Iaia

Iaia of Cyzicus (Greek: Ιαία της Κυζίκου), sometimes (incorrectly) called Lala or Lalla, or rendered as Laia or Maia, was a Greek painter born in Cyzicus, Roman Empire, and relatively exceptional for being a woman artist and painting women's portraits. She was alive during the time of Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BC). In De Mulieribus Claris, his book of women's biographies, Boccaccio refers to her as "Marcia," possibly confusing her with the Vestal Virgin of that name. According to Pliny the Elder: "No one had a quicker hand than she in painting." Most of her paintings are said to have been of women. Pliny attributes to Iaia a large panel painting of an old woman and a self-portrait. She was said to have worked faster and painted better than her male competitors, Sopolis and Dionysius, which enabled her to earn more than them.