The women in the Middle Ages were socially expected to
follow certain rules and live up to certain expectations. They were separated
politically and socially, even though there were many set backs women were
still able to be a part of public life which was a way for them to progress
artistically. "Medieval women took part in almost every aspect of public
life. Despite biblical teachings against them, they became writers, artists,
merchants, and nuns, and ran the kingdom when their husbands were away at war"
(Guerilla Girls, 19). We can gather that a big step in the direction for women
to start making small impacts socially is because of life for women in a
convent. Women who joined a convent did it to escape the roles of being a
mother or a wife, and they could be educated and create somewhat of a life for
themselves. Being a nun gave women the opportunity to learn how to read, start
their own business, and eventually become artists. Whether they became artists
in the form of tapestry work, poetry, literature, music, or paintings ether way
they were able to make something for themselves without the pressures of a male
influence. This eventually led to women being part of the economic growth. As
for women in the Renaissance this was a little more of a difficult start for
them. When one thinks of the Renaissance we automatically think of the start of
a new age of art, but what artists do we think of? Mainly men right. Well this
is because; "In most cities, women were barred from painters' guilds or
academies (except for the lace and silkmakers' guilds)" (Guerilla Girls,
29). Women were just not seen as valuable in the art market and it was very
difficult for them to be taken seriously because this area was seen as a man
job. The only place where women could be free artistically and scholarly was
Bologna. Women could be admitted into a University as early as the 13th
century, and it is where most of women's art is from.
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| Aelfgyva and The Cleric from The Bayeux Tapestry |
The photo above is from the famous Bayeux Tapestry that is a little over two hundred feet long and is
a narrative piece describing the story of William the Conqueror in 1066. This
is a secular piece which was unusual for the time because art in the middle
ages was used as a tool for the church. This section from the tapestry is the
scene of Aelfgyva and the Cleric, art historians assume “The incident depicted
was probably scandalous the presence of a nude male priapic figure in the
margin below may indicate a sexual content but our inability to identify it
today and the general lack of female figures situate women outside the medieval
discourse of political power under feudalism” (Chadwick, 49). Looking at the
scene we can see that it looks like the Cleric is almost lovingly reaching out
to Aelfgyva’s face. So this could have possibly been a love story between two
before The Cleric possibly went off to war. Even though historians assume that
the meaning behind this scene is lost we can see the main reasoning behind this
art work being so monumental is that this tapestry was created by many women
and very little women are in this tapestry.
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| Self Portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola |
The photo above is Self
Portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola. During the Renaissance Sofonisba wanted
to change the original style of a portrait of a woman. According to Chadwick, “Yet
she remains the only woman of her time credited with the ability to infuse an
image with life; and her work was both appreciated and understood by her
contemporaries” (Chadwick, 78). Sofonisba started changing portraits of women
with making them seem less idealized and more realistic. In the sense that
these women would be painted now by women doing whatever it is they would be
doing in normal everyday life. This idea eventually carried on into impressionism
with women wanting to combine subjects that women dealt with in their immediate
life time with wanting to capture the female transitions of life.
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