This initial book in the groundbreaking new series Illuminating Women Artists is the first English-language monograph on the extraordinary Spanish Baroque sculptor Luisa Roldan. Luisa Roldan (1652-1706), also known as La Roldana, was an accomplished Spanish Baroque artist, much admired during her lifetime for her exquisitely crafted and painted wood and terracotta sculptures. Roldan trained under her father and worked in Seville, Cadiz, and Madrid. She even served as sculptor to the royal chambers of two kings of Spain. Yet despite her great artistry and achievements, she has been largely forgotten by modern art history.

Written for art lovers of all backgrounds, this beautifully illustrated book offers an important perspective that has been missing–a deeper understanding of the opportunities, and the challenges, facing a woman artist in Roldan’s time. With attention to the historical and social dynamics of her milieu, this volume places Roldan’s work in context alongside that of other artists of the period, including Velazquez, Murillo, and Zurbaran, and provides much-needed insight into what life was like for this trailblazing artist of seventeenth-century Spain.