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Back to Conferences | Session Abstract | Speaker Abstracts
ASSOCIATION FOR
TEXTUAL SCHOLARSHIP IN ART HISTORY
Conference CAA/Philadelphia 2002
The Female Painters of the Eighteenth Century
Philadelphia, PA
Julia
Dabbs, University of Minnesota, Morris.
Assessing Anecdotes in the Life-Stories of Women Artists of the 17th &
18th Centuries.
The anecdote, a staple of artistic biography since the time of Pliny the Elder's Natural History, has elicited a range of reactions from
art historians in recent years. Are these narrative digressions merely formulaic literary topoi, and therefore of dubious historicity? Or can
they be interpreted as reflecting a broader socio- historical construct of
"the artist," as Ernst Kris & Otto Kurz, and more recently Catherine
Soussloff, have argued? Missing from these discussions, however, is any mention of anecdotes pertaining to women artists of the early modern
period. This paper will seek to redress this glaring omission by focusing
on the anecdotes evidenced in the life-stories of Rosalba Carriera (Venice,
1675-1757) and Maria Felice Barb (Cremona, 1700-1734). In these two cases
the anecdotes concern either the "discovery" of the artist, or the end of
the artist's life, topoi which are frequently encountered in biographies of male artists, yet with distinctly different results. Related anecdotes
or topoi in the life-stories of earlier women artists, such as Irene di Spilimbergo and Lavinia Fontana, will also be considered to gain greater
historical perspective on the prevalence and treatment of these themes, and to provide further insight to the potential functions of anecdotes in
general.
Kathleen Russo, Florida Atlantic University.
Rosalba Carriera and Her Patrons: Paintings and Correspondence
Throughout her life Rosalba Carriera (1675-1752) wrote letters to her patrons, students, friends and family members. She also wrote a brief autobiography, probably the first woman artist to do so, and kept a diary during her Parisian sojourn at the house of her patron Pierre Crozat. An examination of these texts, as they relate to her works and patronage, results in a deeper understanding of the artist, her works and the significance they had within the context of Eighteenth Century art. Carriera addressed these courtiers in a manner sometimes so humble it borders on obsequious. Yet, the pride she took in her works is obvious and she appears to have been at ease with patrons, even joining in court festivities by playing the violin. The enthusiasm for her works encouraged collectors as diverse as Louis XV (whom she painted when she was ten), Frederick 1V, King of Norway and Denmark, Maximilian II of Bavaria and Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, who was her most devoted patron. For them, she executed portraits in pastel and a series of allegorical works she called her "fancy pieces," where she captured the feeling of graceful sophistication and cultivated charm so admired at this time. This spirit is underscored and illuminated by her writings that, when viewed in relation to the paintings, reveal a world of pleasure and luxury, but tempered by discretion-at least in the life and some of the works of Carriera. She said, " I flee from libertines and degenerates as if from people with contagious disease.” She does capture a sense of haughty propriety in many of her portraits. Her often seductive "fancy pieces," however, seem to cater to just the type of degenerate and libertine she professes to avoid.
Liana De Girolami Cheney, UMASS Lowell.
Giulia Lama: A Painter and a Poet
Giulia Lama (1681-1747) a Venetian painter and poetess was born in the parish of Santa Maria Formosa. At her early age, she was trained as a painter by her father, Agostino Lama. Her close friendship with the Venetian painter Piazzetta has mislead scholars in thinking that she was his pupil. However, records show that they were fellow painters. Since the eighteen century critics have been paralleling Lama's physical unattractiveness of a hare-lip, snub nosed and plainness, with her artistic talents, thus making statements of this nature: "The poor woman is persecuted by painters, but her talent triumphs over her enemies. It is true she is as ugly as she is intelligent, but she speaks with grace and polish, so that one easily pardons her face. She lives, however, a very tired life."(Letter of 1 March 1728 from the Abbé Conti to Mme de Caylus). In this same contemporary description of Lama's assessment, however, she is praised as to excel in painting the renown the Venetian Rosalba Carriera, as well as and imitate Petrarch in her poetry. This letter Abbé Conti further comments, "Giulia Lama excels much in poetry as in panting. and I find in her poems the turn of phrase of Petrarch." This presentation discusses one of Lama's canzone where she laments the deceased poet Antonio Sforza (1700-1735).
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