I am having so much fun researching possible topics for my dissertation! For a long time I have known I wanted to look at women and their role in art, particularly in the Renaissance. I find the 16th and 17th Centuries are especially interesting when it comes to women and art and this is confirmed whenever I speak to people about the subject.
The most popular response when I explain what I want to do in my dissertation is “Were there actually any women artists in the Renaissance”. Well, I say, there certainly was.
I have been looking in depth at a book called “Old Mistresses” by the fantastic Rozsika Parker and Griselda Pollock. They are both amazing female writers and raise many points on the position of women throughout the development of art.
Whilst reading the book, I have compiled a list of some twenty known female artists in the 16th and 17th Centuries. An interesting point, particularly in the case of Judith Leyster, is that until very recently, these women’s works were often passed of as men’s.
Leyster “Self-Portrait”
“James Laver wrote on women artists of the 17th century:
Some women artists tried to emulate Frans Hals but the vigorous brush strokes of the master were beyond their capability, one has to only look at the works of a painter like Judith Leyster to detect the weakness of the feminine hand…”
Subsequently, “Leyster’s existence was rediscovered in 1892 when a painting thought to be by Hals was found to have Judith Leyster’s signature” (Pollock and Parker, Old Mistresses)
It is near ironic how many men have commented on “the weakness of the feminine hand” only for their obvious lack of research to become evident later.
Perhaps my favourite and most thought-provoking comment in the book for me was one explaining the origin of the title “Old Mistresses”. The term ‘Old Master’ conjures associations of extremely talented and gifted male artists, excelling in everything they do. The female equivalent, ‘Old Mistress’, has completely different connotations all together. The other women? Haggard? Old? Whatever thoughts come to mind, they probably aren’t any praising the talent of women artists.
















