Woman Seated Upon the Beast by Ende

c.975 / Illuminated manuscript / 15 3/4”x10 1/4” / Girona Cathedral, Catalonia, Spain

Ende was a nun who worked as an artist on a collection of manuscripts at a Spanish monastery in the tenth century. The texts are copies of commentaries on the Apocalypse which were compiled in 786 by a monk named Beatus of Liebana. Ende signed her work with the Latin words pintrix et D[e]i aiutrix, “paintress and helper of god.”
https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/ende

The Girona Beatus is a 10th century illustrated manuscript of the Commentary on the Apocalypse by a Spanish monk, Saint Beatus of Liébana. A theologian and geographer, Beatus’ commentary explained the Apocalypse as depicted in the Book of Revelations and its importance to the state of the Catholic church.
https://exhibits.library.ucsc.edu/exhibits/show/havc-winter2015/religious-books/the-apocalypse–then-and-now

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See also: March 3~ Women’s History Month in visual arts
https://schristywolfe.com/2018/03/03/march-3-womens-history-month-in-visual-arts/

Iaia of Cyzicus

Clicking this image will take you to a web site where you can see the larger version.

Iaia of Cyzius was a Roman painter and ivory carver active around 100 BC. None of her work is known to have survived.

Like Timarete, Pliny the Elder mentioned Iaia in his Natural History during his discussion of women artists…
“Cyzicus, who never married, painted pictures with the brush at Rome (and also drew with the cestrum or graver on ivory), chiefly portraits of women, as well as a large picture on wood of an Old Woman at Neapolis, and also a portrait of herself, done with a looking- glass. No one else had a quicker hand in painting, while her artistic skill was such that in the prices she obtained she far outdid the most celebrated portrait painters of the same period, Sopolis and Dionysius, whose pictures fill the galleries.”
http://www.attalus.org/info/pliny_hn.html

Iaia is also one of the three women artists mentioned in Giovanni Boccaccio’s De Mulieribus Claris, although he renames her Marcia Varronis. As with Timarete, there are a number of illuminations picturing her as a medieval artist.

Iaia is sometimes referred to as Lala/Lalla, and it is under this name that she appears on the “Heritage Floor” as part of Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party.

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See also: March 2~ Women’s History Month in visual arts
https://schristywolfe.com/2018/03/02/march-2-womens-history-month-in-visual-arts/

Timarete (Thamar)

Clicking this image will take you to the The Bibliothèque Nationale web site where you can see a larger version.

Timarete was an ancient Greek painter who lived during the fifth century B.C. She has also been referred to as Thamyris, Tamaris, and Thamar. Almost nothing is known about her.

Pliny the Elder briefly mentions Timarete in his Natural History (77 A.D.) during his discussion of women artists…
“There have also been women artists – Timarete the daughter of Micon who painted the extremely archaic panel picture of Artemis at Ephesus…”
http://www.attalus.org/info/pliny_hn.html

Timarete is one of three women artists mentioned in De Mulieribus Claris (1361–62), a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women by the Florentine author Giovanni Boccaccio, although he calls her Thamar.

“De Mulieribus Claris” was widely distributed in illuminated manuscripts and then as printed books. As a result there are a number of illuminations picturing Timarete as a medieval artist.

Timarete appears on the “Heritage Floor” as part of Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party installation (1979).

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See also: March 1~ Women’s History Month in visual arts
https://schristywolfe.com/2018/03/01/march-1-womens-history-month-in-visual-arts/