The Misogyny Of Women In Art During The Seventeenth Century

The misogyny of women in art during the twelfth century is clearly relevant in art especially seen in churches. The depictions of Adam and Eve from the bible were examples seen in most of this church art as well as the Mother of Christ, Mary, and other important religious figures. As the relationship of men and women began to change from the tenth century until the fourteenth century it changed throughout the art as well depicting the role of women during each period. In this paper I am going to summarize and analyze the chapter Eve and Mary: Conflicting Images of Medieval Women using specific references from the readings to support my claims. Centuries prior to the fourteenth century portrayed women as evil in some cases being associated
with the devil. Women were being referred as the Daughter of Eve and by the descent responsible for the fall of man. “As St. Bernard expressed it in sermons addresses to his “sons” at Clairvaux, Eve was “the original cause of all evil, whose disgrace has come down to all other women” (Krause 80). These sermons were portraying women as evil saying that Eve was the original source of this blame because of Eve all women are evil. Because of these sermons it influenced the view of women in the church making all women evil and relating them to the devil. Eve in church art during this time is shown as ugly, or as stated in the reading “hatefully seductive”. Because of Eve during this time women were known for having a fondness for all foul things like shown on pg. 80 figure 3, Eve is shown holding a serpent in her arms. Women during the twelfth century were shown in a revolting posture with a naked body intertwined with serpents. This expressed the depiction of women having relationships with the devil. One of the harshest examples is seen on pg. 82 Adam and Eve driven from Paradise Notre-Dame-du-Port, Clermont Ferrand. This example shows Adam throwing Eve to the ground, kicking and dragging her by the hair.
Church councils began to forbid priests to visit their mothers and sisters. They even forbid them from touching hands of women. All of these regulations were put in place by Gregory VII. He put these regulations in place to try and gain control over the churches. The Cistercian order stated the prohibition against the contact of women and if one was to break this rule then they would be punished. Since monks and priests were being driven away from women it began to change the social position of women. Towards the end of the thirteenth century priests were talking about the evil of women towards men.
Moving along from Eve being depicted as evil in art, Kraus begins to discuss the depictions of Mary in art. During this time of moral-purification in churches they had a loyalty to Mary in art. They dedicated all their churches to her and specifically the Citeaux. Also in the St. Bernard, Dante devoted a whole entire series to Mary that expressed “strong women” and “Our salvation, the recovery of our innocence and the victory over our enemy depends…”(83). This began a so called “glorification of Mary”; women were considered sin-less, the complete opposites way then Eve. An example of this in art during this time is seen at the Church of Saint-Martin-d’Ainay where there are sculptured versions of the original sin of the Virgin Mary placed side by side (84).
The views of Mary in the west were a new kind of development in the tenth century and began to evolve even more as the twelfth century rolled around.
What was known as the cult of the Virgin as the “Mother of Mercy” was put into place by the order of Culny. It was a reponse to the fear of the world ending as the approach of the year one thousand came around (84). More towards the twelfth century did the cult of Mary begin to be inspired by modern poetry and love. Representations then were seen as a form of feminization of the divinity referred to Mary (86). Mary was made to be a real girl, mother and woman it was a way to humanize her after the birth of Jesus. Also more themes seen in the thirteenth century is “the rehabilitation of fallen women by an honest man”(87). This was the time when the social position for women began to change. Esther and Judith are figures that are found throughout thirteenth century art. They played huge roles in advancing the social position of women. An example of them can be seen at the Chartres. Esther is shown pleading for her peoples help at the feet of Ahasuerus while Judith is seen pouring ashes onto herself, this image can be seen on Pg.88 figure 10 and 11. More important scenes with women that are significant are “The Massacre of the Innocents” it expresses through its illustrations the idea of motherly love and how women were seen and beginning to obtain the motherly feature we now associate with women
today.
The attitude towards women began improving as the moving towards the fourteenth century. Like in earlier art Eve was portrayed as evil but in “The Original Sin” that view of Eve was transformed. The Devil takes a place in the background and Eve isn’t seen as being the cause of all evil for all women but now shares it with Adam (90-91). At the end of the thirteenth century Adam and Eve are no longer seen as the couple of all damage. This can be seen at the scene of Strasbourg, where the fruit of temptation is given the virgin, on Pg. 91 figure 18. Because of this Eve is no longer associated with the devil and evil instead it is put on the male.
Women’s legal position began to change during this time as well.
In the thirteenth century women were able to obtain up to one third of their parents land before this they had to be married to receive any amount of inheritance. Then Pope Innocent III was forced to allow that Queen Alienor to have full rights of any leader. This was a huge development for women’s rights and social position. They were even given the right to work and in certain categories mostly involving the making of clothing and some even female doctors. Women were even seen in armor ready to fight during the middle ages. This was due to the high mortality rate of mean during the crusaders. Most of the women were assigned specific tasks not always put in the line of fire. They also played some heroic roles and during battle would operate a projectile-thrower that would launch stones. The crusader was also a huge part in changing the social status of women during the medieval ages. Many women became widows, some remarried but others didn’t happy to have freedom. One example used on pg. 96 is how “the Comtesse Catherine de Chartres”, ran her husband’s affairs when he was off at war and when he was killed she took control over it
all.
Overall, the depiction of women’s social status during the middle ages can be seen throughout the artwork. As the social status changed for women so did their representations in art especially seen in churches. Around the tenth century women had no equality to men and were depicted as evil because of Eve being associated with the devil. Then the Mother of Christ, Mary, who was loved by the church and seen in most church art. Finally women were given more rights being able to gain some inheritance of their families’ land, to being able to join the army and gain freedom and power during the crusaders.