Okay, so this whole thing actually started kinda randomly. I was flipping through this art history podcast feed, right? Just trying to find something easy to listen to while cooking dinner. Kept seeing episodes about Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael... the usual guys plastered everywhere. It hit me then: Man, I know literally zero women artists from back then. Was that even a thing? Seriously. Couldn't name one.
Felt a bit embarrassed, honestly. Here I am, always talking about learning stuff, but this giant gap was staring me in the face. Decided then and there I needed to dig into it. Set myself this little mission: find actual women who were making art during the Renaissance, not just posing for portraits.
Getting Started Was... Messy
Typed "women artists Renaissance" into the search bar. Boom. Instant information overload. Wiki lists, blogs, university pages... total chaos. Sorted through pages of stuff that mostly talked about men painting women. Super frustrating. Then one name kept popping up: Artemisia Gentileschi. Huh? Never heard of her. Another name: Sofonisba Anguissola. Sounded made up! Clicked on Artemisia first.
- Artemisia’s story blew my mind. Seriously brutal. Raped by her art tutor? Took him to court? Tortured to test her honesty? And then became this incredible painter? The picture of Judith slicing Holofernes’s neck? Yeah, she painted that. Powerful stuff. Felt this surge of anger and admiration.
- Moved on to Sofonisba Anguissola. Totally different vibe. Became a lady-in-waiting for the Queen of Spain? Ended up tutoring her? Painted family portraits, self-portraits showing her actually doing art. Smart. Found a way to work within the system. Kinda genius.
Got deeper, found mentions of others:
- Lavinia Fontana: Worked professionally! Painted altarpieces, big commissions even? Sounded impossible for a woman back then.
- Properzia de' Rossi: A sculptor?! Had to find out more about her. Turned out working in marble got her into trouble with the men's guild.
- Plautilla Bricci: An architect? Designed an entire villa? Couldn't even picture it.
The Real Challenge: Finding Their Work
Alright, names down. Now I wanted to actually see what these women made. Googled "Artemisia Gentileschi paintings." Yikes. So many versions of "Susanna and the Elders," "Judith Beheading Holofernes." The raw emotion was visceral. You could feel the defiance.
Finding Sofonisba was tougher. Lots of portraits of the Spanish royal kids. Very refined, elegant. Saw her self-portrait painting the Virgin Mary – so cleverly signaling her profession. But finding Lavinia Fontana’s big religious works online? Tricky. Mostly found portraits. Properzia de' Rossi? Even harder. Found one marble relief photo online. Plautilla’s villa? Searched for "Villa Benedetta Rome." Found old drawings and a couple of modern photos. Mind blown that a woman designed it.
Putting the Pieces Together
As I looked at all this, a clearer picture formed. These women weren't just random flukes:
- They came from backgrounds that gave them rare access to training, mostly through artist fathers or super supportive families willing to bend norms.
- Their subjects often had this woman's perspective you didn't see in the guys' work – more intimate family scenes, complex biblical heroines, powerful women from mythology.
- The backlash they faced was nuts. Forget just criticism – lawsuits, guild bans, undermining, rape. Overcoming that took insane grit.
- Their paths were totally unique: Sofonisba working for royalty, Artemisia running her own workshop (!), Lavinia handling big public commissions (how?!), Properzia carving stone.
Finished my research way past bedtime. Felt genuinely excited and also kinda mad. Mad that these amazing artists weren't part of the basic Renaissance story I learned years ago. Their absence felt deliberate. Like, why are we only taught half the story? It wasn't just men creating the Renaissance. These women were right there, fighting tooth and nail to be part of it, leaving behind incredible art. Makes you wonder what else got left out, right?
