Changes in the Roles of Women from the Middle Ages through to the 19th Century

     Before considering the roles of women in Europe in the Middle Ages, we must first have an understanding of the sort of economic system that was in play at the time, which was the feudal system. The feudal system differs from our present-day capitalism in that today, one is able to work themselves up from their state of poverty, whereas in a feudal system, it was impossible. It was a system which maintained the belief that all citizens are born into a particular social class which further determined what they could do or be in the(ir) future. For example if you were born poor, it was seen as God's doing and one was supposed to remain in that state all their life as this was the class God had intended for them to be born in. One never questioned their social class. Furthermore, the church also played an important role in feudalism by appeasing the poor.

     Though women in the Middle Ages were extremely marginalized and had little to no power; Chadwick writes that their lives were also influenced by economic and social forces far beyond the church's control. "....Symbiotic modes of production and reproduction, no clearly defined physical boundaries between domestic life and public and economic activity, and the physical rigors of medieval life, encouraged women to take significant part in the management of family property and in general economic life. And there is evidence that they participated in all forms of cultural production from masonry and building to manuscript illuminating and embroidery." This is at least true of the early Middle Ages.

However, their roles were gradually restricted as time went on and Christianity spread through the region. By this time, Western Europe had evolved into a Christian Kingdom and as stated above, the church used art as a tool to appease the peoples. Arts such as illuminated manuscripts, tapestries, and religious objects were mostly made by women who worked under men or as nuns in convents. As a matter of fact, the only women who had access to learning were the women in the convent, and these women were often women of the noble class."Access to education and the convent, the center of women's intellectual and artistic life from the sixth to the sixteenth centuries, was often determined by noble birth" (Chadwick 44) One of the famous pieces made by these women is an embroidered banner over 200 feet long named The Bayeux Tapestry; a segment is shown below.

THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY c.1086. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Bayeux_Tapestry_scene57_Harold_death.jpg

One can immediately see the flat, one-dimensional nature of this piece with its rich color and stylistic imagery, characteristics which were common in art of this period.

Women who were not nuns were usually engaged at early ages and prohibited from learning to read or write. Almost all of them worked in a family business but their wages belonged either to their husbands, fathers or brothers; thus, many women escaped a life of marriage and joined the convent in order to be educated.

     The Renaissance brought along with it the printing press, which then led to a decline in the church as people began to break out of the feudal system by embracing mercantilism. Universities start to spring up but women are still not allowed in. This era is also characterized by a change in the way art is made, as the linear perspective is discovered, in which artists start to create the illusion of space/volume/ three-dimension on a two dimensional plane. Paintings are no longer painted from religious perspectives but rather, from a mathematically accurate perspective of the viewer. A lot of the Classical Greek and Roman thinking is brought back and incorporated into the art of this period and there is a "shift from the representation of secular figures as mere adjuncts to religious scenes to the emergence of the individual portrait." (Chadwick 75)

In the same width, profile portraits begin to appear during this time; these portraits often displayed one's worldly position, wealth, identity and social standing. Images of women were often depicted in this way as male patrons commisioned male artists to paint their women in this manner and so we (the viewer/audience) see her as a decorative piece of her husband's lineage i.e. an object. The first female Renaissance artist is recognized as Sofonisba Anguissola, who paints women as women, as opposed to depicting them as objects of the male gaze. One of her self-portraits are shown below:  

Sofonisba Anguissola Self-Portrait, 1561.  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Self-portrait_at_the_Easel_Painting_a_Devotional_Panel_by_Sofonisba_Anguissola.jpg

Sofonisba Anguissola's father had been a painter, and this was what allowed her to follow this path as well. This pattern was common for many women of the time, as their fathers often had to be painters already or they had to have been born into a family of artists in order to be able to work as an artist. It is important to note that noblewomen, as well as many regular workers in linen thread, took up the art of lace-making. (Chadwick 68)

     By the 19th century, the battle for women's equality had begun. On the other hand, the objectification of the naked female body by male painters reached a whole new height. Female artists of this time often had to prove themselves worthy of being taken seriously. The camera was invented during this time, giving women the opportunity to include and artistically define themselves as they saw fit. Women of this era saw more "freedom" in the sense that they were finally allowed to practice law and medicine, though it was an extremely difficult experience.

Below is an example of the art during this time, done by Harriet Powers, an African-American freed slave, who despite never learning to read or write, stitched the sermons she'd heard in church, as well as folktales and current events, into stories that she quilted as a means to record her life. 

Harriet Powers, Pictorial Quilt. 1895.

References

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

     Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 5th ed. New York, N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1990. 552. Print.