Five Female Artists Whose Work Was Attributed to Men

We often hear the question: "Why aren't there any women among the great painters?" and the shortest answer would be that there were women painters — we simply didn't know about them, and there are many reasons for these gaps in our knowledge. One of them, of course, would be the husband's surname taken after marriage, but women in general were not accustomed to signing their work, since the crafts they typically practiced did not require it. What's more, true authorship was often deliberately concealed. A talented woman was always surrounded by men — husbands, teachers, art dealers. And these men very often hid the true authors and attributed their works to other painters. This kind of systematic, deliberate falsification of authorship led to women being erased from the art canon, and with them, from the entire history of art. Their identities have only come to light in recent years, thanks to scholars who no longer want to look away. Today we introduce you to five remarkable women artists whose talents were credited to others, while many more of their fellow sufferers still await discovery.

1. Sofonisba Anguissola

Sofonisba Anguissola (1535–1625) was an Italian Renaissance portraitist. She was one of the first women to receive a formal artistic education and quickly gained international recognition. Sofonisba was so gifted that the Spanish royal court invited her to tutor Queen Elisabeth of Valois and to become a court painter to King Philip II. Unfortunately, her official title was that of a "lady-in-waiting." Add to that the fact that she almost never signed her works, and it's no surprise that identifying them later proved very difficult.

They were attributed to another painter for a very simple reason — since Sofonisba was an unofficial court painter, that role officially fell to a less talented, but male, painter, Alonso Sánchez Coello, who was in fact merely Sofonisba's assistant.

Unfortunately, most of her paintings were destroyed in a 17th-century fire at the Spanish royal palace. The surviving paintings were unsigned, and historical sources led people to believe their author must have been Coello — the official painter of Philip's court. This error persisted for three full centuries.

Sofonisba Anguissola, "Philip II," 1665

In this portrait, the king is depicted as befits a monarch — stern, masculine, and proud. No one imagined that such a portrait could have been painted by a woman's hand. The true authorship only came to light in the second decade of the last century. Until then, Coello was considered the author — a conclusion supported both by historical sources and by a style similar to Sofonisba's. The two worked together for many years and influenced each other's styles. She mastered light and color in the tradition of northern Italy, while he, as a meticulous follower of Titian, showed great realism in his work. In courtier portraits, they complemented each other beautifully.

Sofonisba's talent has also been attributed at various times to Titian, Zurbarán, and other great masters, though these errors were exposed more quickly due to chronological or geographical inconsistencies. Still, Sofonisba Anguissola was one of the first to blaze a trail for professional women painters.

2. Artemisia Gentileschi

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1653) was an Italian Baroque painter whose talent has been celebrated in recent years, as her signature has been found on highly valuable works previously attributed to the men around her.

Artemisia Gentileschi, "Susanna and the Elders," 1610

Artemisia's most famous misattributed work would be "Susanna and the Elders." It depicts two lecherous men spying on a bathing Susanna. The subject, though repellent, drew the interest of many great masters — Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Rubens. Unfortunately, they were all more or less indifferent to the wronged woman, whereas Artemisia portrayed her with particular empathy. Here Susanna is neither compliant nor indifferent; she does not wait for divine intervention — she herself pushes the vile old men away.

The painting was attributed to Artemisia's father, Orazio Gentileschi, and it was only a little more than two decades ago, once scholars finally took an interest, that it was confirmed the painting was in fact his daughter's. Scholars now believe it is Artemisia's first work. She completed the canvas at just seventeen, which is why it was assumed her father must be the author — it was hard to imagine a teenager being so talented and so accomplished in technique.

Artemisia Gentileschi, "David with the Head of Goliath," 1639

Last summer it emerged that a painting depicting the biblical scene of David and Goliath was in fact painted by Artemisia as well. Artemisia's signature was discovered during the conservation process. Until then, it was believed to have been painted by one of her father's students, Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri.

3. Judith Leyster

Judith Leyster (1609–1660) was a Dutch painter of genre scenes and portraits, now one of the most celebrated artists of the Dutch Golden Age. Leyster achieved recognition during her own lifetime. She was one of the first women admitted to a painters' guild, the Guild of Saint Luke in Haarlem. Unfortunately, despite her achievements, her short career was cut off by marriage, after which Leyster sank into obscurity, only to resurface at the end of the 19th century.

Most of Leyster's works were attributed to Frans Hals, her contemporary, who also painted similarly lively scenes. In fact, almost all of the 35 surviving works were attributed either to Hals or to Leyster's husband, Jan Miense Molenaer. The rest, not attributed to these men, were left without an author. For nearly two hundred years, it seemed as though Judith Leyster had never existed at all.

Judith Leyster, "Carousing Couple," 1630

There are many theories explaining the similarity between Judith Leyster's and Frans Hals's styles. Some historians believe they were colleagues; others, that one was teacher and the other student. Either way, both their subject matter and technique are similar. Both liked to depict relaxed figures in informal settings and stood out for their loose brushwork. On the other hand, their signatures are entirely different. Art dealers who acquired Leyster's works had to paint over her signature themselves and forge Hals's instead. So an innocent confusion over the two artists' similar styles turned into a malicious, systematic deception. Rather than dispelling the illusion, art dealers deliberately maintained it in pursuit of financial gain.

Beyond the signature, Leyster's works also differ from Hals's in their deliberate interplay of light and shadow. Her acquaintance with the Utrecht Caravaggisti clearly encouraged her to experiment with chiaroscuro and develop her own style.

The discovery of Judith Leyster as a painter is itself a separate and fascinating story. In 1893, two art dealers had a dispute over the painting "The Happy Couple." It depicts a young man and woman drinking, playing music, and seeming filled with euphoria. One dealer had bought the painting from the other and sold it to a client, who, noticing a strange signature and suspecting a forgery, took the matter to court. During the investigation, it was confirmed that the signature belonged not to Frans Hals, but to Judith Leyster.

With the painting's value having dropped by a full quarter, the art dealers began blaming each other for the misattribution. The discovery of an unknown woman painter stirred no emotion in anyone at the time. Interest only grew later, as more and more of her works were found, and now her name is firmly written into art history, with prestigious museums around the world staging exhibitions of Judith's work.

Incidentally, many art historians believe that not all of Leyster's works have yet been found, and that she did not stop painting after marriage. It is likely that the remainder of her legacy is still attributed to her husband.

4. Marie–Denise Villers

Marie–Denise Villers (1774–1821) was a representative of French Neoclassicism, a student of Jacques Louis David, and an excellent portraitist. Yet "Portrait of Charlotte du Val d'Ognes / Young Woman Drawing" was only attributed to her quite recently.

Marie Denise Villers, "Portrait of Charlotte du Val d'Ognes / Young Woman Drawing," 1801

This painting is a genuine puzzle. Despite its title, its subject is very ambiguous. Although the center indeed shows a woman drawing, she appears deeply unhappy. In her hands she holds a canvas, yet she looks straight at the viewer as if asking for help. Behind her we see a window with broken glass, and beyond it, in the distance, a couple of lovers. Although at first glance it could pass for a domestic portrait, the composition and the striking contrast of light and shadow create a tense atmosphere.

The painting's authorship raised just as many questions for centuries. The first candidate for author was Jacques Louis David, and this seems entirely natural. He had a great influence on Villers, and the error likely arose when the portrait was acquired by the family of the young woman depicted, Charlotte — though it's unclear whether this was accidental, or whether they wanted to boast of owning a work by a famous author. Or perhaps it was the guess of an art enthusiast who had studied David's work closely enough to spot the similarities, but not closely enough to notice the differences.

In 1917 the painting was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in 1951 its curator, Charles Sterling, confirmed that the painting had been exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1801 — the very year Jacques Louis David boycotted it. This fact permanently ruled him out as the author. It was Sterling who first proposed the theory that the painting had been made by a woman, and in 1995 Margaret Oppenheimer, after carefully examining the list of Jacques Louis David's students, confirmed it. The theory gained followers, so at least this part of the puzzle has been solved.

Even so, debate continues over the identity of the subject. In 2011, art historian Anne Higonet proposed that it is the artist's self-portrait, and that the Val d'Ognes family only named it after Charlotte once they acquired it. This seems quite plausible, since a portrait painted by the artist's sister, Marie–Victoire Lemoine, shows many similar features.

Regardless, this painting masterfully depicts a young woman artist, and its image has already traveled to exhibitions not only in the US but across Europe. Its mysterious composition and almost palpable tension have captivated even museum visitors unaware of its whole complicated history.

5. Caroline Louisa Daly

Caroline Louisa Daly (1823–1893) was a Canadian landscape painter, discovered only in 2017, having hidden in plain sight the whole time. The gallery where her watercolors hung had attributed the works to John Corry Wilson Daly.

The truth only gradually came to light when the artist's great-grandson visited the art gallery of the Confederation Centre on Prince Edward Island. The paintings he saw there reminded him of his great-grandmother's work, so he contacted the gallery, claiming the paintings had been attributed to the wrong Daly. Museum staff launched a two-year investigation that yielded stunning results.

Caroline Louisa Daly, "Stranded Whale, Tracadie Harbour," 1858

It turned out that the attribution to John Corry Wilson Daly and Charles Daly had no basis whatsoever. There was no evidence for it beyond the shared surname Daly. In fact, the first man was not even a painter, and the second had never visited the places depicted in the paintings. When Caroline Louisa Daly's family submitted the works belonging to them to the museum, it immediately became clear they were painted by the same hand.

The truth lay in the details. According to Paige Matthie, Daly had a very distinctive way of depicting windows and trees, and the mistaken attribution perfectly reflects a much broader tendency to undervalue women's achievements without looking closely. Paige Matthie does not believe the error was made intentionally, but its consequences are nonetheless sad.

Caroline Louisa Daly, "Canadian Woods and Moose Deer," 1864

Caroline Louisa Daly was self-taught and did not exhibit her work during her lifetime. Only friends and family members saw how attentive she was to the details so abundant in her work, and how skillfully she rendered the architecture of buildings.

The museum responsible for the error apologized, and on that occasion held a solo exhibition, "Meet Caroline Louisa Daly," curated by Matthie herself. It featured six works already held by the gallery along with six more donated by the artist's family. These works can be considered a historical record, revealing what Prince Edward Island looked like 150 years ago.

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