Looking back, women’s rights and autonomy have come a long way. Although there is still work to be done, it is strange for me and I’m sure many other women to picture themselves living in the Middle Ages or Renaissance period. There are themes in the expectations of a women’s role that have been present in the past and still trickle into today’s societal view of a woman’s purpose. In order for not only women, but men as well, to dismantle the imbalance of respect, worth, intelligence, and power that is often associated with gender roles and expectations, it is important to examine and understand the conditions of the past that have led to the changes of the future.
Throughout history, American and European, religion was at the core of establishing the rules and regulations of society. In the Middle Ages, the role of women from all walks of life whether that be different occupations or social status were viewed as lesser than in all aspects in comparison to men. These ideas were promoted and enforced by the Church which moved beyond Italy to plague to autonomy and worth of women everywhere (Chadwick, pg. 43-44).
Women were confined to the private sphere of life, behind closed doors out of the conversations and spaces of men, respectable or not. In the Middle Ages and up until recently in the United States, women were solely responsible for being a representation of the ideal home and ideal wife. It was the duty of women to be respectable because of the impact it would have on the respectability of their husbands. Patriarchy and sexism during this time and throughout history were conveniently reinforced by the state and church. It was known and accepted that a women’s only role was to be home, taking care of the children and serving the man whose needs and wants triumphed her own. Women were often robbed of opportunities to enter the public sphere because their biological and physiological nature was deemed incapable of contributing to the working world in ways other than reproduction and satisfying the carnal needs of man. These views of what it meant to be a woman, and a respectable one at that, was seen everywhere and provided men with the “intellectual power” to drive these perceived purposes of women to develop systems in which males benefitted.
Not only were these ideas prevalent in the church and state, but they were expressed in the art of the time as well. Art from this time provided an outlet for these ideas to be reinforced once again. “Art in the Middle Ages became a didactic tool of the Church” (Guerilla Girls, pg. 19). However, when women were introduced to an environment working in guilds and covenants, they had found a way out of this stringent cage they were shaped for from birth. The guilds and covenants became a place where women who no longer wanted to fit society’s mold could go and use their skills because they wanted to, not had to. Yes, they were still behind doors but for a different purpose other than pleasing their men. Women excelled in embroidery and sewing but even then, men were paid more for the same job. Sounds familiar, huh? In fact, the system then was “better than it is today in the U.S: women average less than 70 cents for every dollar earned by men” (Guerilla Girls, ph. 21). The opportunities for women to work in guilds and covenants were still very restrictive. Not all women were allowed into this sphere. It was made difficult to enter because women were still seen as incapable and inferior by nature. As we can see, the Middle Ages had less wiggle room for women to take unconventional jobs in public spaces but things began to change slowly.
A transitionary period, the Renaissance, began a shift in women’s roles and how their creativity was expressed. The Renaissance of Italy reflected many of the same ideas from the Middle Ages, the most fundamental one being that women belong the private sphere providing for family and men. However, female artists of the time were able to flourish and grow because of the encouragement of their male caregivers. Artists like Artemisia Gentileschi and Sofonisba Anguissola had the freedom and support to cater to their creative and artistic needs because their fathers were artists as well and possessed a progressive way of thinking for the time. Growing up in a household with an artist as a father provided a gateway for women to enter a space where the ideas of the time could be challenged in a more expressive manner. The opportunity of being an artist and a woman was appealing to many. The population of women artists grew and in one area of Italy in particular, progressive ways of life were encouraged and flourishing at the time.
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| Tintorettio, Susanna and the Edlers 1555, picture expresses society's light-hearted towards sexual violence and the sexual flaw of women |
Bologna, Italy had more female artists than any other part of Italy during the Renaissance. Women were allowed to attend university to learn and to work at the beginning of the 13th century (Chadwick, pg. 87). These women were able to express and nourish themselves as they pleased whether that be through literature or painting. Independence was encouraged and lived. This was a grand opportunity for women to express their place in the public world. Artemisia Gentileschi, in particular, used her artwork to express the “Renaissance Man” and the difficult relationship women had to this concept. The “Renaissance Man” was defined by the common man who thought; it would be detrimental for women to learn how to write and read, that women were destructive to the creative process of man, the sexual nature, and persuasion of a virgin being a punishable crime but the rape of a widow acceptable (Guerilla Girls, pg. 31). These ideas were dangerous and Gentileschi made the realities of a woman’s life due to the perpetuation of the “Renaissance Man” evident in her art. Gentileschi recreated Tintoretto's piece, Susana and the Elders (1555) in a more realistic light. This piece of work is telling the story of sexual violence but one would not think so because of the elegant nature of the painting. The men who have committed this crime are shown to be camouflaged and weak in appearance. Susanna stares at herself in the mirror, representing vanity, even after such a heinous act has occurred. Tintoretto's approach to painting this experience is weak. The art is beautiful, yes. However, the focus is still on the woman and her faulty condition. In strong contrast, Gentileschi’s approach is more blatant and realistic in the way society (represented by the two men) and women respond to sexual violence. The men in the photo are seen aggressively approaching a woman in a bathhouse. The woman has blatantly turned away, using her hands as a form of physical and emotional defense. In comparison to Tintoretto's piece, the men in Gentileschi's piece are playing an active role in this assault. The two men appear to be conspiring how to assault
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| Artemisia Gentileschi, Susanna and the Elders 1610, picture shows more realistic side of sexual violence |
wearing red. The man in red has his finger over his mouth, almost to shush not only the woman but society. This is a powerful move on Gentileschi's part because she appears to be expressing that the heinous acts of men done behind and beyond closed doors should be kept secret by the survivors of these crimes and society as a whole. Tintoretto's take is powerful in the sense that it diminishes the reality of sexual violence but Gentileschi's approach makes society and the agenda of the "Renaissance Man" clear.
Susanna in Gentileschi's painting represents her and the women of the world, turning away and rejecting the crude intentions of the same men that penalize the sexuality of a woman yet rob it for their own pleasure. These thoughts are the foundations of patriarchy and sexism with fear and the need for control at the base. Women like Gentileschi were able to overcome the restricting conditions of society and man by having the privilege of being born into a family of a progressive thinking man. Many women did not have this privilege, however, it paved the road for other women to see that they do have a place in the public sphere and the message they have to provide is important. Women, like Gentileschi, creating art as such radically changed the narrative of what it meant to be a woman. It encouraged other women to take the reigns of their life and express their truths through art.
~Amanda Ramppen
Works Cited
Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 4th ed. 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.
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