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ITAL 41303: Power of Women in Medieval to Early Modern Europe

Research resources about the representations of and by Italian women from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern Period

Welcome

Renaissance-era painting of two women. The woman on the left wears a head covering and looks and gestures towards the other woman. The woman on the right wears jewelry and looks at the viewer.

The Conversion of the Magdalene or An Allegory of Modesty and Vanity by Bernardo Luini - Milan - c. 1520 - San Diego Museum of Art

Welcome to illustrative sources from ITAL 41303 that range from film and art to illuminations and architecture. Here you will find a definitive collection of pieces of work found throughout the middle ages to baroque art periods. This period of history is rich with work by and concerning women during the time, and represents and expresses their emotions, thoughts, and ideals. Use this information as a compliment to other information relative to women during this historical time period in literature and art.

Table of Contents

Films

Paintings & Portraits

Gaspara Stampa, printed 1738

Sartor, Felicitas (printmaker). Daniel Antonio Bertoli (draftsman). "Gaspara Stampa, Aarior ingenio, forma virtutis amore, heroifique sui nulla fuit, nec erit." 1738. 

Side profile portrait of Dante. He's wearing a red robe and a crown of laurels

Portrait of Dante ca. 1495

Artist: Sandro Boticello 

Portrait of a Lady. Ca. 1575-1594.

Jacopo Tintoretto. Oil on canvas. 

Portrait of a lady believed to be Veronica Franco.

Six Tuscan Poets, 1543–44

Giorgio Vasari. Oil on panel. 

This group portrait of six distinguished Tuscan poets and writers celebrates the golden age of Italian literature of the 14th and 15th centuries and the role these individuals in elevating literature and ennobing the language.

Vittoria Colonna, ca. unknown

Artist: Sebastiano del Piombo

 

Illuminations

Illumination of Saint Jerome in top left corner with text in background

Saint Jerome's Lives of the Fathers

15th century Italian. Unknown artist and unknown work

Illumination of David writing the Psalms in top right corner with text in background

Manuscript Leaf with King David in an Initial I, from a Northern Italian Psalter

This intensely colored illumination, by an unknown artist for an unknown commission, is a singularly beautiful evocation of David as author of the 150 psalms. Quill in hand, he cocks his head to listen to the voice of God, whose face appears in the clouds. The image serves as a counterpoint to the text, in which David implores: "Incline thy ear, O Lord, and hear me."

An illumination if Saint Mark with Saint Sinbaldus; full body image of both figures; main colors of red, lapis, and gold

Saint Mark the Evangelist and Saint Sinibaldus Venerated by Members of a Lay Confraternity

This leaf was an opening page of a mariegola, or register, painted by Cristoforo Cortese, the most famous and prolific Venetian illuminator of the first half of the fifteenth century, for a German confraternity in Venice. 

Illumination of the martydom of Saint Agatha. Depicts Saint Agatha naked from the waist up with her right breast in a pincer.

Martyrdom of Saint Agatha by Sano di Pietro (Ansano di Pietro di Mencio)

This miniature was originally included in an antiphonary volume illuminated by Sano di Pietro for the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala in Siena. The beautifully appointed interior, graceful figures, and luminous palette contrast markedly with the gruesome subject.

An illumination of the apostles witnessing Mary's ascent into heaven

Manuscript Illumination with the Assumption of the Virgin in an Initial A, from an Antiphonary by Cosmè Tura (Cosimo di Domenico di Bonaventura)

The solemnity of the scene of Jesus' apostles witnessing the miraculous Assumption of the Virgin into heaven is radically transformed by the depiction of a monstrous green dragon whose body forms the opening letter A of the chant.

Sculptures

A shallow marble relief sculpture of four saints and three other people surrounding a seated Madonna and her child, who stands on her leg.

Madonna and Child with Queen Sancia, Saints and Angels, 1285-1337.

Tino di Camaino, Italian, c. 1285 - 1337, Madonna and Child with Queen Sancia, Saints and Angels, c. 1335, marble, overall: 51.4 x 37.8 x 8.5 cm (20 1/4 x 14 7/8 x 3 3/8 in.), Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1960.5.1

A 1321 marble sculpture of a Madonna with her child, who sits in her lap. Over her shoulders rest two angels.

Madonna and Child with Two Angels, 1321.

Verona 14th Century, Madonna and Child with Two Angels, 1321, marble, overall: 89.5 x 46.4 x 38.8 cm (35 1/4 x 18 1/4 x 15 1/4 in.), Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.95

A white, tan, and reddish gilded wooden sculpture from between 1325 and 1350, which depicts the Virgin Mary draped in dramatically rendered robes and holding a book.

The Virgin Annunciate, 1325/1350.

Pisan 14th Century, The Virgin Annunciate, 1325/1350, wood, polychromed and gilded, overall: 162.3 x 53.8 x 39.9 cm (63 7/8 x 21 3/16 x 15 11/16 in.), Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.98

A 1349 relief sculpture of a woman who holds a scroll bearing her name in her hand. She looks upward and holds her infants on her hip.

Charity, 1349.

Giovanni di Balduccio, Italian, active 1318/1319 - 1349, Charity, c. 1330, marble, overall: 45.1 x 35.3 cm (17 3/4 x 13 7/8 in.), Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1960.5.4

A marble sculpture of the dead adult Jesus Christ laid in Mary's lap. She stares down at his body as his face tilts skyward.

Pieta, 1498-1500.

Rome 16th century, Pieta, 1498-1500, marble

A grey-green bronze statue of a naked Perseus holding up the head of Medusa, whose head of snakes coils from her head. He appears to be stepping on her body, whose feet protrude forward from the base of the statue.

Perseus with the Head of Medusa, 1545-1554.

Benvenuto Cellini, Perseus with the Head of Medusa, 1545-1554, bronze

A brown bronze sculpture depicting a woman, Judith, holding a sword in one hand over her head. In her other hand is the hair of Holofernes, a man who she is standing over.

Judith and Holofernes

Donatello, Judith and Holofernes, 1457-64, bronze.

A marble sculpture of a woman held in the air by her captor. Underneath his feet is another man, whose head peeks out from between his legs.

Abduction of a Sabine Woman

Giambologna, Abduction of a Sabine Woman, 1581-83, marble, 410 cm high

A marble sculpture depicting a man and a woman. The man, Pluto, holds the woman, Proserpina, in the air as she struggles against him.

The Rape of Proserpina, or The Abduction of Proserpina

Bernini, Gian Lorenzo, The Rape of Proserpina, 1621-22, marble

A marble sculpture that depicts a woman, Saint Theresa, swooning, and an angel standing over her.

Ecstasy of Saint Theresa

Bernini, Gian Lorenzo, Ecstasy of Saint Theresa, 1647-52, marble.

Further Research Resources