Women Author Portraits in Print

Printed author portraits grew in popularity in the early modern period. Portraits of women authors became important parts of the marketing of books and the crafting of authorial identity, especially in the second half of the seventeenth century. These portraits expressed qualities of the content of printed works by the authors they represented. They also represented, or conferred, authority within particular realms, such as theology, pedagogy, or trades. For women authors, the portraits also reflected the essential and ideal qualities of womanhood in the era, particularly for women who held, however provisionally, the right to speak in public through print. For female literary authors, these ideal qualities included whiteness, expressed through attributes including, but not limited to, their ample white bosoms. These representations were both powerful and motivated by women authors and publishers alike.