Followers of our Twitter account may remember an image we posted a few months ago on #InternationalHugAMedievalistDay, showing a woman being interrupted from her reading by a man trying to embrace her. It turns out that the story behind the image involves ancient Greece, Renaissance Italy, female intellectuals, Epicureans, misogyny...

Составила небольшую подборку художниц. Предпочтение отдавала автопортретам или картинам/фотографиям художниц в собственных студиях. Деталь миниатюры о греческой художнице Тамаре/Thamyris рисующей богиню Диану , 1400 гг./Unknown Artist from Detail of a miniature of Ancient Greek artist Thamyris…

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Research and re-creation of medieval costume and crafts by THL Edyth Miller

The June challenge for the Historical Sew Monthly 2015 is Out of Your Comfort Zone: Create a garment from a time period you haven’t done before, or that uses a new skill or technique that you’ve never tried before. Of all the challenges this year, it’s probably the one I’m most excited about, both as a sewer, and as an organiser. (I know, I say I’m most excited about all of them, and I AM always super excited when they start coming up, but I’m definitely most excited about this one overall!) The first impetus of the HSF/M was to give the motivation to sew, but it’s also always been intended to really push our sewing boundaries, and to encourage interactions. What better way to push our boundaries than with a challenge that is all about that? And what better way to encourage collaborations and interactions than to make us try a new skill or time-period, which is inevitably going to involve asking the other members for advice, and looking at the research and creations …

Unknown artist from Giovanni Boccaccio, “De Mulieribus Claris,” anonymous French translation, Le livre de femmes nobles et renomees, France, c 1440 British Library Autoportrait sur bois.

Unknown artist from Giovanni Boccaccio, “De Mulieribus Claris,” anonymous French translation, Le livre de femmes nobles et renomees, France, c 1440 British Library Artiste préparant une fresque.…

Artist Unknown "Painter in Her Atelier" 1400s Spencer Collection This miniature is from an illuminated book entitled "Des cléres et nobles femmes." De mulieribus claris (Of Famous Women) was written by Giovanni Boccaccio and was first published in 1374. It became a runaway "bestseller" of its age and was copied and re-copied hundreds of times. This particular edition (MS. 33, f. 37v) is French and part of the Spencer Collection in the New York Public Library. The painting shows the artist Marcia at work in her atelier. It is usually described as Marcia painting a self-portrait, as you can see the small mirror affixed to the arch next to the easel. The artist has set the painting in his or her "contemporary" 15th century France, but Marcia was actually an artist from ancient Roman times. From the wikipedia entry: Iaia of Cyzicus ("Marcia") was a Roman painter, alive during the time of Marcus Terentius Varro (116-27 BC). She was a famous painter and ivory engraver. Most of her paintings are said to be of women. Among pictures ascribed to her was a large panel, in Naples, picture of an old woman and a self-portrait. She was said to have worked faster and painted better than her male competitors, Sopolis and Dionysius, which enabled her to earn more than them.

Ilustration from De claris mulieribus by Giovanni Boccaccio in an anonymous French translation from Rouen, c. 1440

Unknown Artist from Detail of a miniature of Ancient Greek artist Thamyris (Timarete) painting her picture of the goddess Diana, N. France,(Rouen) . The original is in the British Library collection ID 43537. c1400-25. Unknown Artist Marcia Painting Self-Portrait using Mirror (from Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) De claris mulieribus, Anonymous French Translantio, Le livre de femmes nobles et renomees, France c 1440 British Library Artiste faisant son autoportrait De mulieribus claris (Famous Women or On Famous Women or Of Famous Women) is a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women by the Florentine author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) published in 1374. It is notable as the first collection devoted exclusively to biographies of women in Western literature. Unknown Artist from Boccaccio (1313-1375) De claris mulieribus, Anonymous French Translantio, Le livre de femmes nobles et renomees, France c 1440 British Library When creating the female artist character of Marcia for his book, Boccaccio 1313-1375 used as his prototype, the famous female painter of ancient Greece called Iaia of Kyzikos (late 2nd – early 1st century BC; from the city which is currently Cyzicus. Unknown Artist from Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) De claris mulieribus, Anonymous French Translantio, Le livre de femmes nobles et renomees, France c 1440 British Library Autoportrait sur bois Unknown Artist from Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) De claris mulieribus, Anonymous French Translantio, Le livre de femmes nobles et renomees, France c 1440 British Library Autoportrait sur bois Unknown Artist from Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) De claris mulieribus, Anonymous French Translantio, Le livre de femmes nobles et renomees, France c 1440 British Library Artiste préparant une fresque Unknown Artist from Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) Des cléres et nobles femmes, Spencer Collection MS. 33, f. 37v, French, c. 1470 Artist in her Atelier Unknown Artist from Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) De claris mulieribus, Anonymous French Translantio, Le livre de femmes nobles et renomees, France c 1440 British Library Femme Sculpteur Roman des Girart von Roussillon, Cod. 2449, f. 167v, Flemish, 1447, Österreichishe Nationalbibliothek, Vienna. Women Building From Tabula Picta, Painting & Writing in Medieval Law, Marta Madero. From Tabula Picta, Painting and Writing in Medieval Law, Marta Madero. Royal 16 G V f. 73v Irene Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) De claris mulieribus, Anonymous French Translantio, Le livre de femmes nobles et renomees, France c 1440 British Library Livre de la Cité des dames, c. 1401-1500, Français 607, f. 2r, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits. Marcia sculpteert een beeld, miniatuur uit Boccaccio, La Louange et Virtue des Nobles et Cleres Dames, 1493 Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris Thamar painting Diana. Boccacio, de mulieribus claris Le livre de femmes nobles et renomées (trad. anonyme), 15-16th century, France (Cognac). Bibliothèque Nationale MS Français 599 fol. 50.

12th century poet Chrétien de Troyes has been called the grandfather of the modern novel. But should that be 'grandmother' instead?

I recently stumbled upon a captivating illustration, or more accurately, an illumination, circulating on the internet without any attribution. My attention was drawn to a small mirror held by a wom…