This month’s issue of Women Church World reports on female artists and their relationship with the sacred. This journey commences with those who had been famous and sought after in their time, then long forgotten, only to return to the limelight in the 20th century. These talented and skillful women occupy a notable place in art history. Today, their art is held in museums and private collections, and sought after by collectors who pay significant sums to possess a piece. These artists often learned their technique in their father’s workshops, or were self-taught in convents, some at a very young age. An example of such an artist is the prolific Elisabetta Sirani, a star of the Bolognese Baroque, who was considered by her contemporaries to be “the best paintbrush in Bologna”. In her short life - died at the age of 27- she managed to paint two hundred works, ninety of which were completed before she was seventeen.