Laya
Flourished circa 50 B.C.E., Cyzicus, ancient Greece
Laya is another name for the artist Lalla.
Pliny the Elder (d. C.E. 79) mentions six female painters of antiquity, among them Lalla (also Laya, Laia, Lala), who worked in the city of Cyzicus during the first century B.C.E. Using pencil and also encaustic on ivory, she was known for speed of execution, producing mainly portraits of women, including a self-portrait, unusual for the time. Sources relate that her pieces were often preferred to some of the most famous painters of her time. Lalla is likely the ancient artist Marcia later hailed by Boccaccio and Christine de Pisan.
