During the middle Ages,
the lives of women were controlled greatly by the Christian church. The church
expected women to fulfill the position of a wife and mother and the church also
stressed obedience and chastity. Not only were they supposed to take care of
the responsibilities of a wife and mother, but their lives were also organized
around labor. At a very young age, around five or six, girls were sent out by
their families to nunneries, there “they lived a life by, for, and about
God…and women” (The Guerrilla Girls, 21). These women operated businesses,
illustrated manuscripts, composed and performed music and would also educate
each other. These women also farmed and made tapestries. A women who wasn’t a
nun also had many roles that she had to follow. For example, “A women was
required to be faithful to her husband, and adultery could be punished by
flogging or being buried alive” (Guerrilla Girls, 22). It was also believed
that education interfered with a women’s ability to be a proper wife and mother
which is why no women were ever taught to read and write. Despite the church
trying to control them, women became writers, artists, merchants, and nuns and
whenever their husbands were away at war, the women would run the kingdom.
Also, there was much focus on the art in cathedrals, and many would say that
the art in those cathedrals are the most important artistic achievements during
the middle ages. During this time artist were also making great works for
abbots, abbesses, kings and nobles. However, many would not know that “many of
these artist were women, either working in business owned by male family
members or living as nouns in convents” (Guerrilla Girls, 19). We would not know
much about women’s roles during this time if it wasn’t for paintings, “Our
knowledge about the daily lives and customs of women in the middle Ages owes
much to representations emphasizing their labor” (Chadwick, 43). During the
thirteenth century, the expansion of towns created a class of urban working
women whose skills were in great demand. Despite the restrictions women had,
women became an important role for the medieval economy.
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| The Bayeux Tapestry: The link below takes you through a step by step explanation of the Tapestry |
Things for women started
to slowly change at the start of the Renaissance period. During this time period
in Europe, the feudalistic structure was starting to break down and being challenged
by mercantilism. During
the Middle Ages since women were forbidden to read, the only way for women to
be become respected artist during the Renaissance was that they had to be born into
a family of artist and that family would have needed assistance in the family workshop.
A quote that caught my eye in the Guerilla book was "Every woman would prefer to
be a man, just as every deformed wretch would prefer to be whole and fair, and every
idiot and fool would prefer to be learned and wise" (Torquato Tasso, 1573). This quote stood out to me because it shows
the little respect that men still had for women. Men assumed that no one would
ever want to be a women and that whoever did was simply foolish. What a women
was allowed and not allowed to do was similar to what they were allowed to do
during the Middle Ages. For example, a women could only divorce her husband if
she could prove him impotent. Guilds and academies were becoming very popular
during this time period but of course women were restricted from them. However
some things started to change. Thanks to
St. Catherine’s cult, schools in Bologna started to open for women. The city of Bologna stood out from the rest of
Europe because of its attitude towards women. “The presence of St. Catherine’s
cult in Bologna was only one of a number of factors that worked to create an unusually
supported context for educated and skilled women in that city” (Chadwick, 90). The
University of Bologna was Italy’s most famous center of legal studies when it
started to accept women. This university produced many learned women in philosophy
and law” (The Guerrilla Girls, 30). Although only women born into wealthy
families had a chance to become an artist, woman like Lavinia Fontana,
Elisabetta Sirani, Onorata Rodiani, Amilcare Anguissola and Properzia de Rossi
were a few of the women that made themselves known during this time period and
paved the way for many other women artist.
During the 17th
and 18th century, the lives of women were still pretty much the
same. At a young age you would be sent away from home to work long hours in the
textile and garment trades, at least 15
percent of women were prostitutes and one out of ten women would die in child-birth.
During this time period, the academies had a great interest of neoclassicism
and knowing how to draw from live nude models. The problem was that women were forbidden
to do that which led to women not being to paint the “important” things in
life. “While the male academics were off
painting thee “important” subjects of war and the gods, most women artist of
the 17th and 18th centuries kept the home fires burning,
perfecting the areas where they were allowed to excel: still life and
portraiture” (The Guerrilla Girls, 40). However there were a couple of women artist
who tried to beat the guy at history painting. While most women stuck to
painting domestic objects, Angelica Kauffman took on the grand, historical
themes. While traveling Italy with her father, she made copies of Italian
masters and quickly became part of the social group that included many
important artist like Benjamin West. Kauffmann "belonged to the English Royal Academy,
and was accepted in a man’s world” (The Guerrilla Girls, 44).
 | ||||||||
| Angelica Kauffmann, "The Seller Of Love" | The link below gives you a brief explanation as to why Kauffmann was such an influential artist to women. |
The 19th century is probably where the most
significant changes for women happened and where women started to make art that
others were not used to seeing women make. Of course women still had to face
many struggles like being taken seriously, but artist like Rosa Bonheur and
Mary Cassatt are example of women who were successful during this time period.
This time period was the beginning of women’s long struggle for equality. Rosa
Bonheur was known for her paintings of horses, cows and bulls and for
cross-dressing. One of her most famous paintings that made her one of the best-loved artist in Europe was called The Horse Fair, 1853. Bonheur was also involved
in the early women’s movements and belonged to the Union of Women Painters and Sculptors.
Bonheur encouraged women to be rebellious and said “let women establish their claims
by great and good works and no by conventions” (The Guerrilla Girls, 49). Even
after the reform movements, women still faced obstacles in getting art training
that was to that of male students. During this period, “not only was it widely
believed that too much book learning decreased femininity , exposure to the
nude model was thought to inflame the passions and disturb the control of
female sexuality that lay at the heart
of Victorian moral injunctions” (Chadwick, 175). Women who went against the
norm when it came to painting risked being labeled as sexual deviants, however,
in the 1840’s schools were founded and provided women with training in design
since there were many women who were forced to support themselves. Hertford is
known for her brilliant scheme of applying to the Royal Academy with just her
initials and becoming the stepping stone for all other women to be admitted
into the Royal academy. Women during this era were rebelling and painting
pieces that were not painted “like women”.
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| The publication of this novel by Anna Sewell was important during this time period because it made a connection between women and animals. The book made people realize that the animal rights issue was really a human rights issue. |
Work Cited
Girls, Guerrila. "The Middle Ages, The Renaissance, and The 19th Century." The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York: Penguin, 1998. Print.
Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. London: Thames & Hudson, 2007. Print.
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