Women painters you've seen in museums but know nothing about

Men appropriating women's artworks is a subject that's been chewed over enough already to go into it for the umpteenth time. What can't be said, though, is the same about the fact that museums are packed with artworks by women painters who are not remotely well known. It's an interesting exercise to start by asking ourselves how many great women painters we know; two, three? Now ask yourself: how many great male painters? 10? 20? 50? Contrary to what people tend to believe, the art world did cultivate this art among women. Unfortunately, their usual status as the "daughter of" or the "wife of", or even the theft of their artworks by their fathers, brothers or husbands, has become a huge problem when it comes to identifying just how important women have been in painting. We've dug up the memory of some artists you can find in the most celebrated museums in the world and about whom, in all likelihood, you know nothing.

You know nothing about these painters but, if you like art, their paintings ring a bell

Sofonisba Anguissola [Public domain]

Sofonisba Anguissola

This Italian painter has been rescued from the obscurity she was in until very recently, and her artworks now hang in great museums such as the Prado Museum, the Museo Lázaro Galdiano, the Pinacoteca di Brera and the Uffizi Gallery. Her work not only had a great influence on later painters, some of her paintings, such as her portrait of Queen Elisabeth of Valois, were copied by Peter Paul Rubens himself. She is considered the great pioneer among women painters and, to this day, apart from painting lovers and art experts, few people know anything about her.

A photo of Berthe Morisot. Source: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/morisot/

Berthe Morisot

Although there is evidence that there were almost as many women artists as men during Impressionism, the gender gap made itself felt in one of the most controversial painting periods in history. She took part in the Impressionist exhibitions that began in the late 19th century (in 1874, to be precise). Some have called her the grand lady of Impressionist painting and yet, for most of the public, she's a complete unknown. She exhibited alongside Renoir, Degas and Monet, so internationally famous that it's hard not to know where their artworks are shown, and only now is her name starting to be recovered. Her work can be found in private galleries, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Ireland, the Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Musée Fabre, among others.

Clara Peeters [Public domain]

Clara Peeters

This Flemish painter of the 16th and 17th centuries is one of the greats of her time, but her impact in academic terms has been nil. Today we can find her still lifes at the Prado Museum and her main exhibitions at the celebrated Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp.

These are just a sample of women painters who are beginning to be given credit and to have their artistic contribution valued after hundreds of years of active and passive invisibility. And more and more modern women painters are appearing too, widening the range of options among artists. After all, art ought to be a portrait of humanity and, until now, there wasn't a single textbook on the subject in which they, or many others, appeared. Perhaps it's time to reclaim the other half of our historical memory.