Journal of Art Historiography (Dec 2020)
The origin (and decline) of painting: Iaia, Butades and the concept of ‘Women’s Art’ in the 19th Centur
Abstract
The 86 paintings by Johann Georg Hiltensperger that decorate the Gallery of the History of Ancient Painting in the New Hermitage in St. Petersburg are all based on anecdotes about ancient artists. These encaustic paintings on copper panels represent the birth, blossoming and decline of ancient painting. The central part of the gallery is dedicated to history painting and its most important practitioners, such as Apelles, Zeuxis and Parrhasios. Interestingly, only the parts on the painting’s origin and decline include depictions of female artists, namely Butades, and Iaia. The positioning of these women artists is the point of departure for this article, as it mirrors concepts of ‘women’s art’ (Frauenkunst) within 19th-century art historiography. Especially the anecdote about the daughter of Butades was discussed by contemporary authors such as Ernst Guhl and Wilhelm Lübke, who used the story to underscore that it was more appropriate for the ‘female temperament’ to copy nature than to invent subject matter. The lack of inventio thus meant that women artists were better suited to the lesser genres, such as self-portraits and landscapes, than to higher art, such as history painting. Iaia perfectly illustrates these ideas, as she is depicted at the moment of beholding herself in a mirror whilst painting her self-portrait. This article addresses questions of gender within anecdotes about ancient artists and their artistic and art-historiographical reception during the 19th century, while also considering earlier depictions by artists such as Sofonisba Anguissola. How did the reception of Butades and Iaia contribute to constructing a notion of ‘women’s art’? How was the question of gender discussed within art historiography?
