Five centuries of female creativity presented in more than 400 artworks. The book is arranged A to Z by surname. Each artist is represented by one iconic artwork and accompanied by a short text.
Throughout the years, women (in particular aristocratic women) have built important collections and used them to their own advantage (to make a statement of lineage, power, cultural heritage or religious preferences). The authors describe women patrons and collectors from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries. Different types of collections by women are analyzed to give a voice to a group of important female collectors.