The full title of this talk is actually “Why have there been no great women artists?” Read that question again, and really, I mean really think about it.  This short essay in 1971 changed the art historical world, and in this class, we will consider this question together by looking at how women were educated, what society expected of them, and how some women were able to achieve success despite the obstacles placed before them.

Our focus will be painters of the 16th and 17th centuries in Italy, but we'll venture north as well. Meet an artist who intrigued Michelangelo, the best portraitist of Bologna, and another who took Caravaggism beyond even the master himself.