A painter of mostly religious subjects, Elisabetta Sirani (Bologna, 1638–1665) produced a small number of portraits, allegorical and mythological subjects. She also painted a few famous femmes fortes from ancient classical and biblical history of which some had never been painted before. Although she didn’t paint that many, she introduced several innovations in their iconographies.  

Women Painters in Early Modern Italy was an online art appreciation course I designed and published in 2023. After a few months of inactivity and with new projects on the horizon, I've decided to adapt part of the course material and share it here.

Women artists seem to be all the rage these days. And rightly so. The wealth of exhibitions and publications, the changing role of art galleries and museums, the expanding interests of private collectors, and the resulting attention of the action houses not only prove that there is a thirst for more knowledge but also that art history is a rather dynamic discipline.