Carmen Ripollés

The first English-language monograph to explore the remarkable life and diverse oeuvre of one of the most famous artists of the Portuguese Baroque era.

Josefa de Ayala, known as Josefa de Óbidos (ca. 1630–1684), was among the most celebrated artists of the Portuguese Baroque. She learned still-life painting from her father in her youth and developed into a versatile artist whose paintings feature a range of sacred and secular subjects. Despite never marrying, Óbidos enjoyed immense creative and personal independence thanks to her legal status as a donzela emancipada (emancipated maiden). Over the course of her exceptional career, she produced engravings and painted church altarpieces, defying traditional gender conventions with the scope and breadth of her work.

Author Carmen Ripollés brings Óbidos’s diverse accomplishments to life in this riveting introduction to the English-speaking world. While previous studies have treated Óbidos as an isolated figure, Ripollés examines the artist’s place within a broader context, positioning her alongside other early modern female practitioners. Josefa de Óbidos tells the remarkable story of a woman who rose to wealth as a landowner and left an indelible mark on the visual culture of the Portuguese empire.

Carmen Ripollés is an associate professor in the Schnitzer School of Art, Art History, and Design at Portland State University. She has written for numerous art history and visual culture journals, including Renaissance Quarterly.

“Highly recommended.”
—D. Apostolos-Cappadona, CHOICE

“The research that has gone into this extensively illustrated book is excellent.”
—David Gelber, Apollo

“Josefa de Óbidos’s vast output has, until now, regrettably remained under-appreciated outside the world of Portuguese-language art history. This thoughtful, timely consideration not just of her oeuvre but also of the social and historical contexts in which she worked is an incredibly important addition to the historiography of women artists.”
—Rebecca J. Long, Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Curator, Painting and Sculpture of Europe, The Art Institute of Chicago

“Carmen Ripollés’s book on Josefa de Óbidos is a landmark work of historiography on the Portuguese painter and will certainly contribute to renewed attention on the most interesting painter of the Portuguese Baroque.”
—Joaquim Oliveira Caetano, Curator of the Painting Collection, National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon

Additional titles in this series.

160 pages
7 1/2 x 9 7/8 inches
80 color illustrations
ISBN 978-1-60606-985-1
hardcover

Getty Publications
Imprint: Getty Publications
Series: Illuminating Women Artists

2025