Women in Arts, Architecture and Literature: Heritage, Legacy and Digital Perspectives

In the last few decades, the study of women in the arts has largely increased in terms of scholars involved in research and investigation, with the reception of the outcomes especially acknowledged by museums which are dedicating part of their mission to organizing exhibitions and/or acquiring the works of women. The Annual International Women in Arts Conference seeks to advance contemporary discussions on how female creativity has helped shape European culture in its heterogeneity since the Middle Ages. This volume collects the proceedings of the first conference organised in Rome, in October 2021. It focuses on the role of women in literature, art,　and architecture. Throughout history, these domains were often seen as very masculine. Yet, there have been many women who have made their mark as writers, illuminators, artists and architects, or have played a decisive role as patrons and supporters in these arts. This collection of essays aims to bring these women to the fore and sheds a new light on the heritage and legacy of women in the creative arts and architecture from the Middle Ages until the 20th century.

Preface

Introduction

Keynote

María Elena Díez Jorge, From the Palace to the House: Women and Architecture in Sixteenth-Century Spain

Part I - Literature and Illumination

Laura Mercader, Amicizia per il matrimonio. A proposito del discorso sull'amicizia di Mary Beale
Silvia Palandri, La Marchesa Colombi e l'istruzione femminile nelle sue opera
Carolin Gluchowski, Female Agency in den Gebetbüchern aus dem ehemaligen Zisterzienserinnenkloster Medingen bei Lüneburg

Part II - Patrons and Collectors

Catherine Powell, Labour and Art Succeed Where Nature Fails: The Patronage, Agency, and Networking of Agnes Block (1629-1704)
Nadette Xuereb, The Role of Cosmana Navarra (c.1600-1687) as a Female Patron of the Arts in Baroque Malta
Katarzyna Chrzanowska, Franciszka Wiszowata (1701-1777): ANun as Patron of the Arts and Artist in Cracow in the 18th century

Part III - Women at Work

Lynn Fitzpatrick, Medieval Textile Production: Warp Weighted Looms and the Women who Wove Them
Naya Carolina Beatriz and Ana Agreda Pino, Done by and for women: precious materials and women’s embroidery in Renaissance Spain
Alexandra Massini, Marie Mancini, the Woman behind the Colonna Tapestries
Nicoletta Marconi, La pratica dell’architettura al femminile: donne nei cantieri romani di XVI - XVIII secolo

Part IV – Early Modern

Annalisa Rinaldi, Dalle Parasole e Claudine Bouzonnet Stella. Protagoniste e "registe" nelle bottega
Antonio Jommelli, Per mano della pittrice Caterina Ginnasi (1581-1660), 'piissime ac religiosissime feminae'
Caterina Bavosi and Alessandro Serrani, Su un equivoco storiografico della pittura bolognese del '600: Ginevra Cantofoli e alcune artiste contemporanee
Nadette Xuereb, Suor Maria de Dominici (1645-1703): The First Known Female Artist in the Maltese Islands
Tori Champion, "Pazienza e diligenza": Early Modern Women Artists in the Genre of Natural History
Luana Testa, Le mani delle donne ovvero l’arte al femminile: una storia perturbante?

Part V - Modern and Contemporary

Alba Tania Rios, "The Process of Sculpture": a defense against fraud accusation
Eliana Billi, Il restauro in Italia nel secondo Novecento: eccellenze femminili
Paola Caretta and Margherita Fratarcangeli, I "frutti" di Fede, Orsola, Giovanna alla prova della critica del primo Novecento (Marangoni, Longhi, De Logu)
Elli Leventaki, Gender-biased Documentation of Women Visual Artists in Early 20th Century Greece, or Where Did this Chapter Go?
Elizaveta Miroshnikova, Valentine Gross-Hugo: The First Female Artist in Surrealism Elizaveta.