Marely Fontanez
Art and Women
Post 2 
       
        The Church and feudalism played an important role during the Middle Ages. Women during the Middle Ages were not educated because it "was thought to interfere with a woman's ability to be a good wife and mother" (Guerilla Girls 22). It was common for women during this time period to join the Church and become nuns. Women joined the Church with hopes of escaping the inevitable poverty that stemmed from feudalism and benefiting from being a part of a higher class. These nuns and other women from upper class that became educated during this time period were very significant. Herrad of Landsberg was one of the influential nuns of the Middle Ages. She created the Hortus Deliciarum which was a religious encyclopedia and anthology that included many illustrations. The Hortus Deliciarum had "nearly 1200 texts by various authors, as well as several poems which appear to be in Herrad's hand" (Chadwick 56). Herrad dedicated the work to the nuns of her convent. "Herrad intended the Hortus Deliciarum as a compendium of desirable knowledge in religious and secular subjects for the education of the young girls in the convent" (Chadwick 56).


Herrad of Landsberg, Hortus Deliciarum, after 1170
The Hortus Deliciarum opens with this miniature that includes rows of females heads and includes the name of the nuns in her convent.

        Following the Middle Ages was the Renaissance which was a time period where the Church began to decline in power and we see a shift from feudalism to mercantilism. The invention of the printing press is one of the reasons this change in society occurs. The printing press allowed people to record and share their ideas more efficiently. A mass production of printed books created trade and allowed for the creation of a middle class. Because of this middle class other members of society other than the very wealthy were able to open and own businesses and do other things they could not do before. Many artist guilds began to emerge. Women of course were extremely oppressed and restricted from taking part in certain societal activities such as owning a business. One of the common ways a woman could work as an artist was if she was born into a family of artists and worked at the family workshop. But by working at the family workshop it was difficult for women to establish themselves as independent artists. Maria Robusti and Artemisia Gentileschi were Renaissance women that created artwork at their father's atelier. Many of these women such as Maria Robusti were not given the credit they deserved for their work. It is believed that in many instances Robusti's father, Jacob Tintoretto, was credited for work she produced. Artemisia Gentileschi was somehow able to be more successful than the average Renaissance woman and receive a great deal of recognition for her work. She was even able to open up her own atelier.     

 

Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes, 1620

Artemisia created various paintings of famous scenes and she depicted the women in these paintings differently than they usually were. Artemisia painted women in a more empowering manner.

 

        After the Renaissance and through the 19th century women continued to be oppressed and continued to face restrictions in society. Even through intellectual movements like the Enlightenment a woman's place was still believed to be "in her home, taking care of those around her" (Guerilla Girls 39). Although women became more involved in art they faced restrictions on the type of artwork they could create. They were expected to create artwork that was deemed appropriate for women such as still life and portraiture and domestic subjects, while men painted subjects of war and gods. Despite these restrictions there were women like Rosa Bonheur and Elizabeth Thompson that broke through these norms.

 

Elizabeth Thompson, Calling the Roll After an Engagement, Crimea, 1874

In this painting Elizabeth Thompson challenged norms that existed for female artists by painting a war scene which is a subject matter more acceptable for men.

 

Works Cited:

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. Thames and Hudson. 2007.

The Guerilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. Penguin Books, 1998.