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| Hildegard Von Bingen
Illumination from Scivas, 1152
Shows her receiving a vision and delivering
it to her scribe.
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In today’s time women are starting to actually
be viewed as women- human beings who have been carefully crafted to bear the
weight of society’s faults, but strong enough to overcome their restraints and
live up to their true potential. Women are now valued to some degree. They have
had to prove themselves time and time again that they are worthy enough to have
a seat at the table. How women are thought of today was not always so natural. Throughout
the Middle Ages women have been known to be second class citizens to men. They
were expected to be married off, bear children, tend to the home, and serve the
men in their life whether it be their husband, father, or brother, faithfully.
In the Guerrilla Girls’, “Bedside
Companion to the History of Western Art”, they mention how that “For most
of history, women have, by law, been considered the property of their fathers,
husbands, or brothers, who almost always believed women were put on earth to
serve them and bear children” (Guerilla Girls’ 8). Women during those times
were viewed as simple objects. Meant to be submissive and quiet, seen but not
heard. Birthed solely for the purpose of men.With repressive thoughts being a
commonality amongst society, it was a wonder that some women were able to
become artists. They “. . . were rarely allowed to attend art schools, join
artists’ guilds or academies, or own an atelier” (Guerilla Girls’ 8). The
Middle Age culture surrounding women was meant to suppress and restrain them at
all costs. Women were meant to be inferior and any inkling of a woman rising
above her expected role was immediately shot down. For example, one woman who
felt the negative effects of the thoughts surrounding women during the Middle
Ages was Hildegard Von Bingen. She was an intellectual nun who claimed to have
various visions and who spread her theology throughout. Because she was
outspoken and did not follow societal norms, her “independent ideas infuriated
the Church higher-ups, and she was placed in house arrest in her abbey” (Guerilla
Girls’ 25). Whether her ideas were logical or not, she was suppressed by the
Church because her ideas did not coincide with theirs. Furthermore, she was a
woman who at the time was deemed incapable of logic and reason.
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Portrait of Sofonisba Anguissola,
1556
|
As time passed and the world began to move
through the Renaissance into the 19th century, the once defined
subservient role of a woman had now expanded and offered women of this time
period more value. This was a time when the thought of a recognized female
artist could be swallowed, more educated women started to come about, and the
once silent female was now vocal and outspoken. One of the more
fortunate female painters of the time was Sofonisba Anguissola. She was a noble
who was born with a father that felt as though woman should be educated. Her father
even went on to send one of her pieces to Michelangelo. His efforts helped her
to become an established painter. Despite her rise to accreditation being rare,
she opened a door for other female artists to establish themselves. The changes
of society during this time were so prominent that it revolutionized a whole
city. The city of Bologna took a liberal approach to women artists and general
women of the day. According to the Guerilla Girls’, women “. . . were admitted to its university beginning as
early as the 13th century and were even permitted to lecture there”
(Guerilla Girls’ 30). The city produced many women who studied in philosophy
and law, a painters’ guild that had a female member, and a school for female
artists (Guerilla Girls’ 30). In this city the culture surrounding women was
one of intellectual promise. Women were encouraged to seek education as well as
perfect their craft and skills. Women were no more once incapable creatures
meant to serve at the mercy of men, but skilled human beings of quite
fascinating intellect. Women of this time even turned out to be such good artists
that sometimes their work was attributed
to famous male artists. For example, Elisabetta Sirani was a Bolognese artist who
was so talented a painter that she was accused of signing works of her father
(Guerilla Girls’ 30). To dispel her critics, she started painting in public and
even went on to open a school for female artists (Guerilla Girls’ 30). Despite
these changing times, female artists still experienced imposed expectations on
their art by men. Whitney Chadwick discuses in “Women, Art, and Society” what men thought was the appropriate
subjects for female artists to paint. She includes thoughts by Léon Legrange in
the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, a French historian, who states, “. . . let men busy
themselves with all that has to do with great art. Let women occupy themselves with
those types of art which they have always preferred, such as pastels,
portraits, and miniatures” (Chadwick 40-41). Women were faced with societal
restrictions on what they could and could not paint. For example, paintings of
war or war gods and live nude models were reserved for male artists whereas
females were encouraged to paint portraitures or about domesticity.
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Elisabetta Sirani
Virgin and Child, 1663 |
Works Cited
The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. Penguin Books, 2006.
Chadwick,
Whitney. Women, Art, and Society.
Langara College, 2016.
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