Becoming Painters: Women's Education And Pratice In Early Modern Europe

Between 1550 and 1650, several women in Italy and Northern Europe managed to establish themselves as successful artists. Their achievements were the results of deliberate strategies that allowed them to gain access to a profession dominated by men. Becoming Painters focuses on how these women worked as artists. It explores the varied forms of artistic education available to them from training in the family's workshop (particularly by the father) to self-taught methods, guild education in Northern Europe, education in convents, and, more rarely, formal academic training. SELLING POINTS: . Features works by Sofonisba Anguissola, Artemisia Gentileschi, Lavinia Fontana, Clara Peeters and Judith Leyster, among others . Provides a rare opportunity to explore a lesser-known part of art history a period in which female artists created significant works in a field dominated by men . The project is a collaboration between the Galleria Borghese in Rome and the National Museum . Accompanies an exhibition of the same name at the National Museum, Oslo, from October 8, 2026 to February 7, 2027