Strong Women in Renaissance Italy

Sofonisba Anguissola, Self-Portrait (detail), ca. 1556, MFA, Charles Potter Kling Fund and Beth Munroe Fund—Bequest of Emma F. Munroe.

Through more than 100 works from the 14th to the early 17th century, Strong Women in Renaissance Italy explores the lives and experiences of women in Renaissance Italy and offers new perspectives on female creativity, power, and agency. Learn about Sofonisba Anguissola, who served at the court of King Phillip II of Spain and painted more self-portraits than any other artist in Renaissance Italy. One of her self-portraits shows her holding a large shield-like object inscribed with her signature, declaring she painted it. See Renaissance interpretations of historical figures, like a bronze bust of Cleopatra showing the Egyptian queen as pensive and noble rather than seductive and dangerous—a work likely commissioned by Isabella d’Este, one of Renaissance Italy’s most influential patrons of the arts. Get to know the story of Gracia Nasi, a Jewish woman from a powerful family, through the portrait medal cast to celebrate her marriage.

Women in Renaissance Italy faced challenges and barriers to equity, education, and influence. But they often found ways to work around or overcome the institutional structures of their time. The mix of sculpture, paintings, ceramics, textiles, fashion accessories, illustrated books, and prints in this exhibition reveals the material lives of Renaissance women and tells empowering and inspiring stories that have long gone untold.