Iaia

Iaia of Cyzicus (Greek: Ιαία της Κυζίκου), sometimes (incorrectly) called Lala or Lalla, or rendered as Laia or Maia,[1] was a Greek painter born in Cyzicus, Roman Empire, and relatively exceptional for being a woman artist and painting women's portraits.

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.

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.

[8] Iaia is a character in Steven Saylor's novel Arms of Nemesis (1992), where she is depicted practicing her craft on the Bay of Naples in 72 B.C.E The character of Julie Lambert, protagonist of the novel Shining Harmony (2017), and of the poetic anthology Living and Not Living (2018), both by Italian writer Sabrina Gatti, was inspired by Iaia.

In the novel, Julie, a talented painter, sees in Iaia the artist to emulate, and dedicates to her a painting where she portrays the Roman painter, intent on painting in her atelier; while in "Living and not living", the young woman is completely identified with Iaia.