OVERVIEW

Historic works by great women painters of Europe are no strangers to Australian collections: in 2021, an exquisite work on copper by Lavinia Fontana was acquired by the NGV, and the Johnston Collection in Melbourne boasts works by British artist Anne Mee.

But the exhibition Emerging From Darkness: Faith, Emotion and the Body in the Baroque, running at Hamilton Gallery in the Southern Grampians until April 2024, represents an unparalleled opportunity in Australia to admire art by three outstanding women artists of the Baroque. Works by Italians Artemisia Gentileschi, Lavinia Fontana and Sofonisba Anguissola are all on show here, hanging alongside works by male counterparts such as Rubens, Valentin de Boulogne and Guercino. Many of the paintings exhibited have been rarely seen before now, loaned as they have been by private collectors as much as by public institutions.

To celebrate the exhibition, Limelight Arts Travel is delighted to offer a three-part online lecture series with Freya Middleton and Dr Kathleen Olive, both well known for their presentations on Italian women artists. Kathleen opens the series on 13 February with a presentation on Sofonisba Anguissola, an artist whose work made an impression on the great Michelangelo and took her as far afield as the royal court in Spain. Freya presents the second online lecture on 20 February with a deep dive on Artemisia Gentileschi, one of the most accomplished European painters of her generation, and Kathleen concludes the series on 27 February with a look at the refined aesthetic of the Bolognese artist Lavinia Fontana.