Crucifixion
Medium
Oil on panel
Dimensions
63 × 39 cm (24 13/16 × 15 3/8 in.)
Classification
european painting
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
242449
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This small, painted crucifix is exceptional not only for its artistry, but also because it is signed by a woman artist: María Josefa Sánchez. Sánchez worked roughly from 1639 to 1649, probably in Castile, Spain, but little else is known about her. Women rarely worked as professional artists in seventeenth-century Spain, where laws and customs discouraged them from entering professions. Laws also prohibited women from serving as apprentices or signing official documents. The few women who became ...