“The Girls of Oil” is a book about women artists who lived before the French Revolution. About 200 names are cited although the author focuses on the most significant artists:
Among the medieval artists: the Spanish Teresa Dieç, the sculptor Sabine de Pierrefonds and Catharina van Hemessen. In the Renaissance, Sofonisba Anguissola (painter of the king Felipe II), Lavinia Fontana and Marietta Robusti. In the Baroque period: Artemisia Gentileschi and Elisabetta Sirani. Special study deserves the Rococo painter, Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun (painter of Mary Antoinette of France), and Adelaide Labille-Guiard … the book is an essay but is not heavy, just the opposite, very enjoyable.
