There Were Important Women in the History of Prints

Join co-editors Cristina S. Martinez and Cynthia Roman for a seminar on the collaborative volume Female Printmakers, Printsellers, and Print Publishers in the Eighteenth Century: The Imprint of Women, c. 1700–1830. Discussion will focus on the genesis of the project and the diverse research methods and expertise among fifteen authors. Consideration will be given to a variety of strategies to recover and assess the contributions of women of differing social status and nationality to the production, culture and trade of prints. The challenges of research during pandemic restrictions and how they were mitigated by the growth of digital resources, as well as by dedicated staff of museums, archives and libraries, will be considered. Finally, the discussion will turn to what questions remain for future investigation. 

Speaker bios:

Cristina S. Martinez is an interdisciplinary art historian who holds a PhD from Birkbeck College, University of London. She has presented and published work on eighteenth-century British art, William Hogarth, the history of copyright law, Canadian art and artistic practices of appropriation. Cristina is the official biographer for the entry on Jane Hogarth in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and is completing a manuscript titled Hogarth and the Law: The Making, Circulation and Representation of Law in Eighteenth-Century Britain. She currently teaches in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Ottawa. 

Cynthia E. Roman is Curator of Prints, Drawings and Paintings at the Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University. She is an active and widely published scholar of British art of the eighteenth century. Her work focuses on the history of prints and print collecting, and the work of women and amateur artists. In her role as Curator at the library, it has been her privilege to collaborate with a wide range of scholars on interdisciplinary exhibitions, programmes and publications. 

About the Book: 

Female Printmakers, Printsellers, and Print Publishers in the Eighteenth Century: The Imprint of Women, c. 1700–1830 assembles international senior and rising scholars and showcases an array of exciting new research that reassesses the history of women in the graphic arts in the long eighteenth century. Fifteen essays present archival findings and insightful analyses that tell compelling stories about women across social classes and nations who persevered against the obstacles of their gender to make vital contributions as creative and skilled printmakers, astute entrepreneurs and savvy negotiators of copyright law in Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Italy and the United States. 

Image credit: Lou McKeever, 2023. Inspired by the title page from  Darly’s Comic-Prints. of Characters. Caricatures. Macaronies &c, 1776.

Information about event format and access

The event starts with a presentation lasting around 40mins, followed by Q&A and a free drinks reception. The event is hosted in our Lecture Room, which is up two flights of stairs (there is no lift). The talk will also be streamed online and recording published on our website.

Code of Conduct

This code is designed to create a positive and welcoming environment at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. It applies to all events, meetings and visits, in-person and online. It also extends to the social medial and digital platforms we use for events and communication.

These are our guiding principles:

• We welcome debate and discussion, but this should always be considerate of others.
• Discriminatory or unlawful behaviour, harassment and defamatory comments will not be tolerated.
• We appreciate courtesy to our staff and other attendees – we value kindness, politeness and respect, and want to create spaces where people feel comfortable.
• We take reports of abuse very seriously.

Online: Abusive content posted online will be reported and removed.

Breaches of this code may result in the individual being blocked or barred from attending the Centre or participating in its activities, on site or online, in the future.

Any behaviour that breaches this code should be reported to a member of staff at an event or can be emailed to [email protected]

Our Code of Conduct is supported by the Centre’s Public Complaints Policy and Procedure