Imagine having a dream and love for talent that you are told is unreachable and unusable. That you are not allowed to have the opportunity to even pursue this dream. But imagine the reason that you cannot achieve this goal is not because it is unrealistic based on finances or location, but because you are a woman. This is how women were forced to live up until today. Specifically speaking, women pursuing a career in art, from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance. With the idea of a middle class and no sense of “free time” women were forced to maintain a household, and with any spare time, if a family was poor, women would have to work.
Unfortunately, there were only two options for women to escape and follow their dream into the world of the arts, either marry into an artistic family, or run a way from home and join a monastery. An important aspect that must also be kept in mind is the fact that women (except for those born into wealth) were not allowed to be educated, and which therefore made it seemingly impossible for them to be taken seriously in society. It wouldn’t be till the invention of the printing press that women would have the opportunity to become educated on their own.
During the Middle Ages, many women turned to monasteries to become educated and follow a dream in arts, however, it wasn’t exactly easy. “Within the convent women had access to learning even though they were prohibited from teaching by St. Paul’s caution that “a woman must be a learner, listening quietly and with due submission. I do not permit a woman to be a teacher, nor must a woman domineer over a man; she should be quiet.” (Chadwick, 45) Women may have been allowed to learn and participate finally, but when it is a rule that they must be submissive, life is far from equal.
A monumental step for women was that they were allowed to create images for illuminated manuscripts, however, it was rare for them to be recognized since the manuscripts were usually titled by “G-d.” The leap was made when The Hortus Deliciarum was published by the Herrad of Landsberg. “Herrad dedicated the Hortus Deliciarum to the nuns of her convent:...The work opens with a miniature showing six rows of female heads and includes the name of each nun suggesting that Hohenburg, like most medieval convents, drew its members from the upperclass.” (Chadwick, 56)
Below is The Herrad of Landsberg’s The Hortus Deliciarum:
Moving into The Renaissance, women were still unable to follow their dream unless they were born into art and or wealth, married into art or joined a convent. A shocking yet typical example of a talented female artist is Lavinia Fontana. “...worked din her father’s studio in Bologna. He allowed her to marry another painter, provided the couple lived with him and forked over all the money she earned. She gave birth to eleven children while continuing to work. The pope asked her to Rome, but she was such a good daughter that she had to wait until her father died before she went.” (Guerrilla Girls, 29-30)
The description of her life is eye opening with the prowess she possessed. Starting off with her father seemingly being an unloving father, forcing her to have no earnings, then display enough care to her husband to give him eleven children, which birthing and nursing eleven children must be as if you have multiple full times jobs. Then, her clearly being talented enough as an artist that The Pope asks for her presence in Rome, yet continuing to show obedience and love as a daughter and wait till her father passes to make the journey. Another amazing example of a women taking charge in her life is Elisabetta Sirani, who “...was accused of signing work her father had done.” (Chadwick, 30)
Below is an example of Lavinia Fontana
Below is an example of Elisabetta Sirani
Women who wished to live within the life of art did not have the easiest time achieving that dream up until the 19th century, even still not having all the opportunities afforded to men in terms of education. The idea of women doing anything other than maintaining a household and caring for children always appears to be a culture shock to each generation and age that are covered, and I am sure that, as pathetic as can be, there are some cultures in the world we live in today, were men believe that those are the roles that women need to fulfill, without any other opportunities.
Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 4th. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2007. Print.
Girls', The Guerrilla. Bedside Companion To The History of Western Art. New York: Penguin Books, 1998. Print.
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