Gender Roles.Sex.Power.

Hortus Deliciarum by Herrad of Landsberg

The roles of women were beginning to change in society after the Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages however, women did not play much of a role in society unless they were fortunate to be nuns. In the early Middle Ages, women were able to paint, copy write, and learn but, after the 10th or 11th century, they were deprived of the powers they had exercised earlier. (Chadwick 47). Keep in mind that during that period, there was feudal system and the Church was the central government controlling all aspect of people's lives. The people's purpose in life at that time was to work, pray, and go to church. Not many got an education unless they were wealthy. Women, if not from an elite family, did not get any education and their duties were limited to their homes. On the other hand, nuns did get an education while in monasteries yet they were not allowed to teach because that was thought of "domineering". St. Paul clarified what he believed women's role should be towards education, "A woman must be a learner, listening quietly and with due submission. I do not permit a woman to be a teacher, nor must a women domineer over a man; she should be quiet." (Chadwick 45) 

Nuns in the Middle Ages had an upper-hand at doing things that other women in their time were not able to do since nuns took up their time in the monasteries and the monasteries were the central power. Besides getting educated, some nuns such as Hildegard von Bingen, wrote illustrated manuscripts of divine messages and others made tapestries. Hortus Deliciarum (Gardens of Delight) was a medieval manuscript that was put together by Herrad of Landsberg to "praise the Christ and the Church," (Chadwick 56). In this manuscript, Herrad of Landsberg dedicated a page of all the sisters that were with her in the convent with their names written Latin or German. As the Enlightenment and the Renaissance started to come about, people began to think for themselves.

Original by Caravaggio

Remake by Artemisia 

During the Renaissance period, art and culture changed compared to the Middle Ages. It seemed as if the main focus of the Renaissance was revolved around the male artists on the rise to fame such as Michelangelo and Leonardo. However, there were female artists that were lucky enough to paint because they grew up in a family of artists that needed assistance in the workshop like Maria Robusti and Artemisia Gentileschi (Guerrilla Girls 31). Maria Robusti was a talented painter whose father invested in her by educating her in the arts and music. She helped out her father in the studio and was given many chances to paint elsewhere. Her father did not let her for he needed her to do the paintings for which he was taking all the credit. Another talented artist was Artemisia Gentileschi who worked in her father's atelier was raped by one of her father's assistants. She wanted to seek revenge from her rapist by exposing him but was not able to. The only way to channel her fury and humiliation was to remake the "Judith Slaying Holofernes" painting since it resembled Artmeisia's rape story. The original painting depicted Judith looking away from when she cuts off Holofernes' head but Artemisia's painting depicts Judith facing her act of beheading Holofernes.

During the 17th and 18th century, nude paintings came back into style but, men were only allowed to do learn nude paintings. The Netherlands were growing wealthy and people wanted to show off their materialistic possessions. As for the women painters in that period, they had started exploring other areas of painting such as still life, paintings of flowers and insects, and the growing popularity of portraiture. Judith Leyster was famous for her scenic paintings and some portrait paintings. She was apprenticed to Frans Hals who was a renown Dutch painter. She went on to have three male apprentices as she was a member of the Painters' Guild. As Leyster married and had children, she had less time to paint and eventually, she died unknown. Anna Maria Sybilla Merian took interest in a new area of art. She was interested in animal and plant life and most of her paintings were based on live specimens and botanical breeds. As Merian's interest of flowers and insects grew, she and her two daughters went to Surinam to document flowers and insects. She did Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium where she painted numerous amounts of insects and flowers. She died in poverty however, her daughters kept on her work. 

In the 19th century, technology was advancing, women began to fight for their rights, the movement was called, Women Suffrage, and Impressionism was becoming the new art style in paintings. The camera was invented sometime during the 19th century and Julia Margaret Cameron at the age of 48, took interest in photography. She was a lonely woman after her children got married. Cameron ended up taking photography as a hobby after one her children gave her a camera as a gift. She took photos of beautiful women and intellectual old men. According to the Guerrilla Girls, the beautiful women personified characters from poetry or myths and the old men were simply themselves (p. 52). She excelled in her photography by producing books illustrating Tennyson's Idyll's of the King and other poems which she received great reviews. Although, she discontinued taking photos after her husband and her move to Ceylon, she was part of  something innovative, "a new kind of art" (Guerrilla Girls 53). From the Middle Ages throughout the 19th century, some women were lucky to enough to get educated and show their expertise in art for the fact they were either from noble families or were born into artistic family or simply because they were lucky. Others did make an impression in their artwork such as Judith Leyster and Maria Robusti but then, their work did not prosper after getting married and having kids or after their death. Then, there were even other artists who regardless of whether they got married and have kids continued to make their artwork prosper such as Artemisia Gentileschi. 

Work Cited

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 3rd Edition. United Kingdom: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1990.

Girls, Guerilla. The Guerilla Girls' Bedside Companion To The History of Western Art. England: Penguin Books., 1998