Josefa de Óbidos

Josefa de Óbidos (1630 – 1684) was a Spanish-born, Portuguese painter from the seventeenth century. Her birth name was Josefa de Ayala Figueira, but she signed her work as, "Josefa em Óbidos" or, "Josefa de Ayalla". She is one of the relatively few female European painters known to have been active in the Baroque era. All of her work was executed in Portugal, her father's native country, where she lived from the age of four.

Life and work

Josefa de Óbidos was born in Seville, Spain. Her father, Baltazar Gomes Figueira, was a Portuguese painter from the village of Óbidos. He went to Seville in the 1620s to improve his painting technique and, while there, married Catarina de Ayala y Cabrera, a native Andalusian, who would become the mother of Josefa. The family returned to Portugal in 1634. They first settled in Peniche, where Baltazar continued his work as a painter.

It is known that by 1644, at the age of fourteen, Josefa, was in Coimbra in the Convent of The Grace ("Convento da Graça"), where her father painted the main altarpiece of the church.

Josefa's first known works are engravings, executed in 1646. They demonstrate that she had achieved a high degree of skill by the age of sixteen. Sometime before 1653, she and her family left Coimbra and settled in Óbidos.

While in Óbidos, she drew an allegory of "Wisdom" for the "Book of Rules" of the University of Coimbra, which was being decorated by her father. Highly esteemed as a painter by that time, her father Baltazar is considered to be the main influence upon her. He possessed a great number of engravings among his collection that made Josefa familiar with the art of her time.

. In 1679 she completed an altarpiece for the Church of the Mercy of Peniche. Her best known portrait is that of "Faustino das Neves", dated c.1670, which is in the Municipal Museum of Óbidos.

Many of her still-life paintings, considered her specialty, are among other works by her that are now in the National Museum of Ancient Art in (Lisbon). Her work appears in several other museums and as well as in private collections.

Josefa de Óbidos died in Óbidos and was buried in the Church of Saint Peter of Óbidos. She is considered to be one of the most accomplished painters of seventeenth century Portugal and is especially significant because of the recognition she gained among the Baroque painters, an art period which was dominated by male painters.

References

* [http://www.esec-josefa-obidos.rcts.pt/josefa_ayala/vidobra.htm Article by critic "Vítor Serrão" about the work of Josefa de Óbidos (in Portuguese)]

External links

* [http://www.uc.pt/artes/6spp/ enter the "Six Centuries of Portuguese Painting" website by clicking upon the image, select the "indice alfabetico" on the menu to the left and look under "J", for "Josefa de Óbidos (1630-1684)" which provides a link to a selection of her paintings]