Catherine Hall-van den Elsen studied Spanish art at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. She completed her M.A (1986) and Ph.D (1992) on the life and work of Luisa Roldán. In 2018, Hall published a monograph of Luisa Roldán in Spanish (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) and in 2020 an annotated bibliography in the Oxford Bibliographies in Art History series (Oxford University Press). She has contributed book chapters to Roldana (Junta de Andalucía, 2007), Women Artists in the Courts of Europe (Amsterdam University Press, anticipated 2021), and Polychromy in the Early Modern World: 1200-1800 (Routledge, anticipated 2022).

• Foreword; Introduction; Chapter 1: Women in Early Modern Spain; Chapter 2: Sculpture in Seville; Chapter 3: Andalucía: Building a Career; Chapter 4: Madrid: Challenge and Opportunity; Chapter 5: Luisa Roldán through the lenses of History; notes; chronology; extant works; further reading

'An invaluable introduction to the figure of Luisa Roldán . . . Drawing on her own extensive archival research and decades of firsthand study of the sculpture, Catherine Hall-van den Elsen offers a sensitive analysis of the works while also setting them effectively in their historical context . . . More than the story of one remarkable sculptor, this book also offers insights into the challenges women confronted in seventeenth-century Spain and the artistic production of the period.' – Patrick Lenaghan, Curator, Hispanic Society Museum and Library

Catherine Hall-van den Elsen studied Spanish art at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. She completed her M.A (1986) and Ph.D (1992) on the life and work of Luisa Roldán. In 2018, Hall published a monograph of Luisa Roldán in Spanish (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) and in 2020 an annotated bibliography in the Oxford Bibliographies in Art History series (Oxford University Press). She has contributed book chapters to Roldana (Junta de Andalucía, 2007), Women Artists in the Courts of Europe (Amsterdam University Press, anticipated 2021), and Polychromy in the Early Modern World: 1200-1800 (Routledge, anticipated 2022).

• Foreword; Introduction; Chapter 1: Women in Early Modern Spain; Chapter 2: Sculpture in Seville; Chapter 3: Andalucía: Building a Career; Chapter 4: Madrid: Challenge and Opportunity; Chapter 5: Luisa Roldán through the lenses of History; notes; chronology; extant works; further reading

'An invaluable introduction to the figure of Luisa Roldán . . . Drawing on her own extensive archival research and decades of firsthand study of the sculpture, Catherine Hall-van den Elsen offers a sensitive analysis of the works while also setting them effectively in their historical context . . . More than the story of one remarkable sculptor, this book also offers insights into the challenges women confronted in seventeenth-century Spain and the artistic production of the period.' – Patrick Lenaghan, Curator, Hispanic Society Museum and Library

Catherine Hall-van den Elsen studied Spanish art at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. She completed her M.A (1986) and Ph.D (1992) on the life and work of Luisa Roldán. In 2018, Hall published a monograph of Luisa Roldán in Spanish (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) and in 2020 an annotated bibliography in the Oxford Bibliographies in Art History series (Oxford University Press). She has contributed book chapters to Roldana (Junta de Andalucía, 2007), Women Artists in the Courts of Europe (Amsterdam University Press, anticipated 2021), and Polychromy in the Early Modern World: 1200-1800 (Routledge, anticipated 2022).

• Foreword; Introduction; Chapter 1: Women in Early Modern Spain; Chapter 2: Sculpture in Seville; Chapter 3: Andalucía: Building a Career; Chapter 4: Madrid: Challenge and Opportunity; Chapter 5: Luisa Roldán through the lenses of History; notes; chronology; extant works; further reading

'An invaluable introduction to the figure of Luisa Roldán . . . Drawing on her own extensive archival research and decades of firsthand study of the sculpture, Catherine Hall-van den Elsen offers a sensitive analysis of the works while also setting them effectively in their historical context . . . More than the story of one remarkable sculptor, this book also offers insights into the challenges women confronted in seventeenth-century Spain and the artistic production of the period.' – Patrick Lenaghan, Curator, Hispanic Society Museum and Library