There is a gap in the history of literature—as in that of so many other disciplines—that is shaped exactly by the women who were part of it but who have been relegated to the background or simply ignored. Fortunately, to fill this gap, initiatives are emerging, such as the free exhibition in Madrid that highlights the role of female writers of the Golden Age.
“Women of Ingenuity: Golden Pens in the Age of Letters,” which can be visited at the Lope de Vega House Museum (Calle de Cervantes, 11) through September 13, serves as a form of redress: it showcases the work of women who are barely represented in the literary canon and who, in many cases, are virtually unknown beyond the walls of academia.
This lack of awareness and the denied opportunity for them to gain recognition in their own time is attributed to the fact that, during the 16th and 17th centuries, women writers had virtually no opportunity to make their works known: their creative sphere was, in many cases, confined to the domestic sphere.
Esther Borrego Gutiérrez, Ph.D. and professor of Spanish literature, has curated the exhibition with the aim of “bringing the public closer, through images and text, to the faces of these forgotten women, their books, their manuscripts, their signatures, and their physical presence through objects or texts.”
The palace, the house, the cloister
The exhibition is structured around three themes, corresponding to the three spheres in which women of the era could pursue their writing: the court, the home, and the cloister.
The exhibition thus features women from a wide variety of backgrounds and walks of life: from queens who played a prominent role in promoting literature and culture—such as Isabella the Catholic, who surrounded herself with educated women like Beatriz Galindo and Lucía de Medrano—to successful authors in the “corrales” (theatrical venues) of the time, as well as religious figures like Saint Teresa of Ávila, the first Spanish writer to be recognized in the literary canon.
Among the Golden Age women writers featured in this exhibition are Luisa Sigea, Olivia Sabuco, María de Guevara, Ana Caro Mallén, Feliciana Enríquez de Guzmán, María de Zayas, Teresa de Jesús, and Lope de Vega’s own daughter, Marcela de San Félix.
Exhibition Hours
The exhibition “Women of Wit: Golden Pens in the Age of Letters” is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The museum is closed on Mondays.