Salon des Nobles-LALA DE CYZIQUE CULTIVANT LA PEINTURE

Iaia of Cyzicus (), sometimes (incorrectly) called Lala or Lalla, or rendered as Laia or Maia, was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

painter born in

Cyzicus Cyzicus ( ; ; ) was an ancient Greek town in Mysia in Anatolia in the current Balıkesir Province of Turkey. It was located on the shoreward side of the present Kapıdağ Peninsula (the classical Arctonnesus), a tombolo which is said to have or ...

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, and relatively exceptional for being a woman artist and painting women's portraits. She was alive during the time of

Marcus Terentius Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero). He is sometimes call ...

(116–27 BC). In ''

De Mulieribus Claris ''De Mulieribus Claris'' or ''De Claris Mulieribus'' (Latin for "Concerning Famous Women") is a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women by the Florentine author Giovanni Boccaccio, composed in Latin prose in 1361–1362. ...

'', his book of women's biographies,

Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was s ...

refers to her as "Marcia," possibly confusing her with the

Vestal Virgin In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals (, singular ) were priestesses of Vesta, virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame. The Vestals were unlike any other public priesthood. They were chosen before puberty from several s ...

of that name. According to

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

: "No one had a quicker hand than she in painting." Most of her paintings are said to have been of women. Pliny attributes to Iaia a large panel painting of an old woman and a self-portrait. She was said to have worked faster and painted better than her male competitors, Sopolis and Dionysius, which enabled her to earn more than them.

Life

Born in

, Iaia was a famous painter and ivory carver. She probably came to Rome to meet the demand for art there in the late

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

. Iaia remained unmarried all her life.

Influence on culture

Iaia is one of several female artists of antiquity mentioned in

's ''

Natural History Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

'' (XL.147–148). Four others are

Timarete Timarete () (or Thamyris, Tamaris, Thamar; 5th century BC), was an ancient Greek painter. She was the daughter of the painter Micon the Younger of Athens. According to Pliny the Elder, she "scorned the duties of women and practised her father's ...

Irene Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), Greek for "peace". Irene, and related names, may refer to: * Irene (given name) Places * Irene, Gauteng, South Africa * Irene, South Dakota, United States * Irene, Texas, United States ...

Aristarete Aristarete or Aristareta () was an ancient Greek painter. Little is known about her, including where and when she lived. Although none of her works are known to be extant, Pliny the Elder's ''Natural History (Pliny), Natural History'' contains m ...

, and Olympias. Pliny also possibly lists a fifth, Calypso, though this interpretation is disputed; most scholars accept an alternative reading in which Calypso is the subject of a painting by Irene. Iaia (as "Marcia") is one of three women artists mentioned in

's ''

De mulieribus claris ''De Mulieribus Claris'' or ''De Claris Mulieribus'' (Latin for "Concerning Famous Women") is a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women by the Florentine author Giovanni Boccaccio, composed in Latin prose in 1361–1362. ...

''. Iaia is a character in

Steven Saylor Steven Saylor (born March 23, 1956) is an American author of historical novels. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied history and classics. Saylor's best-known work is his '' Roma Sub Rosa'' historical mystery ...

's novel ''

Arms of Nemesis Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **F ...

'' (1992), where she is depicted practicing her craft on the

Bay of Naples A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

in 72 B.C.E The character of Julie Lambert, the protagonist of the novel ''Shining Harmony'' (2017) and the poetic anthology ''Living and Not Living'' (2018), both by Italian writer

Sabrina Gatti Sabrina may refer to: People and fictional characters * Sabrina (given name), a feminine given name, including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Hafren, known in English as Sabrina, a British princess in Welsh mythology ...

, was inspired by Iaia. In the novel, Julie, a talented painter, sees in Iaia the artist to emulate and dedicates to her a painting where she portrays the Roman painter, intent on painting in her atelier; while in "Living and not living," the young woman is completely identified with Iaia. Iaia (as Lalla) is one of the names featured on Judy Chicago's '' Heritage Floor''.

Notes

References

* Helen Gardner, Fred S. Kleiner, Christin J. Mamiya, ''

Gardner's Art Through the Ages ''Gardner's Art through the Ages'' is an American textbook on the history of art, with the 2004 edition by Fred S. Kleiner and Christin J. Mamiya. The 2001 edition was awarded both a McGuffey award for longevity and the "Texty" Award for current ...

'', Thomas Wadsworth, 2004; . *

, ''Natural History'', 35.40.147.L * Virginia Brown's translation of Giovanni Boccaccio's ''Famous Women'', pp 135 – 137; Harvard University Press, 2001; * Harris, Anne Sutherland and

Linda Nochlin Linda Nochlin (''née'' Weinberg; January 30, 1931 – October 29, 2017) was an American art historian, Lila Acheson Wallace Professor Emerita of Modern Art at New York University Institute of Fine Arts, and writer. As a prominent feminist art hi ...

, ''Women Artists: 1550-1950'', Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Knopf, New York, 1976, pg. 23. * Frasca-Rath, Anna: The Origin and Decay of Painting. Iaia, Dibutades and the Concept of ‚Women Art, in: Hans Christian Hönes & Anna Frasca-Rath (Hrsg.), Modern Lives, Modern Legends. Artist Anecdotes since the 18th century, Journal for Art Historiography, 23, 2020, S. 1-17

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iaia 1st-century BC Greek people Ancient Greek women artists Ancient Roman painters Year of death unknown 1st-century BC Roman women 1st-century BC Romans 1st-century BC painters People from Cyzicus