Women And Representations Of Women

The Renaissance was a time of rebirth of old traditions, and in old traditions women’s role in society was very minimal. During times of the Renaissance women’s roles were often more suppressed than it once had been before. Many times women were looked off primarily her looks and social status. Another contributing factor of women’s role was how well she would be acquired to married life. Women were so suppressed in the Renaissance that many women joined convents to be able to have the ability to learn like the men were able to. Changes and continuities of women’s public roles during the Renaissance included social status, acquirement to marriage, and reduction of rights for women.

This essay will discuss how women were represented in the portraiture during the Renaissance period. It will explain how the women’s body was pictured in portraiture as; marriage celebrant, husbands beloved, figures of fertility, mothers, display of wealth, paragons of virtues, husband’s passive representative, indication of fashion and more (Brown, 2003). Next, it will include analysis from the two female portraits of Leonardo de Vinci’s Ginerva de’ Benci and Sandro Botticelli’s Portrait of a Lady. First, I will explain what portrait means and then represent my own interpretation of Botticelli’s Portrait of a Lady by referring to instructional “activity dialog” that details how to analyse the body’s subject in the portrait (Mckennee et

The renaissance began a momentous time in the history of Western Europe. Many new forms and styles of arts, literature, and customs emerged during this period. Economic, social, and cultural changes affected the lives of everyone. Particularly the role of women in society was affected. There were four categories of women: wives, mothers, widows and daughters. Within each of these categories, certain duties were expected. Jacob Burckhardt once wrote, 'to understand the higher forms of social intercourse in this period, we must keep before our minds the fact that women stood on a footing of perfect equality with men.'. It is a widely known fact that this in no way was true. Inequalities between men and

The sexualisation of women in advertising has become a very prominent and controversial issue in today’s society. Many brands, products and campaigns we are presented with portray women as being available and willing sexual objects, who exist to cater to the male gender. Gucci is one such brand that does this, focusing on emphasizing the sexual appeal of the female gender in order to sell their products, because as advertisers know: ‘sex sells.’ This new cultural shift can however, be seen as politically regressive for women, as the ideology it brings negatively impacts how women are viewed by society and how they view themselves.

Throughout history people can see many of the developments and differences among cultures, through the artworks that were produced. This essay will carefully analyze, evaluate, and compare four distinct works, from different time periods and cultures. The works to be compared are: The Woman from Willendorf, The Bust of Nefertiti, Figure of A Woman, and Young Flavian Woman. Throughout this paper the style and function of each individual work will be explored, along with the cultural ideas presented in each piece.

In order to first understand the world Shakespeare wrote from and about, I will briefly discuss the male/female dichotomy within the Renaissance. Gender distinctions can be traced throughout Western history, but it is in a new conception of the family in the sixteenth century that patriarchy gains

In the Renaissance era traditional gender roles was an unconscious concept that was part of the society’s life. Gender inequality was not something that was often brought up or even recognized. Women and men had specific roles in the society and were expected to act a certain way; men as tough and powerful being who were the bread winners and women as the helpless, sensitive beings who were caregivers. The men were seen to be the beings that had the jobs and paid for the family’s needs; to be the backbone of the family. Women then, and to extent today, were to be the ones to cater to the men and children and make sure that they were cared for.

Between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries masculinity in Renaissance Italy shifts from an expectation that a man is defined by his well-rounded understanding of a variety subjects to the expectancy that men should possess both and idealized mind and body. This shift is clearly demonstrated through the monumental figural sculptures that were used to convey the image of the ideal man at the time. The term “Renaissance man” refers to a man who has “multi-faceted interests and innovative ideas” as well as one who uses the “classical past as an inspirational model” to further his knowledge of “science, art, and politics.” The revival of ancient Greek and Roman culture during the Renaissance inspired self-reflection and identification of the importance individuality and, as Jacob Burckhardt argues, during the Renaissance “no conviction was more firmly rooted in the popular mind, than that antiquity was the highest title to glory.” Thus it is not surprising that Renaissance artists used sculpture to establish standards of masculinity in the same way that sculptures of “heroic citizens provide inspiration for young men and citizens walking through the Agora [city centre]” of ancient Greece. Although Renaissance artists featured biblical characters, rather ancient Greek and in their sculptures, the pieces were still granted the

Women in the Middle Ages by Frances and Joseph Gies is a brief book that summarizes the role women played in the Middle Ages. Before starting off with how they were portrayed in society, the book gives us guidelines into what we should expect. It is broken down into different parts; the first part illustrates to the audience the scenario where the women reside and exposes the attitudes towards them by comparing them by due to religion, scientific and, philosophical ideas, which were the principles people in this era, followed by. Thus reaching an explanation of the role of women in each country, which some were oppressed and ridiculed while others were praised and had a social status.

In Renaissance Italy a woman's personal identity wasn't of any great importance. Her worth in society was calculated on how well she fit into the ideological image of the Renaissance woman. Women depicted in art were from the upper class and nobility, these women were confined to their domestic duties as their unions were to further the fortunes of their families. The rise of humanism in Renaissance Italy lead to an enlightened sense of the importance of individualism; however the belief failed to extend to women. The impact of Humanism in female portraiture-showing the sitter as a fully realised person with intellect, talents, and personality is frustratingly absent with few works displaying a grasp on the humanity of their female subjects.

Women of higher social classes or with educated fathers were often taught to read and write by family member and were sometimes sent to schools. Even though women’s status did change much during the Renaissance, there were often debates about the qualities and proper roles of women in society. The women who were educated impacted these debates and by attempting to alter the views on women during the Renaissance through literary and artistic

Idealized as the symbolic figure for obedience and domesticity, the power of society’s gender expectations has dictated a woman’s identity. A dominate belief held throughout American history, these traditional femininity norms were and still are reinforced by immigrant communities today. Nonetheless, what often goes unacknowledged are the stories of those female immigrant youths, Pachuca’s or female gang members, who have rejected societies beliefs to construct new identities centered around hyper-masculine subcultures. Alienated and labeled as hypersexualized or masculine, both Catherine Ramirez’s novel The Women In The Zoot Suit and T.W. Wards ethnographic study “Gangsters Without Borders” explores the erasure and double standards present for young immigrant women in a matriarchal world (2009, 2013). Moreover, the authors highlight how immigrant female youth’s identities are used as a form of oppression in both the public and private spheres. Whether women conform to being obedient housewives or decide to break gender and racial boundaries, the Pachuca’s and female gangsters consciously chose to make a critique of American gender expectations.

The purpose of the book Women of the Renaissance by Margaret King is to explain the various roles of that women occupied during the renaissance. She mainly focusses on women of western Europe between 1350 and 1650. In the chapter titled “Daughters of Eve: Women in the Family” King writes about the positions of women in the family. In the part of the chapter that we were assigned, she depicts the role of mother. She explains the importance having children, the differences between healthy and lower class mothers, and the relationship between these mothers and their children. During the renaissance, motherhood was an extremely important job, and many women were defined by it.

It is strange how one director can convey two entirely different depictions of women. Due to the time period in which Hitchcock filmed Vertigo and Psycho, women had limited capability in regards to what they could do in a film. Women could not be action heroes; in fact they were often depicted as damsels in distress. The easiest answer to this sort of prejudice is that it was a reflection of the culture of the 50s and 60s. Although this is partially true, it does not excuse the fact that male directors made misogynistic choices that could have been remedied without being considered radical or societally unacceptable. The inconsistencies in Hitchcock’s portrayal of women reveals this much, as shown by a study in the narrative, mise-en-scėne, and cinematography of Vertigo (1958) and Psycho (1960).

This period housed many depictions of the Virgin Mary, including Cimabue’s Enthroned Madonna and Child. Mary was seen as the perfect example of feminine virtue, showing chastity, piety, humility, and maternity. Images of the Madonna, or Mary, whether sculpture or painting, encouraged women to live up to her. Mary wasn’t the only woman that was looked up to in Renaissance art. Women could be portrayed as witches, saints, temptresses, or members of the working class, and their image would still be an encouragement to dress and behave properly. (Jacobs)