from the Middle Ages through the 19th c

Although the expectations of women did not waver, the roles of women changed drastically from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance and into the last 19th century. In the Middle Ages, women were prisoners of their homes, their fathers, and their husbands, meaning that much of their work was accredited to their husbands as female artists during this time were not taken very seriously. Any women who were interested in the fine arts were usually born into a family of artists, had a family of nobility, or they were nuns who were given the opportunity to paint, sculpt, and create crafts. In fact, Chadwick states that "the convent provided an alternative to marriage, offering a haven to nonconformists and female intellectuals" (Chadwick 45) because nuns received an education, albeit minimal, and slight freedom into the artistic world, which could not be given anywhere else. Christine de Pizan, well-known for making a living off her writing, writes an allegory about "The City of Ladies," which described a scene of majestic women who were running the city all on their own without any men in sight. The women described are building and teaching and learning from one another, which were all forbidden of women at that time. Her outspoken works, which reflected her feelings of disdain toward "guys who espoused bigoted ideas about women and then thought themselves to be advanced and enlightened for it" (Guerilla Girls 26), enraged the people of that time period. The impact Christine de Pizan held in her society was why many people liked to refer to her as one of the first feminists.

This painting of The City of Ladies illustrated women out of their usual roles during the Middle Ages.

By the Renaissance Era, convents were no longer considered a safe haven for women to turn to for their artistic desires because of the church's increasingly strict rules controlling the freedom women have in terms of art. Rather, women were found in guilds, where their level of art was restricted to cloth-making, which was in high demand at that time. As maths and sciences were gradually becoming attached to the development of painting, paintings were becoming three-dimensional and realistic. During this time, female artists were painting moving images which showcased the controversy regarding the sexual differences which make a woman untrustworthy. Artist Elisabetta Sirani paints Portia Wounding Her Thigh, which portrays Portia as she is about to wound herself to gain the trust of Brutus. By hurting herself, "Portia has to prove herself virtuous and worthy of political trust by separating herself from the rest of her sex" (Chadwick 101).

Portia is seen wounding her bare thigh, which hints at the sexualization women were subjected to. She had to sacrifice in order to prove that she was not the incapable woman they presumed her to be.

In addition, Artemisia Gentileschi paints a controversial painting named "Judith Slaying Holofernes," which revolves around the aggressive female characters who decapitate General Holofernes' head. The painting depicts the emasculation of a man, and the domineering position the two women have over this man. Holofernes, who seemed to be beheaded s he was sleeping nude, was caught at his most vulnerable state. This painting captured female power, which was unheard of at this time, and attacked the image of the timid women who was the subject of the male gaze. Gentileschi "[shows] Judith's intention accomplishing her mission, and unafraid to face carnage and death" (Guerrilla Girls 37).

Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artemesia Gentileschi portrays female power and male emasculation

The Impressionist Era began in the late 19th century, and for the most part, the club of painters were all men. Although women had a bit more opportunity and leeway to become a painter, it was not surprising that many women still remained at home during this time. The are world was revealed by "the conflicts still facing the woman artist caught within an ideology of sexual difference which gave the privilege to male expression and often forced women to choose between marriage and a career" (Chadwick 230). Domesticity was the only thing women knew of, and their contribution to society was mainly to get married and bear children. The few impressionist female artists painted about the association of femininity and domesticity, and their paintings attacked the image of women appearing for the males to look at. Among these artists was Mary Cassatt, who painted Woman in Black at the Opera, which depicted a woman simply trying to watch the opera. She is wearing black to make herself invisible, and her attention is captured by the show before her. However, in the back of the scene, there is a man who is not looking at the opera, but at her. This displays the female struggle of the time, which was that women were not able to go anywhere without being objectified by a male spectator, and this was acceptable behavior of the time. Cassatt's painting displayed her anger at society's convention for women to be looked at freely. The female artists of the time, though few, were beginning to challenge society's depictions of women and gender roles placed on them.

Mary Cassatt, Woman in Black at the Opera, 1880

Works Cited

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. New York, N.Y.: Thames and Hudson,          

             1990. Print.

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

Penguin, 1998. Print.