Books of Art: 20 Medieval and Renaissance Women Reading

I love to read. I also love books depicted in art. I became fascinated with Medieval and Renaissance pictures of women reading or with books. I noticed while I was walking around the National Gallery, Musèe Cluny and the Louvre recently that there are many beautiful images of women reading or with books. Saints, sinners, and laywomen; I wanted to share a few of my favourites. Here are 20 works of art of women and their books:

Saints Christina and Ottilia by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1506)

~Sandra Alvarez

For more on women reading: The influence of the Bible on Medieval Women’s Literacy

For more on Renaissance women reading: The Publisher Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari, Female Readers, and the Debate about Women in Sixteenth-Century Italy