Women and Art in Early Modern Europe: Patrons, Collectors, and Connoisseurs

Download or read book Women and Art in Early Modern Europe: Patrons, Collectors, and Connoisseurs written by and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthology reflects a larger impulse to recover women's involvement in the creation of an aesthetic culture from the late medieval through the early modern periods. By asking how the perspectives and experiences of female patrons contributed to the invention of particular styles or iconographies, or how they shaped taste, or how they influenced demand, these twelve original essays introduce significant new information about specific women patrons while raising theoretical issues for patronage studies more generally. While most of the projects discussed are consistent with the period's male-sanctioned concept of female patronage as an expression of conjugal devotion or dynastic promotion, at the same time the women involved devised strategies that circumvented these rules, allowing them to explore the potential or art as a means of proclaiming their own identity and taste.