Women artists in the National Gallery

Clear precise online lecture from the National Gallery looking at the female artists in their collection and why there are so few of them.

Fiona Alderton led us though eight of the female artists with works at the National Gallery giving us a quick outline of their life and describing the pictures by them in the collection. We looked at Catharine Van Hemessen, Judith Leyster, Rachel Ruysch, Artemisia Gentileschi, Elisabeth Louise Vigee le Brun, Rosa Bonheur and Berthe Morisot. I thought it was a lovely touch to also include Bridget Riley and her 2019 commission “Messengers” for the new staircase. She talked about the barriers these artists faced and how most had been encouraged by male relative who were also artists.

Catharine Van Hemessen was a new find for me, a 16th century Flemish artist of small somber portraits. Checking a list online I see there are some other women artists I don’t know in the collection and I’d love to hear a second talk looking at these lesser known figures.

 

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