Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800

Gathering together just over 250 objects, including paintings, prints, scientific illustrations, textiles, sculpture, metalwork and furniture, Making Her Mark illuminates the astonishing diversity and breadth of women's contributions to art of the pre-modern era (c. 1400-1800). In this important re-examination of early modern European art, an international team of scholars and curators assess the critical concepts that have shaped Western culture's understanding of what constitutes great art. In its recalibration of gender imbalances, this impressive volume offers an alternative view of the history of European art and sheds light on the collaborative nature of the creation of individual works and the interconnected histories of literature, politics, religion, science, and economics. Ambitious in its scope, Making Her Mark is a bold corrective to the historical assumption that female artists of the past were rare and that their work was unremarkable. The result is a dynamic introduction to scores of women artists whose names are entirely new and a long-overdue reassessment of the art, culture, and history of early modern Europe.