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22 October 2020

So just to be seen in the act of painting was something of which women had, once, in Spain at least, to be ashamed. Section 16 is called Ladies rather than Painters: 'C19th women artists projected a public image of themselves which largely contrasts with that of their predecessors. With only a few exceptions, they chose not to depict themselves in the act of painting or with the instruments of an activity, which might compromise their social status. This equated their images with those of established women writers with unquestioned reputations, such as Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda or Carolina Coronado, painted by Federico de Madrazo without any attributes to indicate their literary calling [!];  thus the painters Madame Anselma and Julia Alcayde preferred to be immortalised as "society ladies".  Lluïsa Vidal, unusually, made it clear that she wished to be shown as an artist, so breaking away from the archetype.' This is her 1899 Self Portrait. 

 

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