When it comes to art, the term “Old Master” is with us for a reason: For centuries it’s been the male artists who have attracted the interest of art historians. Great collectors and museums have paid scant attention to the existence of talented women artists from periods such as the Italian Renaissance.

But the landscape is changing, and nowhere more noticeably than in Florence, the city known as the “cradle of the Renaissance.” This past summer one of its most famous museums, the Uffizi, kicked off a series of exhibitions dedicated to the work of women artists from the past.