Post 2: Women Artist and Their Fight to Make Art

The average woman's life in the Middle Ages can be described in one word, work. The feudal system of the middle ages meant that the majority of people were poor lower class families, that required all members of the family, male or female, to work for the family to survive. Hence the average women’s role was that of worker for the family. There were two exceptions to this, the church or wealth. The church as it would through out most of history, provided women a way to be educated and trained in art. The other exception of wealth is summed up by Chadwick when he writes, "... Upper class women had more in common with the men of their class than peasant women." (Chadwick, 44) To expand on this is safe to say that in many ways rich women of the middles ages had more rights than most men of the middle ages. For most women, there was no separation between public and private lives, this would differ greatly from the renaissance. For women, the majority of art during the renaissance was produced in monasteries. (Chadwick, 44) This can clearly be understood by the fact that most of the work contributed to great female artist was religious based, especially illuminated manuscripts.  This is not to say women were not embroidering or sculpting just that they were working in factories or guild with no artistic say and doing simple work. (64) 

Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias, 1142-52

The blog, Harper's, displays this stunning piece by Hildegard of Bingen. This is a an illumination was painted while she was a nun in the convent at Disibodenberg. It shows how women who choose religion could be trained and practicing artist, but they would have a narrow scope in which the works must align. Women in the renaissance were experiencing changes with an unforeseeable impact on both art and social standards. To truly understand these changes one must first examine the econometric changes that took place during period, as the changes in economics plays a key role in the changes of social status and artistic status for women of the renaissance. "It is here that we find the origins of modern capitalism and the privatization of the family, as well as the beginning of the redefinition of painting and sculpting as liberal arts rather than crafts"(Chadwick, 67)

The renaissance was time for not only capitalism but an emerging middle class. This emergence, as Chadwick points out, meant a change in social structure for many families that now through capitalism no longer required women and men to work in order to survive. It is important to stop here and clarify for those of the lowest class; the change to capitalism would have little affect on them both financially and socially. Yet for the new middle class, this social change meant women had new roles in society and that families now had more time and money to use. This changed the role of women from the role of a worker to the role of a family leader and mother. One example of this change on women is seen in education, as Chadwick states, "... A literate wife was becoming essential to the mercantile families that formed the new Florentine middle class"(68) So the question now shifts to how does the fact that women in the middle class becoming educated and not having to work to survive impact art in the renaissance?

To answer this question, first one must identify the expansions of guilds in the renaissance. Guilds had a larger impact during the renaissance not only for its uses in production but also on its impact of women. Chadwick points out that, "The revision of guild regulations in 1340 reaffirmed the women's rights to be admitted to full privileges and duties in the guild"(68) However he than goes on to state, "Women's relationships to the guilds became inseparable from their broader social role..."(Chadwick, 69) Women were forced to have no say in the creative or skilled part of guilds, they served only as unskilled labor. The reason for this came from the differentiation between the public and private sphere. The public sphere was where art was supposed to live out of the home but also out of the reach of women, while the private sphere was where a woman could live as she raised a family. This was a major change from the middle ages, as during those time women were so busy society could not afford a separation of public and private lives. This often meant that a women had to choose education or marriage and thus also art or marriage. This thinking is why education for women was more widely accepted in the middle class, it was not common to all women and why the evolving art of painting that required sculpting was becoming more out of reach to women. In total, these changes brought a change to society where embroidery and other tasks that women did in the home became crafts while the tasks that require artistic training such as painting and sculpting became art. Keeping all this in mind, most women now only had two ways to become artist, the church or family acceptance of education or training. This point is demonstrated clearly when examining great female artist of the middle age that were outside of religion convents, a lot of their work focused on the home or family.

Judith Leyester, A Woman Sewing by Candle light, 1633

The photo displayed on Art and Art History is by the artist Judith Leyster and serves a perfect example of a woman painting the role of woman in the middle ages. The work displays a mother working inside the home as a parent and working hard to sew cloth presumably for the family. Sewing and being a mother fits perfectly in to private sphere women were confined into in the Middle Ages.  (Chadwick, 126)

Sofonisba Anguissola, Self-Portrait, 1556

This photo of the painting appears of an art auction site for poster art. It is a self-portrait painting by the renaissance painter Sofonisba Anguissola. Included here because she perfectly reflects the positive result of renaissance thinking, where she raised by her father who, "... who apparently decided to educate his seven children according to the humanist ideals of the renaissance in the belief that they would bring honor to their city".(Chadwick,78) He continued to allow and drive her success and she eventually had a great job in the court. The photo above shows the ideals of renaissance painting, especially the ideal of painting the self-portrait modestly and not extravagantly.  

Bibliography:

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. New York, NY: Thames and Hudson, 1990. Print.