Gender Roles, Sex, Power

                      During the Middle Ages, women were expected to follow “a Christian ethic that stressed obedience and chastity, by the demands of maternal and domestic responsibility, and by the feudal legal system organized around the control of property” (Chadwick 44). Often times, women married and had children at a young age. Fertility was important, according to Guerrilla Girls, “a man could divorce his wife if she couldn’t bear children” (Guerrilla Girls 22). The typical medieval woman was expected be an obedient wife and good mother. Her responsibility was to tend to the housework and care for the children. A woman’s job is solely to be responsible for everything in the household, “education was thought to interfere with a woman’s ability to be a good wife and mother” (Chadwick 22). Therefore many women during the Middle Ages were not taught to read and write so they would have little knowledge of the outside world. Aside from the domestic responsibilities, “a woman had to obey her husband, and he could beat her if she didn’t” (Guerrilla Girls 22). She was obligated to support her husband in whatever he did. At the same time, there is evidence that shows “women did not lose all legal rights, status, and economic power. Often they managed large estates while men were at war or occupied elsewhere on business” (Chadwick 47). In general, women became responsible for the roles they were expected to accomplish as well as assist her husband and the family in whether it as farming or trade.

         
               Having all these tasks to accomplish and rules to follow, women were left no opportunity to pursue any activities such as producing art. The only way for a woman to be freed from the inevitable role of being a mother and wife was to join a convent. The convent could be seen as a legal alternative to marriage. Within a convent, women “lived a life by, for, and about God…and women” (Guerilla Girls 21). In addition, it the only place where women were allowed to receive any type of education and create art without criticism. There was evidence showing nuns and monks worked together in composing, copying and illuminating manuscripts. 

               

Judith Decapitating Holofernes, Gentileschi

Women had always been subjected to a man’s authority for many centuries. During the Middle Ages, women worked at home as an housewife and obedient mother. While maintaining her domestic responsibilities, she was obligated to assist in her husband or family business. The closest way for women to create art was to join a convent. As towns began to emerge during the thirteenth century, “a new class of women—urban working women whose managerial skills were in great demand due to a high degree of mobility of men” (Chadwick 63). Women were beginning to take on various jobs outside of the house. The transition from the Middle Ages into the Renaissance showed a drastic change from solely working domestic roles to where women were beginning to create art. The Renaissance became an explosion of development for science and the arts. The development of capitalism and change in art is what distinguished the Renaissance from the Middle Ages. Convents continued to enable women to paint, however guilds were beginning to take over artist production. During this time, Florence began to grow from the silk and wool industries. It was becoming increasing popular for women to take up the art of lace-making. Eventually, painters’ guilds and academies were formed from the artisan class of painters and sculptors. These guilds of course were not accessible to women as they were not allowed to paint. “One of the few ways a woman could work as an artist was to be born do that into a family of artists that needed assistance in the family workshop” (Guerilla Girls 29). Many women artists were beginning to make their presence known with painting. For example, Artemisia Gentileschi, became a well-known artist under the training of her the father, Orazio Gentileschi. Gentileschi produced numerous paintings and eventually overshadows her father. That caused many critics of the time to claim she was merely signing the work her father had done as oppose to recognizing her skills. Some of her most famous paintings include Judith Decapitating Holofernes and Susanna and the Elders. In Susanna and the Elders, Gentileschi paints the story differently compared to the traditional ways. 

Susanna and the Elders, Gentileschi

          The 17^th and 18^th century was a time of great wealth and conquest for Europe. “A slave trade grew to provide cheap labor and vast profits in the “new world”. Powerful monarchs fought each other for territory” (Guerilla Girls 39). At the same time, intellectual movements such as the Enlightenment, Neoclassicism and Romanticism began to spread throughout Europe. The arts were beginning to stray away from the rules and idealization of the Renaissance. “Neoclassicism, with its insistence on heroic, larger-than-life themes from history and mythology, held sway in most of these academies, and artists’ reputation depended in how well they could do that kind of art” (Guerilla Girls 39). In the Netherlands, a new trend for patrons from the wealthy class was to show off their material possessions. This period of time was beneficial for women artists as they were allowed to excel in scene of everyday life, still lives and portraiture. For example, Judith Leyster’s The Proposition was representative of domestic virtue and sexuality. The female figure sewing is “presented as an embarrassed victim rather than a seducer” (Chadwick 124). While everyday life was a prominent subject among many artists, Anna Maria Sybilla Merian enjoyed animals and nature. She later left her husband and went to Surinam to study the insects and flowers there. Her most recognized work, the Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium was considered to be some of the finest botanical illustrations ever made.

The Proposition, Judith Leyster

During the 19^th century, technological advances allowed people to travel easily and communicate with ease. The railroad and steam ships drew people out of the farms to work in factories. In addition, the invention of the camera became a threat to painting. Many women began to take up photography. The fact that it was a brand new invention, there was no reason for them to be barred from doing like painting. "Large numbers of middle-class women in America were caught up in the Christian reform movement that promoted the abolition of slavery, temperance, and universal suffrage " (Chadwick 205). There were many prominent women artists who made am impact to painting of the 19th century. Rosa Bonheur was considered most famous artist of the 19th century and most admired animal painter. She managed to achieve success when she won a gold medal at the Salon of 1848. Bonheur had a bold attitude as a person and artist. In a well-known piece, Ploughing in the Nivernais, Bonheur showed that she can paint male subjects. In composing this painting, she makes the animals the main subjects rather than the men working. Bonheur emphasizes the male being observed as oppose to the traditional view of the woman being viewed. 

Ploughing in the Nivernais, Rosa Bonheur

The role of women from the Middle Ages to the 19th century evolved from the idea they should be a mother and wife. A Middle Age woman was expected to fulfill all domestic needs and being obedient to her husband. As time went on, women soon became needed to work certain jobs as the men are busy with other tasks. At the same time, women are beginning to paint even though they were barred from doing so. However, there were many artists such as Gentileschi, Judith Leyster, Anna Maria Sybilla Merian, and Rosa Bonheur who made themselves known through hard work. These women had a strong will which allowed them do what they loved regardless of what others say. There contributions and works have paved the way for more women artists to fulfill their dreams. 

Here is a link about the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C. It has a survey of major artist period:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXaln1MDGwg

Works Cited

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. New York, NY: Thames and Hudson, 2002.

The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York: Penguin, 1998. Print.