The Unsung Greats by Ruben Savariego

PREFACE

THE UNSUNG GREATS

AN INTRODUCTION TO VASARI'S THE LIVES

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Giorgio Vasari's The Lives of the Artists set a precedent for what societies have understood about art history, art-writing and the Florentine art world. While Vasari’s book transformed the world, his work established an often one-dimensional account of the ‘Greats’ of the Italian Renaissance. Hidden within two profiles—of the many hundreds that there are—lie the stories of four women artists.

four wom

four women arti

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men artists four women artists

ists four women artists

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Cimabue Arnolfo di Cambio Nicola Pisano Giovanni Pisano Andrea Tafi Gaddo Gaddi Margaritone Giotto Puccio Capanna Agostino da Siena Stefano and Ugolino Pietro Lorenzetti Andrea Pisano Buonamico Buffalmacco Ambrogio Lorenzetti Pietro Cavallini Simone Martini Lippo Memmi Taddeo Gaddi Andrea di Cione Tommaso Fiorentino Giovanni da Ponte Agnolo Gaddi Cennino Cennini

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Barna da Siena Duccio Antonio Veneziano Jacopo di Casentino Spinello Aretino Gherardo Starnina Lippo Lorenzo Monaco Taddeo Bartoli Lorenzo di Bicci Bicci di Lorenzo Neri di Bicci Jacopo della Quercia Niccolò di Piero Lamberti Dello di Niccolò Delli Nanni di Banco Luca della Robbia Andrea della Robbia Girolamo della Robbia Paolo Uccello Lorenzo Ghiberti Masolino da Panicale Parri Spinelli Masaccio

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Filippo Brunelleschi Donatello Michelozzo Michelozzi Pagno di Lapo Portigiani Antonio Filarete Simone Ghini Giuliano da Maiano Piero della Francesca Fra Angelico Domenico di Michelino Attavante Leon Battista Alberti Lazaro Vasari Antonello da Messina Alesso Baldovinetti Vellano da Padova Filippo Lippi Fra Diamante Jacopo del Sellaio Paolo Romano Mino del Reame Chimenti Camicia Baccio Pontelli Andrea del Castagno

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Domenico Veneziano Gentile da Fabriano Vittore Pisanello Pesello Francesco Pesellino Benozzo Gozzoli Melozzo da Forlì Francesco di Giorgio Lorenzo Vecchietto Galasso Ferrarese Cosmè Tura Antonio Rossellino Bernardo Rossellino Desiderio da Settignano Mino da Fiesole Lorenzo Costa Ludovico Mazzolino Ercole Ferrarese Jacopo Bellini Giovanni Bellini Gentile Bellini Niccolò Rondinelli Benedetto Coda Cosimo Rosselli

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Francesco d’Angelo Bartolomeo della Gatta Matteo Lappoli Gherardo di Giovanni del Fora Domenico Ghirlandaio Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione David Ghirlandaio Bastiano Mainardi Antonio Pollaiuolo Piero Pollaiuolo Maso Finiguerra Sandro Botticelli Benedetto da Maiano Andrea del Verrocchio Benedetto Buglioni Santi Buglioni Andrea Mantegna Filippino Lippi Bernardino Pinturicchio Niccolò Alunno Gerino da Pistoia Francesco Francia Caradosso Pietro Perugino

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Rocco Zoppo Francesco Bacchiacca Eusebio da San Giorgio Andrea Aloigi Vittore Scarpaccia Stefano da Verona Jacopo Avanzi Altichiero Jacobello del Fiore Guariento di Arpo Giusto de’ Menabuoi Vincenzo Foppa Vincenzo Catena Cima da Conegliano Marco Basaiti Bartolomeo Vivarini Giovanni di Niccolò Mansueti Vittore Belliniano Bartolomeo Montagna Benedetto Rusconi Giovanni Buonconsiglio Simone Bianco Tullio Lombardo Vincenzo Civerchio

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Girolamo Romani Alessandro Bonvicino Francesco Bonsignori Giovanni Francesco Caroto Francesco Torbido Jacopo L’Indaco Luca Signorelli Tommaso Bernabei Leonardo da Vinci Giorgione da Castelfranco Antonio da Correggio Piero di Cosimo Donato Bramante Fra Bartolomeo Mariotto Albertinelli Raffaellino del Garbo Pietro Torrigiano Giuliano da Sangallo Antonio da Sangallo Raphael Guillaume de Marcillat Simone del Pollaiolo Davide Ghirlandaio Benedetto Ghirlandaio

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BOOK 02 BOOK 03 BOOK 04 BOOK 05

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Domenico Puligo Andrea da Fiesole Vincenzo da San Gimignano Timoteo Urbino Andrea Sansovino Benedetto da Rovezzano Baccio da Montelupo Raffaello da Montelupo Lorenzo di Credi Boccaccio Boccaccino Lorenzetto Baldassare Peruzzi Pellegrino da Modena Giovan Francesco Andrea del Sarto Properzia de’ Rossi Plautilla Nelli Lucrezia Quistelli Sofonisba Anguissola Alfonso Lombardi Michele Agnolo Girolamo Santacroce Dosso Dossi Battista Dossi

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Giovanni Antonio Licino Rosso Fiorentino Giovanni Antonio Sogliani Girolamo da Treviso Polidoro da Caravaggio Maturino da Firenze Bartolommeo Ramenghi Marco Calabrese Morto Da Feltro Franciabigio Francesco Mazzola Jacopo Palma Lorenzo Lotto Giovanni Giocondo Francesco Granacci Baccio d’Agnolo Valerio Vicentino Giovanni da Castel Bolognese Matteo dal Nasaro Veronese Marcantonio Bolognese Antonio da Sangallo Giulio Romano Sebastiano del Piombo Perino del Vaga

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Domenico Beccafumi Giovanni Antonio Lappoli Niccolò Soggi Niccolò detto il Tribolo Pierino da Vinci Baccio Bandinelli Giuliano Bugiardini Cristofano Gherardi Jacopo da Pontormo Simone Mosca Girolamo Genga Bartolommeo Genga Giovanbatista San Marino Michele Sanmicheli Paolo Veronese Paolo Farinati Giovanni Antonio Bazzi Bastiano da Sangallo Benedetto Garofalo Girolamo da Carpi Bramantino Gatti Bernardino Gatti Ridolfo Ghirlandaio Davide Ghirlandaio

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Benedetto Ghirlandaio Giovanni da Udine Battista Franco Jacopo Tintoretto Andrea Schiavone Francesco Rustichi Giovanni Agnolo Montorsoli Francesco de’ Rossi Giuseppe Porta Daniele da Volterra Taddeo Zucchero Federico Zuccari Michelangelo Tiberio Calcagni Marcello Venusti Francesco Primaticcio Giovanni Battista Ramenghi Prospero Fontana Niccolò dell’Abbate Domenico del Barbieri Lorenzo Sabatini Pellegrino Tibaldi Luca Longhi Livio Agresti

Marco Marchetti Giovanni Boscoli Bartolomeo Passarotti Titian Jacopo Bassano Giovanni Maria Verdizotti Jacopo Sansovino Andrea Palladio Alessandro Vittoria Bartolomeo Ammannati Danese Cattaneo Lione Aretino Guglielmo Della Porta Galeazzo Alessi Giulio Clovio Girolamo Siciolante Marcello Venusti Jacopino del Conte Dono Doni Cesare Nebbia Niccolò Circignani Agnolo di Cosimo Giorgio Vasari The Unsung Greats

PROPERZIA DE' ROSSI

THE UNSUNG GREATS

WITH NOTES FROM KAREN CHERNICK

PROPERZIA DE' ROSSI

THE UNSUNG GREATS

1490–1530

Properzia de’ Rossi was a pioneer. Argued to be one of the first women in Western European art to specialise in the field of sculpture, her achievement was gained during a time when sculpture as an art form was believed to be exclusively the prerogative of men. —MARIA ALAMBRITIS

THE UNSUNG GREATS KAREN CHERNICK ON DE' ROSSI

A strange silver object sparkles between exhibits of armor and Murano glass in Bologna’s Museo Civico Medievale. It is Properzia de’ Rossi’s Grassi Family Coat of Arms (ca. 1510–30), a filigreed crest inlaid with 11 quarter-sized stones— Christ’s apostles engraved on one side, female saints on the other. While art historians admire the elaborate miniature sculpture, gemstone dealers might not deem it precious: These stones are of the variety found in peaches, plums, and cherries. Sculpting fruit pits was a practice in Renaissance Europe, albeit an uncommon one. Similar small-scale marvels can be found at the Grünes Gewölbe museum in Dresden and the Museo degli Argenti in Florence. But in early 16th-century Italy, de’ Rossi was the only artist acclaimed for using stone fruit pits as her medium, and she was no less curious than the materials she chose during her early career. Sparse details are known about de’ Rossi. She spent most of her approximately 40year life (1490–1530) in Bologna, where there was a concentration of Renaissance women artists. She probably began her career sculpting fruit pits out of necessity— traditional sculpture materials could be costly. Later, she progressed to marble and, finally, engraving.

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“Because she had an intellect both capricious and very adept, she set herself to carve peach-stones,” wrote Italian art historian Giorgio Vasari in his canonical collection of Renaissance artist biographies, Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, Architects (1550). “She executed [these carvings] so well and with such patience, that they were singular and marvelous to behold, not only for the subtlety of the work, but also for the liveliness of the little figures that she made in them and the extreme delicacy with which they were arranged.” The Grassi Family Coat of Arms is one of two surviving works attributed to de’ Rossi, and in addition to her peachy choice of material, she is also distinguished as the only woman—out of 142 artists— awarded her own chapter in Vasari’s first edition. (The second, published in 1568, includes a few more females, but they are appended to de’ Rossi’s biography and other chapters on male artists.) De’ Rossi’s inclusion was certainly tokenism: She was the contemporary of over 25 professional women artists active in Italy. “Women artists were unusual, but women sculptors were practically unheard of,” explained Babette Bohn, an art history professor at Texas Christian University and author of the forthcoming book Women Artists, Their Patrons, and Their Publics in Early Modern Bologna. “Vasari included her as a curiosity, an attention-getting anomaly.”

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outlier, Vasari classified de’ Rossi as an but scholars today are more interested in fleshing out the details of her career that he overlooked. “Properzia’s [artistic] development is unfortunately unknown,” noted Irene Graziani, an art history professor at the University of Bologna and co-author of Properzia de’ Rossi: Una scultrice a Bologna nell’ eta di Carlo V (2008). “How she learned the art of engraving also remains mysterious.” “The real mystery,” added Bohn, “is not so much why she turned to cheap, readily available fruit stones, but how she learned the art of sculpture and became capable of marble carving.” Vasari omitted details of de’ Rossi’s training, despite the fact that he typically included this information as a way of boasting an artist’s pedigree. Instead, he skips from her early fruit-stone carvings to the mature marble works she was commissioned to make for the façade of the Basilica di San Petronio in Bologna, without explaining how she acquired the necessary, specialized skills. Of those commissioned sculptures, only one is now firmly attributed to de’ Rossi: Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife (1525–26). The marble bas-relief depicts the biblical story in which Joseph escapes the seductive clutches of his slave master Potiphar’s wife. Graziani interpreted the sculpture as evidence that de’ Rossi drew inspiration from other artists, noting the rhythmic succession of verticals and diagonals

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reminiscent of Raphael, the tenderness of Correggio, and the anatomically correct arm akin to works by Michelangelo: “It is already a work of the ‘modern manner’ for the synthesis that the sculptor has expressed, fusing different models and reaching a personal style,” she explained. Vasari, on the other hand, took a sexist view, reading the relief as an autobiographical expression of de’ Rossi’s unrequited love from an unnamed young man. In supplementing Vasari’s biography of de’ Rossi, scholars have found a trove of information from an unexpected source: Bologna’s criminal records. De’ Rossi appeared twice before the tribunal: first for allegedly destroying her neighbor’s garden, and later for trespassing and assaulting another artist (including throwing paint in his face and scratching his eyes). “She was, it seems, a talented hell-raiser in her day,” said Fredrika Jacobs, an emeritus art history professor at Virginia Commonwealth University specializing in the Italian Renaissance. Considering how rare it was for women to pursue sculpture in the 16th century, it’s not difficult to imagine that de’ Rossi was at least a bit of a rebel. Vasari was just one of many Renaissance art historians who believed the graceful female body was unsuited to the physical demands of chiseling marble. “Even so,” he admitted in an epitaph at the end of de’ Rossi’s chapter, “the marbles sculpted by her hand show

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what

a woman can do with

vigorous

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talent and skill.” Joseph and Potiphar's Wife by Properzia de’ Rossi, 1525-26.

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vigorous

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talent and skill

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Vasari included her 10

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r as a curiosity, an 11

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attention-getting 12

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PLAUTILLA NELLI

THE UNSUNG GREATS

WITH NOTES FROM MEILAN SOLLY, KAREN CHERNICK and JONATHAN NELSON

PLAUTILLA NELLI

THE UNSUNG GREATS

1524–1588

Plautilla Nelli was the first known female artist of Florence. A nun by age 14, Pulisena Margherita Nelli became ‘Suor Plautilla’ when she entered the Dominican convent of Santa Caterina da Siena in 1538. Nelli was one of the few female painters mentioned in Giorgio Vasari's ‘Lives of Artists’. Vasari writes that “there were so many of her paintings in the houses of gentlemen in Florence, it would be tedious to mention them all.” —ADVANCING WOMEN ARTISTS (AWA)

THE UNSUNG GREATS MEILAN SOLLY ON NELLI

Around 1568, Florentine nun Plautilla Nelli—a self-taught painter who ran an all-woman artists’ workshop out of her convent—embarked on her most ambitious project yet: a monumental Last Supper scene featuring life-size depictions of Jesus and the 12 Apostles. During the Renaissance, the majority of individuals who painted the biblical scene were male artists at the pinnacle of their careers. Per the nonprofit Advancing Women Artists organization, which restores and exhibits works by Florence’s female artists, Nelli’s masterpiece placed her among the ranks of such painters as Leonardo da Vinci, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Pietro Perugino, all of whom created versions of the Last Supper “to prove their prowess as art professionals.” Now, for the first time in some 450 years, Nelli’s Last Supper—newly restored following a four-year campaign by AWA— is finally on public view. No longer consigned to Santa Maria Novella’s private halls, the work is installed in the church’s museum, where it hangs alongside masterpieces by the likes of Masaccio and Brunelleschi. “We restored the canvas and, while doing so, rediscovered Nelli’s story and her personality,” lead conservator Rossella Lari says. “She had powerful brushstrokes and loaded her brushes with paint.”

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Given the fact that reflectography found little evidence of under-drawing, Lari adds, it’s clear the nun-turned-artist “knew what she wanted and had control enough of her craft to achieve it.” As one of just four women cited in Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists, Nelli commanded more attention than the majority of her female peers. In fact, the biographer wrote, “There were so many of her paintings in the houses of gentlemen in Florence, it would be tedious to mention them all.” Nelli’s status as a nun enabled her to pursue art at a time when women were all but banned from the profession. According to Artsy’s KAREN CHERNICK, In the early 1990s, JONATHAN NELSON was Renaissance nunneries “extracted women” searching for a little-known but historic duties such as marriage and from domestic Florentine painting: ‘Last motherhood, Supper’ by freeing them to engage in Plautilla Nelli, an Italian nun who is said otherwise off-limits activities. “We think of to have taught herself to paint theas imprisoned, but it was a very these in nuns 16th century. Nelson, an art historian, enriching world for them,” AWA Director was working on the first-ever book abouttells Chernick. Renaissance Linda Falcone Nelli, but he wasn’t sure whether women her “could obviously paint as part of their painting of the famous Biblical scene still cultural education,” Falcone says, “but the existed, or where, exactly, only it had ended way they could paint large-scale works up. He tried the museum of Santa Mariacommissions was through their and get public Novella, a Dominican church where it waspaintings produced by Nelli convent.” Most last seen in the 1930s. When he couldn’t were smaller devotional works made for find it there, he asked the outside father superior collectors. But some canvases for permission to enter thewere Santa Maria monumental, requiring expensive Novella monastery. scaffolding and assistants that the nuns “It says orate pro pictora, which ‘pray paid for is with funds from their commissions. for the painter,’” he says. “So the scene you should imagine is that, with some dirty plates next to us, in a dirty, humble room, we’re looking at an unknown work that virtually no one had ever seen. And we found the artist speaking to us, asking us to pray for her. It was a moving moment.” 3

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Nelli’s ‘Last Supper’, completed around 1568, was remarkable for several reasons. Of eight iconic paintings in Florence that showed Jesus dining with his 12 apostles, six were frescoes, painted directly onto wet plaster and nearly impossible to move. But this one was portable, painted on a canvas that had moved several times over the centuries. More strikingly, this was the first-known depiction of the Last Supper by a woman worldwide. Both these facts help explain why the painting still exists—and why it was just unveiled in public for the first time in 450 years. Giorgio Vasari, the early art historian, saw Nelli’s ‘Last Supper’ when it was The notion of art as the unique expression still surrounded by dining tables at Santa of an isolated genius may be appropriate for Caterina. “She shows that she would have Frida Kahlo, but not Nelli, who stood firmly done marvelous things if she had enjoyed, in the early modern workshop tradition. In as men do, opportunities for studying, and part, as art historian Andrea Muzzi explains devoting herself to drawing and representing in an essay, several artists worked on the living and natural objects,” he wrote in the large canvas. This collective approach also 1568 edition of his book Lives of the Artists. reflects life in the convent where the nuns Vasari’s comment recognizes Nelli’s talent, prayed, ate, and worked as one. but also hints at the fact that Nelli was In Renaissance Italy, nearly a third of limited by what she could teach herself. the known women artists were Dominican Nelli couldn’t paint in the highly technical nuns. By the late 16th century, the convent and physically demanding medium of of Santa Caterina was known as an art fresco, which was then considered strictly a centre in Florence, supplying paintings man’s job. and polychrome terracotta sculptures After the long and winding history for religious institutions as well as secular of Nelli’s ‘Last Supper’, its installation individuals. The nuns of Santa Caterina in Santa Maria Novella’s museum was who collaborated on the painting would surprisingly straightforward. Nothing have decided communally to adorn their had to be cleared from the wall of the refectory with the Last Supper, the first known representation of this subject by a woman artist. 4

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rectangular refectory to make room for Nelli seems her ‘Last Supper’. A 23-foot stretch of wallto have assumed the role of primary ‘image-maker’ of the Dominicans. was already available, sandwiched between This unofficial the historic monastery’s basilica and grandpost had been previously held by Fra Bartolommeo, whose drawings cloister. “The wall was waiting,” says Nelli inherited and adopted for many of Falcone. “It was waiting for Nelli.” her paintings. According to Serafino Razzi, a Dominican friar and brother of one of the nun-artists at Santa Caterina, while Nelli never received formal training in painting, she did teach her art to several nuns. According to Giorgio Vasari, writing about his colleague in the Lives of the Artists, Nelli made many paintings not only for churches in Tuscany, but also for the homes of the gentlemen of Florence. Vasari observed that Nelli “would have done marvellous things if, like men, she had been able to study and to devote herself to drawing and copying living and natural things”. He praised most highly the works she had copied from others. Technical analyses revealed that the outline of the saint’s profile corresponds precisely to those of the Virgin in the Lamentation altarpieces by both Nelli and Fra Bartolommeo. Evidently, the nun used the friar’s drawing, then other sisters in Nelli’s convent produced the many surviving copies of the St Catherine. These devotional works represent more than the artistic vision and accomplishments of one artist. They reveal that Santa Caterina, provided early modern women with an important but often forgotten avenue for artistic expression.

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Last Supper by Plautilla Nelli, c.1550, prior to restoration. (Rabatti & Domingie)

PLAUTILLA NELLI —03

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Last Supper by Plautilla Nelli, c.1550, post-restoration. (Rabatti & Domingie)

PLAUTILLA NELLI —03

THE UNSUNG GREATS

Nelli’s ‘Last Supper’, completed around 1568, was remarkable for several reasons. Of eight iconic paintings in Florence that showed Jesus dining with his 12 apostles, “would have done marvellous were frescoes, painted directly onto “would have done marvelloussixthings things if, like men, she had been able to wet plaster and nearly impossible to move. if, like men, she had been able to study study and to to devote devote herself herself to to drawing drawing and But and this one o canvas was portable, that had moved paintedseveral on a and copying canvas times over thatthe hadcenturies. moved several More times strikingly, over copying living living and and natural natural things”. things”. “would have the thiscenturies. was the first-known More strikingly, depiction this was of the the “would have done done m m like men, first-known Last Supperdepiction by a woman of the worldwide. Lastif, Supper Both by she if, like men, she had had and devote athese woman facts worldwide. help explain Both why these the facts painting and to tohelp devote hersel hersel copying explain still exists—and why the painting why it was stilljust exists—and unveiled in and copying living living and nn why public it was for the justfirst unveiled time in in 450 public years. for the firstGiorgio time inVasari, 450 years. the early art historian, sawGiorgio Nelli’s ‘Last Vasari, Supper’ the early when art ithistorian, was saw still Nelli’s surrounded ‘Last Supper’ by diningwhen tables it was at Santa still na. “She surrounded shows that by she dining would tables haveatdone Santa Caterina. marvelous“She things shows if shethat hadshe enjoyed, wouldashave men done do, opportunities marvelous things for studying, if she had and enjoyed, devoting as herself men to do, drawing opportunities and representing for studying, living and and “would have done things have done marvellous marvellous things devoting natural“would objects,” herself to he drawing wrote in and the representing 1568 edition if, men, she had been able to study if, like like men,objects,” shethe had been able to study living of hisand book natural Lives of Artists. he wrote Vasari’s in the and to devote herself to drawing and and to devote herself to drawing and 1568 comment edition recognizes of his book Nelli’s Lives talent, of the but Artists. copying living living and and natural natural things”. things”.also Vasari’s hints atcopying comment the fact that recognizes Nelli wasNelli’s limited talent, by but whatalso shehints couldatteach the fact herself. that Nelli was couldn’t paint inby themarvellous what highly shetechnical could andherself. physically “wouldlimited have done done thingsteach “would have marvellous things Nelli demanding couldn’t medium paint in of the fresco, highly which technical was if, like like men, men, she she had had been been able able to to study study if, and thenphysically considered demanding strictlyand a man’s medium job.of and to devote herself to drawing and to devote herself to drawing and After which the long was and then winding considered history strictly a copyingfresco, living and natural things”. copying living and natural things”. man’s of Nelli’s job.‘Last Supper’, its installation in Santa After Maria the long Novella’s and winding museum history was of surprisinglward. Nelli’s ‘Last Supper’, Nothing itshad installation to be cleared in from Santa theMaria wall ofNovella’s the museum“would was have “would have done done m m surprisingly straightforward. Nothing if, like likehad men, she she had had if, men, to be cleared from the wall of theand and to to devote devote herself herself copying copying living living and and n n

the wall was

PLAUTILLA NELLI

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marvellous marvellous things things dd been been able able to to study study lflf to to drawing drawing and and natural natural things”. things”.

waiting;

marvellous things things marvellous been able able to to study study been ff to to drawing drawing and and natural natural things”. things”.

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waiting for Nelli.

LUCREZIA QUISTELLI

THE UNSUNG GREATS

WITH NOTES FROM SHEILA BARKER

LUCREZIA QUISTELLI

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1541–1594

Although Giorgio Vasari's statements about Lucrezia Quistelli have been paraphrased repeatedly, virtually no additional facts have been adduced about her life—not even her accurate birth and death dates; no works have been ascribed to her with certainty. —SHEILA BARKER

THE UNSUNG GREATS SHEILA BARKER ON QUISTELLI

Until now, all scholarly speculation regarding Lucrezia Quistelli has centered on a single sentence composed in the sixteenth century by Giorgio Vasari: much “With much credit to herself,“With likewise has credit to herself, likewise has Madonna Lucrezia, the daughter of Messer Madonna Lucrezia, the daughter of Messer Alfonso Quistelli of Mirandola, and now the wife Alfonso Quistelli of Mirandola, and now the wife of Count Clemente of Count Clemente Pietra, occupied herself with Pietra, occupied herself with painting, as she still does presently, drawing and painting, as shedrawing still doesand presently, after having been taught by Alessandro Alton, after having been taught by Alessandro Alton, of Bronzino; as may be seen from the pupil of Bronzino; as maythe be pupil seen from pictures many pictures and portraits many executed by herand portraits executed by her which are worthy to be praised by all.” hand, which are worthy to behand, praised by all.” Vasari had wedged this succinct appraisal between his longer discussions of Plautilla Nelli (1524-88) and Sofonisba Anguissola (1532-1625), all included in the vita of Properzia de' Rossi his 1568 edition of ‘Le cite de' pii eccellenti pittori, sculwri, e architettori’; a publication that catapulted these three living Italian women artists into fame. Although Vasari's statements about Quistelli have been paraphrased repeatedly, virtually no additional facts have been adduced about her life—not even her birth and death dates—and no works have been ascribed to her with certainty. By contrast, Nelli and Anguissola to our present age as defined artistic figures, with securely attributed works in public collections, and detailed biographical studies.

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The art that Lucrezia was familiar with in her youth naturally would have included the artworks in Florentine churches. Presumably, she knew quite well the art of her baptismal church of San Procolo, with altarpieces by Filippinia Lippi, Lorenzo Monaco, and Arnbrogio Lorenzetti; she also would have known the art of the church of Santa Pelicita, the parish church closest to her second childhood home, which contained Pontormo's celebrated decorations in the Capponi Chapel. Above all, Lucrezia would have been intimately familiar with the two Botticelli paintings—the Sart Barnaba Altarpiece and an Annuncicition—that used to hang in the church of San Barnaba, where her family was buried and where one of her sisters took holy vows. Additionally, Lucrezia would have been able to study the paintings that were in Bronzino and Allori's workshop, since this was almost certainly the venue where she carried out her lessons with Allard. Although the nature of the instruction Quistelli received from Allori is a matter of speculation, the circumstances allow for two possible scenarios. The first scenario would have her preparing for a viable professional career by means of a program of training similar to what Allori had received during his own apprenticeship under Bronzino. It was not unheard of for a woman to receive professional training if she was born into an artist's family. In fact, several daughters of artists in the previous decade had attained

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fame, fortune, and advantageous marriages by working as court painters. These include Susanna Hornebout, who worked at the English court beginning in 1522; Levina (Bening) Teerlinc, who worked at the English court from 1546, after having received training both in her family work-shop and in Rome in the early 1540s under the miniaturist Giulio Clovio; and Catharina van Hernessen, who worked for Queen Mary of Hungary beginning in the 1540s. It was quite rare, by contrast, for a wellborn girl like Quistelli to undertake a professional or quasi-professional preparation; this notwithstanding, there were two important precedents. Lucrezia's motives for pursuing painting may have resembled those that had incentivized her outspoken contemporary, Spilimbergo, to practice art, namely an admiration for the achievements of other women and a desire to be recognized for excellence. According to a contemporary witness named Dionigi Atanagi, Spilimbergo's “fixed ambition was to assure that in the activities she undertook, there would be no other woman superior to her; thus she heard praise of other women with virtuous envy.” virtuous envy A visual encounter with the artworks made by admired women was a critical element in the process by which young women not born into artists' families first developed a desire to practice art. Perhaps when young women like Spilimbergo saw for themselves that a woman virtuous envy could gain in virtuousvirtuous envy envy 4

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honor and stature with her painting, they were able to recognize that social virtuousvirtuous envy envy preconceptions about the artistic limitations of the ‘second sex’ did not apply universally; at the same time, their emulation of and virtuous envy competition with other females was approved by their society much more readily virtuous virtuous envy envy than if they had aspired to rival a male artist. In Lucrezia's case, she too could have felt the first impulse to paint due to a chance virtuous e encounter with art made by a woman, experiencing her own ‘virtuous envy’. She may have taken inspiration from virtuousthe envy paintings made by the slightly older nun-artist at the Florentine convent of virtuous envy Santa Caterina da Siena, Suor Plautilla Nelli. Though sales of Nelli's art are recorded only after Lucrezia presumably initiated her study virtuous envy of art, Nelli arguably began practicing art much earlier than those documented sales, especially in light of Vasari's assertion in 1568 that paintings by Nelli decorated the homes of numerous Florentine gentlemen, a diffusion which probably occurred gradually over a long span of time. It should also be noted that many women gathered under Nelli's supervision at Santa Caterina in order to practice painting and sculpture in the convent workshop. In other words, Quistelli would not have been the only young Florentine woman whom Suor Plautilla Nelli had inspired to make art by means of her distinguished example. virtuous envy

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The meeting of Vasari and Lucrezia Quistelli was inevitable in light of their many shared acquaintances. One of many who could have introduced them to each other was Quistelli’s art teacher, Alessandro Allori, given that Allori had assisted Vasari in the creation of the Accadernia del Disegno in the early 1560s. While the meeting of Vasari and Quistelli may have been foreseeable, Vasari's inclusion of Lucrezia in his publication was envy hardly to be expected. virtuous envy Among his motives was, no doubt, his interest in female artists. Gender, however, could not have been the sole reason for this honor, given that Vasari did not include every female artist he knew of. Most likely, the other factor that led to her inclusion in the Lives was her exalted place in Florentine society, where she was now known as 'Contessa Pietra'. The issue of her social class has never been discussed, nor has it been acknowledged that Quistelli is the only dilettante painter to be included in the Lives. Yet this fact, as much as her gender, justifies Vasari's interest in her. As a noble who chose to paint without venal interest, seeking only to exercise her intellect and virtuous talents, Quistelli was manifest proof that the arts of ‘disegno’ befitted the noble class and served in the ulterior perfection of an already subtle intellect. Her example thus furthered Vasari's agenda of raising the status of these arts through the deliberately restyled presentation of artistic life that emerges in the Lives.

the physical

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Quistelli's biography was not the only one that Vasari crafted in order to give greater clout to artists. Sally Quin has suggested that Vasari introduced the biography of Properzia de' Rossi into his Lives for the same purpose. According to her arguments, Vasari emphasized her ability to produce powerful sculptures despite her feminine hands (described as being small, tender, and white) precisely because he wished to demonstrate that the physicality of artistic labor did not debase or denature the dignity and the nobility of the artistic creator. In addition to generally enhancing the social status of artists and the value attached to their works, Vasari may also have hoped that including such a highly respected gentlewoman amateur as Quistelli in his Lives would encourage other nobles to emulate her. The preceding argument that Quistelli brought luster to Vasari's profession reverses the tacit assumption that she, as an amateur woman artist, would have been indebted to Vasari for his endorsement. In fact, all the emerging historical evidence suggests an opposite scenario in which Quistelli, a very prominent noblewoman mantled in religious orthodoxy, offered protection to Vasari and other artists in her midst. In this tense climate, even Allori was touched by the shadow of politico-religious non-conformity. Vasari's reminder to his readership that Allori had been favored by Lucrezia Quistelli effectively made her Allori's character witness; she was

lity of artistic labor

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unimpeachable, not only in light of her own merits, but also in her roles as both the wife and daughter to two of the duke's most trusted subjects. Of course, Vasari's inclusion of Quistelli in the 1568 Lives may have also served the purpose of putting himself in her good graces, even as it simultaneously fulfilled his publication's larger goal of bolstering the status of professional male artists; the two purposes were not in any way mutually exclusive.

did not debase or de “With much credit to herself, likewise has Madonna Lucrezia, the daughter of Messer Alfonso“With Quistelli of Mirandola, and now the wife much credit to herself, likewise has of Count Clemente Pietra, occupied herself Madonna Lucrezia, the daughter of with Messer drawingAlfonso and painting, still does presently, Quistelliasofshe Mirandola, and now the wife after having been taught by Alessandro Alton, of Count Clemente Pietra, occupied herself with the pupil of Bronzino; as may be fromdoes presently, drawing and painting, as seen she still many pictures and portraits executed by her Alton, after having been taught by Alessandro hand, which are worthy to be praised by all.”from the pupil of Bronzino; as may be seen many pictures and portraits executed by her hand, which are worthy to be praised by all.”

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“With much credit to herself, likewise has Madonna Lucrezia, the daughter of Messer Alfonso Quistelli of Mirandola, and now the wife of Count Clemente Pietra, occupied herself with drawing and painting, as she still does presently, after having been taught by Alessandro Alton, the pupil of Bronzino; as may be seen from many pictures and portraits executed by her hand, which are worthy to be praised by all.”

enature the dignity

“With “Withmuch muchcred cred Madonna MadonnaLucrez Lucrez Alfonso AlfonsoQuistelli Quistelli of ofCount CountClement Clemen drawing drawingand andpain pai after afterhaving havingbeen been the thepupil pupilof ofBronz Bron many manypictures picturesan an hand, hand,which whichare arew

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“With much c Madonna Luc Alfonso Quist of Count Clem drawing and after having b the pupil of B many picture hand, which a

and the nobility of t

dit ditto toherself, herself,likewise likewisehas has zia, zia,the thedaughter daughterof ofMesser Messer of ofMirandola, Mirandola,and andnow nowthe thewife wife nte te Pietra, Pietra,occupied occupiedherself herselfwith with inting, nting, as asshe shestill stilldoes doespresently, presently, nntaught taughtby byAlessandro AlessandroAlton, Alton, nzino; zino; as asmay maybe beseen seenfrom from nd ndportraits portraitsexecuted executedby byher her worthy worthyto tobe bepraised praisedby byall.” all.”

LUCREZIA QUISTELLI

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credit to herself, likewise has crezia, the daughter of Messer telli of Mirandola, and now the wife mente Pietra, occupied herself with painting, as she still does presently, been taught by Alessandro Alton, Bronzino; as may be seen from es and portraits executed by her are worthy to be praised by all.”

the artistic creator.

Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine by Lucrezia Quistelli, 1576.

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artistic creator

SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA THE UNSUNG GREATS

WITH NOTES FROM FREDRIKA JACOBS

SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA THE UNSUNG GREATS

1532–1625

Sofonisba Anguissola was the first female artist of the Renaissance to achieve international fame during her lifetime. She had the ability to create life-like, sophisticated portraits that were intellectually engaging and flattering at the same time. She used self-portraits to promote and define herself, and she then turned this skill toward creating official portraits of the Spanish royal house that advertised their ability to rule.” —MORGAN FALCONA (THE ART STORY)

THE UNSUNG GREATS FREDRIKA JACOBS ON ANGUISSOLA

Although De' Rossi was the only woman distinguished by her own vita (in Lives), it was Sofonisba Anguissola who accrued the greatest amount of literary adulation during her lifetime. If contemporary sources are to be believed, this acclaim may be attributed to her excellence as a portrait painter. Annibale Caro, who described painting as the “profession di gentiluomo” stated “there is nothing I desire more than an image of the artist herself, so that in a single work I can exhibit two marvels, one the work, the other the artist.” It may be argued that the characterization of Sofonisba by Vasari and others is consistent with the prescriptives for the ideal gentildonna set forth in an ever-increasing number of sixteenth century texts. But if characterizations of Anguissola and other women artists are alike, critical assessments of their works are not. “I must relate,” Vasari writes, “that I saw in the house of Sofonisba's father at Cremona, pictures executed by her hand with great diligence. [They] also were executed so well that they appear to be breathing and absolutely alive.” In the context of sixteenth-century critical discourse, Vasari's description of painted images as appearing to be ‘alive’ is common enough. “Hearts that seem to beat, flesh that appears to quiver” and “lips that are wanting in nothing save speech” are, with the exception of those about Sofonisba's work, absent when the described object has been

SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA

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produced by a woman. Although more than thirty-five other women have been recorded as artists during the Cinquecento, and while some received copious amounts of praise, none, as will be seen, were credited with the ability to infuse an image with life. This is curious in light of another of Vasari's statements. “If women know so well how to make living men, what marvel is it that those who wish are also so well able to make them in painting?” Vasari's aside suggests a connection between woman's biological capacity to “make living men” and her artistic ability to reproduce man's likeness… + What is the exact nature of this capacity? + Are we to understand that Anguissola's ability to “make men in painting” is to be expected, given her (or any woman's) capacity to bear children? + Why are portraits by Anguissola's hand the only works by a sixteenth-century woman privileged by this type of praise? + What was the female contribution to the creation of offspring perceived to be? + To what extent was woman's procreative capacity implied to have an impact on her artistic ability?

artistic artisticability? ability? artistic artistic ability?ability? 3

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Vasari's comments concerning her mastery of “l'arte del ritratto” writing; “If women know so well how to make living men, what marvel is it that those who wish are also so well able to make them in painting?” suggests the opposite. Yet in sixteenth-century criticism, the ability to produce images that “appear truly alive,” while readily recognized in pittori, is, with the exception of Anguissola, denied in pittrici. At this point the well-known should be reiterated. Artists' lives, and the criticism that is contained within them, belong to the genre of the epidectic rhetoric. They are “concerned more with the exemplary and universal than with the individual.” In other words, lives of women artists propose a homogeneous category of female artist in which all members possess the female capacity to (re)produce. Vasari's remark, therefore, may be taken at its face value. If women make babies it is perfectly natural for women artists to make images of babies, children, men, and women. But in keeping with the rhetoric of praise and blame, that which is recognized in one case may point to its absence in another. Thus, Vasari's curious aside may be interpreted in an entirely different way. Anguissola's capacity to do something that otherwise is limited to a male distinguishes her among females. Perhaps, or at least in part, this explains the label bestowed on her by Vasari, Caro, and others. She is a miracolo. miracolo miracolo miracolo miracolo 4

miracolo

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This is not to say that other women who strayed from the usual path of female endeavors were not similarly praised. Vasari, proclaimed Properzia a“grandissimo miracolo della natura” for “braving the roughness of marble and unkindly chisels” with her “little hands so tender and white, as if to wrest from us the palm of supremacy.” There is, however, a difference between picking up an instrument associated with a masculine profession and using that instrument in a manner worthy of a male. De' Rossi did the former. Anguissola was regarded as doing the latter. She grasped the principles of art, uniting the intelletto that guides the hand with the concetto that is conceived in the imaginativa. Thus, like the scienziato she progressed beyond the particulars of a specific craft. Because, as Summers has noted, Varchi turns to a biological metaphor to explain the significance of this feat, Anguissola's (pro)creative capacity is underscored. An ability to grasp the intellectual principles of art enabled the artist to reproduce and perpetuate his art by teaching it. His students, therefore, like the works of art he generates, may be equated with offspring. Although Anguissola did not have students per se (she did instruct her younger sisters), her style was emulated, and perpetuated, by Lavinia Fontana and possibly by Irene di Spilimbergo.

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Why are portraits 6

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by Anguissola's 7

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hand the only work 8

The Chess Game by Sofonisba Anguissola, 1555.

SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA —05

ks by a sixteenth

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century woman pr 10

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rivileged by this 11

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type of 12

praise? praise? praise? praise? praise? praise prais praise? praise? praise? praise?

ADDENDUM

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WITH NOTES FROM VLADIMIR BJELICIC

ADDENDUM

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Hidden within two profilesof the hundreds that there are lie the stories of four women artists. —RUBEN SAVARIEGO

THE UNSUNG GREATS VLADIMIR BJELICIC ON VASARI

Although art history as a scientific discipline was officially formed during the 18th century, the pioneering attempts of classifying and analyzing specific artists and their domains were undertaken during the Renaissance. After the Middle Ages, there came a time when an entirely new paradigm was formed based on the philosophical thought of the Classical period. Art and science blossomed in the urban environments, especially in Italian citiesstates where wealthy patrons supported innovative practices. In such a fruitful atmosphere, Giorgio Vasari (1511-74), the prolific Italian painter, architect, and writer was formed. His entire practice was an embodiment of the Renaissance principles, while his writing Lives of the Artists (Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori) is the most valuable document that illustrates the practices of his contemporaries and is a tremendous contribution to art history. At the age of sixteen, Cardinal Silvio Passerini sent Vasari to Florence where he became part of Andrea del Sarto’s circle and became friends with Michelangelo. He spent a great deal of time closely observing the works of Raphael and other artists of the Roman High Renaissance. As a painter, Vasari was quite established and appreciated for his Mannerist paintings, especially after decorating the hall of the

ADDENDUM

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chancery in Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome in 1547. He was regularly commissioned by the Medici family in both Florence and Rome and worked in Naples, his native town of Arezzo and other places in Italy. Many of his works are well preserved and can be found in public spaces, churches and public buildings across the country. The initial idea to write his Lives of the Artists came to Giorgio Vasari from the writer Paolo Giovio who wished to write a treatise concerning contemporary artists at a party in the house of Cardinal Farnese. However, he asked Vasari to provide him all the relevant information and gradually passed the whole idea to him. And so, The Lives was published in two editions. The first one was published in 1550 by Lorenzo Torrentino and was dedicated to Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The second edition was extended in 1568, it provided woodcut portraits of artists, and was characterized by a special focus Vasari has put on Venetian art in the second edition. The Lives of the Artists is a consistent homage to Florentines that tends to present them as the leading figures in the development of Renaissance art. By combining the tradition of biographical writing with a modern critical approach and a pinch of gossip, Vasari created an excellent work that provides significant portrayals of great masters such as Brunelleschi, Giotto, Mantegna, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Titian, including PROEPRZIA DE' ROSSI PLAUTILLA NELLI SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA LUCREZIA QUISTELLI

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his own biography at the end of the volume. Lives of the Artists was also used very often by scholars as a classical reference guide for the artists' names, which differ from one source to another. Even today, translated into many languages, this particular book is unsurprisingly considered the most influential guide through the history of the Renaissance, since it stands as a prime pioneering example for writing artist biographies and is an instrumental book for surveying the Italian Renaissance and the role it had on Florence and Rome. In his Lives of the Artists of the Italian Renaissance, Giorgio Vasari demonstrated a literary talent that outshone even his outstanding abilities as a painter and architect. Vasari's original and soaring vision plus his acute aesthetic judgements have made him one of the most influential art historians of all time.

the male artists during

and the role of women in the art world for cenuries to follow…