scientific specimen—her father preserved insects.

A self-portrait demonstrates the artist's skills in achieving a likeness but it can also convey messages about the artist’s identity and inner life.

She fled France in disguise, but Vigée Le Brun does little to conceal her face—or her sympathy to Marie Antoinette.

This Swiss-born artist painted Roman stories with moralizing messages. Here, Cornelia provides a model of virtue.

This portrait of an unnamed woman speaks volumes about slavery, politics, and gender in revolutionary France.

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