Women Artists in the Early Ages
Photo: Sami Aksu
BY
Elizabeth F. Ellet
An excerpt from
WOMEN ARTISTS IN ALL AGES AND COUNTRIES
1859
Introduction
Women have been creating art for as long as humans have been making marks on surfaces, and yet their work has often been dismissed, belittled, or ignored. In many cases, women artists were unable to receive formal training or gain access to the tools, materials, and networks necessary to succeed in the art world. Moreover, many of the women who did manage to achieve recognition were often overshadowed by their male counterparts or relegated to the margins of the art world.
Today, however, there is a growing awareness of the important role that women artists have played in the development of art and culture. Scholars, curators, and art enthusiasts are working to uncover the stories of women artists, to reclaim their place in history, and to celebrate their unique contributions. By bringing these artists to light, we can gain a deeper understanding of the richness and diversity of the art world, and of the ways in which women have shaped and influenced the course of art history.
Recognizing the contributions of women artists is not only a matter of historical accuracy, but it also has important implications for the present and future of the art world. By acknowledging the work of women artists, we can create a more inclusive and diverse art world that values and celebrates creativity, talent, and originality, regardless of gender or background.
Women Artists in the Early Ages
“Men have not grudged to women,” says a modern writer, “the wreaths of literary fame. No history of literature shows a period when their influence was not apparent, when honors were not rendered to them;” and the social condition of woman has been generally allowed to measure the degree of intellectual culture in a nation. Although in the realm of art her success is more questionable, she may yet claim the credit of having materially aided its progress. Woman is the type of the ornamental part of our life, and lends to existence the charm which inspires the artist, and furnishes him with an object for effort. Her native unconscious grace and beauty present the models which it is his highest merit to copy faithfully.
A New England divine says, “Woman, like man, wants to make her thought a thing.” “All that belongs to the purely natural,” observes Hippel, “lies within her sphere.” The kind of painting, thus, in which the object is prominent has been most practiced by female artists. Portraits, landscapes, flowers, and pictures of animals are in favor among them. Historical or allegorical subjects they have comparatively neglected; and, perhaps, a sufficient reason for this has been that they could not command the years of study necessary for the attainment of eminence in these. More have been engaged in engraving on copper than in any other branch of art, and many have been miniature painters.
Such occupations might be pursued in the strict seclusion of home, to which custom and public sentiment consigned the fair student. Nor were they inharmonious with the ties of friendship and love to which her tender nature clung. In most instances women have been led to the cultivation of art through the choice of parents or brothers. While nothing has been more common than to see young men embracing the profession against the wishes of their families and in the face of difficulties, the example of a woman thus deciding for herself is extremely rare.
We know little of the practice of the arts by women in ancient times. The degraded condition of the sex in Eastern countries rendered woman the mere slave and toy of her master; but this very circumstance gave her artistic ideas capable of development into independent action. These first showed themselves in the love of dress and the selection of ornaments. From the early ages of the world, too, spinning and weaving were feminine employments, in which undying germs of art were hidden; for it belongs to human nature never to be satisfied with what merely ministers to necessity. The ancient sepulchres and buried palaces disclosed by modern discovery display the love of adornment prevailing among the nations of antiquity. Women rendered assistance in works upon wood and metal, as well as, more frequently, in the productions of the loom. The fair Egyptians covered their webs with the most delicate patterns; and the draperies of the dead and the ornamented hangings in their dwellings attested the skill of the women of Assyria and Babylon.
The shawls and carpets of Eastern manufacture, and other articles of luxury that furnished the palaces of European monarchs, were often the work of delicate hands, though no tradition has preserved the names of those who excelled in such labors.
Among the ancient Greeks the position of woman, though still secluded and slavish, gave her a nobler life. The presiding deities of the gentle arts were represented to popular apprehension in female form, and, doubtless, the gracious influence the sex has in all ages exercised was then in some measure recognized. Poetry had her fair votaries, and names are still remembered that deserve to live with Sappho. Schools of philosophy were presided over by the gifted and cultivated among women.
Sculpture and architecture, the arts carried to greatest perfection, were then far in advance of painting; at least, we know of no relics that can support the pretensions of the Greeks to superiority in the latter. “What is left,” says a writer in the “Westminster Review,” “of Apelles and Zeuxis? The few relics of ancient painting which have survived the lapse of ages and the hand of the spoiler all date from the time of the Roman Empire; and neither the frescoes discovered beneath the baths of Titus, the decorations of Pompeii and Herculaneum, nor even the two or three cabinet pictures found beneath the buried city, can be admitted as fair specimens of Grecian painting in its zenith.”
The Daughter of Dibutades
But, though few Grecian women handled the pencil or the chisel, and women were systematically held in a degree of ignorance, we find here, on the threshold of the history of art, a woman’s name—that of Kora, or, as she has been called, Callirhoe, the daughter of a potter named Dibutades, a native of Corinth, said to have resided at Sicyonia about the middle of the seventh century before Christ. Pliny tells us she assisted her father in modeling clay. The results of his labor were arranged on shelves before his house, which the purchasers usually left vacant before evening. It was the office of his daughter, says a fanciful chronicler, to fill the more elaborate vases with choice flowers, which the young men came early to look at, hoping to catch a glimpse of the graceful artist maiden.
As she went draped in her veil to the market-place, she often met a youth, who afterward became an assistant to her father in his work. He was skilled in much learning unknown to the secluded girl, and in playing on the reed; and the daily life of father, daughter, and lover presented an illustration of Grecian life and beauty. The youth was constrained at length to depart, but ere he went the vows of betrothal were exchanged between him and Kora.
Their eve of parting was a sad one. As they sat together by the lamplight the maiden suddenly rose, and, taking up a piece of pointed charcoal from the brasier, and bidding the young man remain still, she traced on the wall the outline of his fine Grecian profile, as a memorial when he should be far away. Dibutades saw the sketch she had made, and recognized the likeness. Carefully he filled the outline with clay, and a complete medallion was formed. It was the first portrait in relief! Thus a new art was born into the world, the development of which brought fortune and fame to the inventor! The story is, at least, as probable as that of Saurias discovering the rules of sketching and contour from the shadow of his horse. It was neither the first nor the last time that Love became a teacher. Might not the fable of Memnon thus find its realization?
It is related that Dibutades, who had followed up his medallions with busts, became so celebrated, that many Grecian states claimed the honor of his birth; and that his daughter’s lover, who came back to espouse her, modeled whole figures in Corinth. A school for modeling was instituted about this time in Sicyonia, of which Dibutades was the founder.
At a later period we hear of Timarata, the daughter of a painter, and herself possessed of considerable skill, as Pliny testifies, he having seen one of her pictures at Ephesus, representing the goddess Diana.
Several names of female artists have come down from the time of Alexander the Great and his luxurious successors. Art began to have a richer and more various development, and women were more free to follow their inclinations in its pursuit. One belonging to this age was Helena, who is said to have painted, for one of the Ptolomies, the scene of a battle in which Alexander vanquished Darius; a picture thought, with some probability, to have been the original of a famous mosaic found in Pompeii.
Anaxandra, the daughter and pupil of a Greek painter, appears to have labored under the same royal patronage, as well as another female artist named Kallo, one of whose pictures, presented in the Temple of Venus, was celebrated by the praise of a classic poetess; the fair painter being declared as beautiful as her own work. Among these pupils of Grecian art we hear also of Cirene, the daughter of Kratinos, whose painting of Proserpina was preserved; of Aristarite, the author of a picture of Esculapius; of Calypso, known as a painter de genre. Her portraits of Theodorus, the juggler, and a dancer named Acisthenes, were celebrated, and she is said to have executed one that has been transferred from the ruins of Pompeii to Naples, and is now called “A Mother superintending her Daughter’s Toilet.” The name of Olympias is remembered, though we have no mention of her works. Beyond these few names, we know nothing of the female artists of Greece.
The Roman Paintress
Among the Romans we find but one female painter, and she was of Greek origin and education. The life of the Roman matrons was not confined to a narrower sphere, and the influence conceded to them might have been eminently favorable to their cultivation of art. But, with the nation of soldiers who ruled the world, the elegant arts were not at home as in their Hellenic birth-place. They flourished not so grandly in the palmiest days of Rome, as in the decay of the Empire. The heroic women celebrated in the history of the Republic, and in Roman literature, had no rivals in the domain of sculpture and painting. The one whose name has descended to modern times is Laya. She exercised her skill in Rome about a hundred years before Christ. The little knowledge we have of her paintings is very interesting, inasmuch as she was the pioneer in a branch afterward cultivated by many of her sex—miniature painting. Her portraits of women were much admired, and she excelled in miniatures on ivory. A large picture in Naples is said to be one of her productions. She surpassed all others in the rapidity of her execution, and her works were so highly valued that her name was ranked with the most renowned painters of the time, such as Sopolis, Dionysius, etc. Pliny, who bears this testimony, adds that her life was devoted to her art, and that she was never married. Some others mention a Greek girl, Lala, as contemporary with Cleopatra, who was celebrated for her busts in ivory. The Romans caused a statue to be erected to her honor.
Influence on Christianity
Painting was destined to higher improvements under the mild sway of the Christian religion than in the severer school of classical antiquity. Woman gradually rose above the condition of slavery, and began to preside over the elements that formed the poetry of life. But changes involving the lapse of centuries were necessary, before Art could be divested of her Athenian garment, and put on the pure bridal attire suited to her nuptials with devotion. After the destruction of the Roman Empire, there is a long interval during which we hear of no achievement beyond the Byzantine relics, and the mosaics of the convents and cemeteries.
Even the beauty of early art, associated as it was with the forms of a pagan mythology, was detested by the votaries of a pure and holy faith. The early Christians rejected adornment, which they regarded as inconsistent with their simple tenets, and as an abomination in the sight of God. Thus, for seven hundred years art was degraded, and only by degrees did she lift herself from the dust.
In the mean while female influence grew apace among the nations that rose upon the ruins of Rome. Amalasuntha, the daughter of Theodoric the Great, was worthy of her sire in wisdom and knowledge of statesmanship, while she is said to have surpassed him in general cultivation, and to have rendered him essential service in his building enterprises. Theudelinda, Queen of the Longobards, adorned her palace at Monza with paintings celebrating the history of her people; and, from the time of Charlemagne, each century boasted several women of political and literary celebrity. There was the famous nun Hroswitha, who, in her convent at Gandersheim, composed an ode in praise of Otho, and a religious drama after the manner of Terence; there was the Greek princess Anna Comnena, the ornament of the Byzantine court; there was the first poetess of Germany, Ava; with Hildegardis, Abbess of Bingen; Heloise, the beloved of Abelard; the Abbess of Hohenburg, who undertook the bold enterprise of a cyclopædia of general knowledge; and a host of others.
Later, Angela de Foligno was celebrated as a teacher of theology. Christina Pisani wrote a work, “La Cité des Dames,” which was published in Paris in 1498. It gives account of the learned and famous Novella, the daughter of a professor of the law in the University of Bologna. She devoted herself to the same studies, and was distinguished for her scholarship. She conducted her father’s cases, and, having as much beauty as learning, was wont to appear in court veiled.
Illumination
Noble women became patrons of art, particularly that branch cultivated with most success in the decline of the rest—miniature painting upon parchment. From being merely ornamental this became a necessity in manuscript books of devotion, and the brilliant coloring and delicate finish of the illuminations were often owing to the touch of feminine hands. The inmates of convents and monasteries employed much time in painting and ornamenting books, in copying the best works of ancient art, and in painting on glass; the nuns especially making a business of copying and illuminating manuscripts. Agnes, Abbess of Quedlinberg, was celebrated as a miniature painter in the twelfth century, and some of her works have survived the desolation of ages. “The cultivators of this charming art were divided into two classes—miniaturists, properly so called; and miniature caligraphists. It was the province of the first to color the histories and arabesques, and to lay on the gold and silver ornaments. The second wrote the book, and the initial letters so frequently traced in red, blue, and gold: these were called ‘Pulchri Scriptores,’ or fair writers. Painting of this description was peculiarly a religious occupation. It was well suited for the peaceful and secluded life of the convent or the monastery. It required none of the intimate acquaintance with the passions of the human heart, with the busy scenes of life, so essential to other and higher forms of art.”
The labors of nuns in ornamental work in the Middle Ages were not confined to illuminating and miniature painting; but it is not our province to enumerate the products of their industry, nor to chronicle the benefits they conferred on the sick and poor. The fairest princesses did not disdain to work altar-pieces, and to embroider garments for their friends and lovers.
In the commencement of the fourteenth century a female painter, named Laodicia, lived in Pavia, and Vasari mentions the Dominican nun, Plautilla Nelli. “In 1476, Fra Domenico da Pistoya and Fra Pietro da Pisa, the spiritual directors of a Dominican convent, established a printing-press within its walls; the nuns served as compositors, and many works of considerable value issued from this press between 1476 and 1484, when, Bartolomeo da Pistoya dying, the nuns ceased their labors.”
The First Sculptress
Germany had the honor of producing the first female sculptor of whom any thing is known—Sabina von Steinbach, the daughter of Erwin von Steinbach, who in that wonderful work, the cathedral of Strasburg, has reared so glorious a monument to his memory.
The task of ornamenting this noble building was in great part intrusted to the young girl, whose genius had already exhibited itself in modeling. Her sculptured groups, and especially those on the portal of the southern aisle, are of remarkable beauty, and have been admired by visitors during the lapse of ages. Here are allegorical figures representing the Christian Church and Judaism; the first of lofty bearing and winning grace, with crowned heads, bearing the cross in their right hands, and in their left the consecrated host. The other figures stand with eyes downcast and drooping head; in the right hand a broken arrow, in the left the shattered tablets of the Mosaic Law. Besides many other groups are four bas-reliefs representing the glorification of the Virgin; her death and burial on one side, and on the other her entrance into heaven and triumphant coronation.
It may well be said that in these works are embodied the ideal and supernatural elements that pervade the sculpture of the Middle Ages; and it seemed most appropriate that the taste and skill of woman should develop in such elements the purity and depth of feeling which impart a charm to these sculptures acknowledged by every beholder.
On one of the scrolls, held by the Apostle John, the following lines are inscribed in Latin:
“The grace of God be with thee, O Sabina,
Whose hands from this hard stone have formed my image.”
An old painting at Strasburg represents this youthful sculptress kneeling at the feet of the archbishop, to receive his blessing and a wreath of laurel, which he is placing on her brow. This painting attests the popular belief in a tradition that Sabina, after seeing her statues deposited in their niches, was met by a procession of priests who came, with the prelate at their head, for the purpose of conferring this honor upon her.
