Renaissance Women
Women and Men in Renaissance Art
The term “Renaissance Man” was coined During the Renaissance, a movement that took place from roughly 1300 to 1500 and means “rebirth.” “Renaissance Man” is still used to today to describe a person who is creative, artistic, musical, and worldly and can seemingly able and willing “to do it all.” However, it is important to note here that the term is clearly “Renaissance Man,” not “Renaissance Woman,” as during the Renaissance, it was men who were considered the great artists and creative geniuses. The Guerrilla Girls suggest in their “Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art,” that the masters of the Renaissance, (painters famous to everyone such as Leonardo, Michelangelo and Caravaggio) make it …show more content…
The family as a unit was vital to Italian society, and the class system of these families was in full effect. (Mandel). The Renaissance masters represented the woman’s role in very interesting and strange ways within their paintings. Even though women were seen as domestic creatures, rarely were they depicted in domestic settings. Instead, they were shown as Biblical figures, in high society portraiture or, most interesting of all, as nudes portrayed in a very sexual manner. These representations are almost the exact opposite of their daily role and this could be an interesting examination on the psychology of the Renaissance male artist. It is possible that the representation of women were projections of what men wanted Renaissance women to be, or an unconscious rebellion of what society was like at that time. Whatever the reason, the depictions of women during the Renaissance are vital to the study of women in art as they reveal the way Renaissance life was and how women were viewed during these …show more content…
Whether they were domestic wives, Biblical creations, nude figures or sisters playing chess, each representation is unique and reveals clues about what is was like for a woman to live during this period. The Renaissance is credited as creating some of the most famous artists and masterpieces of all time so the way women were depicted in these masterpieces is a vital piece of the history of women. Each representation is unique, and makes a different statement about womankind and how men viewed women during this uniquely creative period in
The term “Renaissance Man” was coined During the Renaissance, a movement that took place from roughly 1300 to 1500 and means “rebirth.” “Renaissance Man” is still used to today to describe a person who is creative, artistic, musical, and worldly and can seemingly able and willing “to do it all.” However, it is important to note here that the term is clearly “Renaissance Man,” not “Renaissance Woman,” as during the Renaissance, it was men who were considered the great artists and creative geniuses. The Guerrilla Girls suggest in their “Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art,” that the masters of the Renaissance, (painters famous to everyone such as Leonardo, Michelangelo and Caravaggio) make it …show more content…
The family as a unit was vital to Italian society, and the class system of these families was in full effect. (Mandel). The Renaissance masters represented the woman’s role in very interesting and strange ways within their paintings. Even though women were seen as domestic creatures, rarely were they depicted in domestic settings. Instead, they were shown as Biblical figures, in high society portraiture or, most interesting of all, as nudes portrayed in a very sexual manner. These representations are almost the exact opposite of their daily role and this could be an interesting examination on the psychology of the Renaissance male artist. It is possible that the representation of women were projections of what men wanted Renaissance women to be, or an unconscious rebellion of what society was like at that time. Whatever the reason, the depictions of women during the Renaissance are vital to the study of women in art as they reveal the way Renaissance life was and how women were viewed during these …show more content…
Whether they were domestic wives, Biblical creations, nude figures or sisters playing chess, each representation is unique and reveals clues about what is was like for a woman to live during this period. The Renaissance is credited as creating some of the most famous artists and masterpieces of all time so the way women were depicted in these masterpieces is a vital piece of the history of women. Each representation is unique, and makes a different statement about womankind and how men viewed women during this uniquely creative period in