Female Art HistoryIaia (fl. c. 100 BCE)<br>
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Iaia from Cyzicus, active around 100 BC, was a Greek painter. She was one of the six highly respected female painters mentioned by Pliny in his Naturalis historia 35, 148. It is assumed that the name Iaia has not been recorded correctly and may have been Laia or Maia, but this cannot be proven due to a lack of other sources. Iaia is said to have mastered both the brush and the ivory stylus and to have painted extremely quickly. Nevertheless, her works must have been extraordinary, because it is said that she was able to demand and received much higher fees than the most respected artists of the time. She is said to have painted portraits of women in particular. Documentary evidence includes a "Self-portrait in front of a mirror" and the "Portrait of an old woman". (<a href="https://dbpedia.org/page/Iaia#" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://dbpedia.org/page/Iaia#</a> )<br>
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The first image is a central panel from the House of the Surgeon (so named because of the large number of metal surgical implements excavated there), removed from a wall in a large room off the garden. Here, a young woman is painting an image of a herm of Dionysos (a type of statue), which sits before her. Cupid holds up the artwork while she gazes at her subject, simultaneously mixing some paint. (<a href="https://www.theancientartblog.com/post/women-painters-in-antiquity" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.theancientartblog.com/post/women-painters-in-antiquity</a> )<br>
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Additional interesting facts in Pliny's sketch seem to distinguish Iaia from other male and female artists, yet they too lack the connecting detail of a satisfactory biography. For example, he tells us that Iaia painted mostly portraits of women, and also that she was a lifelong virgin (perpetua virgo). We do not know the circumstances that caused her to choose her favorite subject matter, or indeed if this choice had any connection with her marital status in a society in which most free women were expected to marry. Some have speculated that she may have belonged to a priesthood or cult for which chastity was required, but we have no record of any such that fostered artistic members.<br>
( "Iaia (fl. c. 100 BCE) ." Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. . Encyclopedia.com. 29 Jul. 2024 . )<br>
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1. image: From the House of the Surgeon, Pompeii, room 9. Ca. 50 - 79 CE. Height: 120 cm. National Archaeological Museum, Naples, Inv. 9018. <a href="https://www.theancientartblog.com/post/women-painters-in-antiquity" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.theancientartblog.com/post/women-painters-in-antiquity</a><br>
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2. image: Woodcut_illustration_of_the_artist_Marcia_Varronis_(or_Iaia_of_Cyzicus)_-_Penn_Provenance_Project.jpg Holzschnittillustration, die Iaia von Kyzikos<br>
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3. image: wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/De_mulieribus_claris_-_Marcia.png?width=300 selfportrait<br>
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