Self-Portraits

Women artists were more limited in their subject matter than men were. Many of the most notable works by women are of domestic images. Female artists used their family members to pose for paintings.

They also painted self-portraits. These served two purposes. Self-portraits that showed the artist painting established authorship of the work. During the Renaissance, individual artists began to assert ownership over their work by signing it. It was especially important for a woman to do so because many times a man would take credit for the work of a woman artist. This has been a major problem for art historians, some bodies of work have been attributed to a man but were actually painted by a woman. Self-portraits also showed how skilled the artist was, not just in painting. Many times women would depict themselves performing another coveted skill such as playing music. This showed that while she was a skilled painter, she was skilled in many areas.

Self-portrait as the Allegory of Painting (Self-portrait as La Pittura). Oil on Canvas, Inscribed: A.G.F.Lent by Queen Elizabetth II.