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Women Reflected in Art of the Renaissance
Emma Zimmerman
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Emma Zimmerman
English 1020
July 22, 2015
Artwork from the Italian Renaissance is well known all over the world, almost everyone
learns about pieces like the Mona Lisa by Leonard da Vinci or Michelangelo’s David. These
artists have become a part of our pop culture, for example the names of the Ninja Turtles, and are
referenced to in everyday conversations for their discoveries and their innovative thinking. These
Renaissance Men’s names and artwork will live forever in history as great accomplishments, and
most likely never be surpassed, but what does their art actually say about their time? What have
these artist left us to gush over? What clues have these men left in their creations for students of
the arts, historians, or even women to draw conclusions about what life was like during this time
period? How and why are women depicted in the Renaissance?
Artwork reflects themes of a society, the cultural norm, but art can also be used to push
those limitations and challenge its viewers. Women depicted in art from the Renaissance have
both pushed the cultural norms of the fifteenth century as well as defined their evident and
limiting gender roles. As an art student I have been introduced to many of these great pieces and
also been in awe of their magnificence, but as a woman I have to ask what are these amazing
pieces reflecting about women? As it turns out I am not alone in asking about women’s role and
how it is depicted during this amazing period of time. During the feminist movement in the
1970s many women began to ask what about ‘her-story’ and this was followed with many
responses to giving the women throughout history a voice. In my research I have been
overwhelmed with the amount of text as I searched for gender roles depicted in artwork from the
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Italian Renaissance, and after reading many interpretations of various pieces I think I have
collected an interesting perspective of how history, art, and women’s studies have collided
during this moment in time. The female form, or lacking female presence, depicted in art from
the late Medieval and early Renaissance in Europe reveals the morals and gender roles that
women were held to during this time. From the influence of religion and the forever Eve found in
all women to the unobtainable virtues of Mary, the objectification of women and the male gaze,
and the roles women were confined by, all can be seen in the artwork. By taking a different
approach at analyzing these marveled works of art and artists I hope to reveal a different
perspective of the Renaissance, the perspective of the oppressed gender, women.
The late medieval period in Italy looked much different than other parts of Europe, Italy
was gaining wealth in the merchant class and beginning to grow as trade became more efficient,
and along with the invention of the printing press and the use of common vernacular were
utilized; art was able to take on a new purpose. Before this unusual period, artwork was typically
associated with the Church, depictions of the Bible were created to aid the illiterate in
understanding the teachings of the faith. Most art reflected themes of stories from the Bible, like
Adam and Eve. “From the beginning, the image of woman was created by man in the Christian
Middle Ages, this was the image of Eve” (Grössinger, 1). This opening statement from Picturing
Women in Late Medieval and Renaissance Art sets the tone for my research, women’s image in
the eyes of men. With this realization a new perspective of art was taken on, more questions
developed for me, who was the intended audience for this art? Flipping through history books the
images of Saints and biblical characters developed with greater symbolism and iconography
ultimately leading to the rediscovery of naturalism from the classical antiquity. This was the
rediscovery and new found appreciation for the human form. Rather than the focus of society
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directed outward, it was redirected inward. Fueled by a profound since of mortality after the
Black Plague, the Renaissance ignited. Art work began to capture the human body and the study
of our own identity and experiences.
As art continued to develop so did the subject matter; Virgin Mary’s one ample bosom
and the nudity of Eve became more common, even celebrated as well as ridiculed. The wealth of
the middle class allowed for funding of the arts, commissions for portraits popularized. Women
other than Mary and Eve began to be seen in art, but still limitations and gender roles are
prevalent themes of nobility’s profile portraits of women (Simons, 41). While the portraits of
men began to explore three quarter profiles and reflect the subject’s class, wealth, and power,
women were documented as objects and the portrait acted as a contract or documentation of
marriage. Nobles and rulers’ images have been seen because of the portraits painted during their
lifetime, similar to how photographs are used today. Typically they are depicted sitting and either
engaged with their work or a hobby, but in Patricia Simons piece; “Women in Frames: the gaze,
the eye, the profile in Renaissance portraiture”, these images are compared to those images of
women from the same time. For the women in these portraits there is very little documented
about them as individuals, but rather objects, objects to be gazed upon, object that were traded to
strengthen men’s power.
The rediscovery of Roman and Greek literature surfaced writings from Aristotle and
Plato, humanism continued to change the climate of the times. This new interest in the human
form and emotion, as well as the study of science and nature is reflected in the arts, and allowed
new families of wealth to commission pieces that combined both theology and Christian morals,
this is where some of the great artist we still know today began to surface. Botticelli’s Primavera
is evidence of this occurrence of new found thought and curiosity of the Roman and Greek
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cultures. With this resurgence the nude female figure became more acceptable, seen in
Botticelli’s Birth of the Virgin, until this piece the female nude had been tabooed by the Church.
The acknowledgement of female sexuality would only empower the temptress found in all
women, the forever Eve. Leonardo da Vinci was unlike other artists, his depiction of women
allowed them a humanization in art that had not been render before, through his portraits of real
women he broke the profile that women had been restricted by and gave the gender depths
(Garrard, 60). Not only did Leonardo da Vinci humanize women, but also began to retie the
elements of nature and womanhood, he studied the cycle of life and birth, his sketches lead to the
anatomy of the female body, challenging the preface concept that the female body was inferior to
male. Mary Garrard argues da Vinci’s intrigue in the sciences of reproduction began to educate
the public and empower women in “Leonardo da Vinci: Female Portraits, Female Nature.” Titian
was famous for his depictions of the nude female figure; there is much controversy weather he
was objectifying the female form or if he was celebrating female sexuality. These artists and
their pieces all are representations of gender in the Renaissance culture and how women were
oppressed in this patriarchal society, also it is important to take notice that all of these artists
were men.
Women in religious art is used to help enforce the roles of women, how she should
conduct herself. Prior to the Renaissance, most artwork was commissioned by churches for
churches. The Virgin Mary was a popular character to be immortalized in art, as the ultimate
woman, the second coming of Eve. The virtues of Mary were well known and symbolism often
helped to reiterate these morals that women of the masses should strive for, chastity and virtue,
submissive and passive, and to remember her purpose of motherhood. The forever virgin is often
shown as a young woman, always covered, with the exception of one breast that nurtures her
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son, the savior. While nudity was not common in the Middle Ages, this one bare breast was
allowed, as it was an indication, or instruction manual for women and what their job was, to
reproduce (Miles). While these elements are clearly contradicting it is hard to relate to a virgin
mother, but better this than Eve, the sinner who damned all of humanity. Thus begins the
outlines of gender roles in society, the iconography and direct messages to women; strive for:
chastity, motherhood, and of servitude. This is how the dehumanization of women was taught
and where the oppression grew its strength, through this concept that all women carried the sin of
man and every single woman was to blame for all suffering, because she steamed from Eve.
These medieval morals for women are not only translated in the art, but also in documentations
of the time, for example in Brucker’s Giovanni and Lusanna: Love and Marriage in Renaissance
Florence a clear construct of what and how a women should conduct herself as a wife and
widower (Brucker). Most art of women has aspects leading to virtues or the clear message to
restrain one’s cardinal desires and not to give into the evil women’s seductive attributes. Female
sexuality should be smothered, for that is where she draws her power from, this concept is often
a theme in art (Moulton).
As women’s lives were documented more and more the large throughout history with
merit through motherhood or marriage the number of portraits that emerged in the early
Renaissance are important to take note of because of their direct correlation with gender roles of
this period. These depictions of women in the upper classes are not as they seem, reflections of
women adorned with beautiful objects and clothing, youthful and attractive, stuck in profile as
the viewer’s eyes devour the images’ subject matter. The purpose of this type of art was to
document one’s marriage. The subject is typically wearing their wedding dress and jewelry that
was a part of their dowry, this is a peek into the concept of marriage during this time, an
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exchange of items. An example of this type of portraiture is Domenico Ghirlandario, Giovanna
Tornabuoni, 1488, a new bride decorated in jewelry and a wedding dress, seated staring away to
the light (Simons, 27). While the way the women are dressed and what objects they have with
them are an easy tell of class, take into account the side profile. This positioning of the female
figure is a clear representation of the gender roles and cultural norms. Eye contact is even
avoided in a painting. During this era women were taught to gaze downward, eye contact was
considered seductive and promiscuous. Brucker makes reference to this in the documentation of
Giovanni and Lusanna on page 27, Lusanna was accused of staring at men with whom she
interacted and how this was an indication of her promiscuity. In Patricia Simon’s essay Women
in Frames: The Gaze, The Eye, and The Profile in Renaissance Portraiture she states women’s
“optic engagements” were prohibited for Noble women. Simons goes on to explain how women
whom are depicted in these paintings are often nothing more than passionless objects (Simons,
51). The dehumanization occurs in order to continue the suppression of women’s ‘power’ over
men, by means of seduction. Simons also makes the argument that these images were not created
for women, but for men and by men (Simons, 41). These images were literal documentation of a
business transaction as a women followed their societal duty of succession from daughter to
wife.
The Renaissance was a rebirth for both art and culture, as society was changed by the
development of humanism. The study of man became the focus, rather than God. The human
form and what it was capable of became a common subject for the art world. As sculptures
carved versions of David, from the biblical story David and Goliath, the male nude was further
explored, accepted, and even celebrated. Art allowed a place for the theological stories from the
Greek and Roman cultures to collaborate with well-known Bible stories while promoting the
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ideals and virtues, such as civic duty. David by Michelangelo compared to the previous version
by Donatello or even the later version by Bernini provide a strong example of gender roles;
specifically the portrayal of men in society. The protector, leader, the thinker, and overall slayer,
mankind and masculinity were celebrated (Kelly-Gabol).
The reintroduction of the theological tales were accompanied with new and more female
characters as well as male. There were no longer just an Eve and Mary. Powerful families began
to commission artists to construct Neoplatonist concepts with a theological cast, the Medici
family is probably the most famous for their patronage of the arts. Sandro Botticelli was
commissioned by Lorenzo the Magnificent of the Medici family to paint the famous Primavera
that is just that, a collision of religious ideologies executed with theological cast (Zirpolo). Venus
seems to be merged into the Christian version of Mary as she is centered in the larger piece and
surrounded by nature and possibly the coming of spring (Garrard, 72). Primavera is argued to
have been a representation of a brides’ conduct, and a documentation of a marriage in the Medici
family (Zirpolo).
Zirpolo states the iconography of the three Graces are direct representations of chastity
and virtues, which all brides should maintain. She also explains that the overall demeanor of the
Graces is what one expects in a wife and good Renaissance women, as well as the calm stoic
faces that do not show emotions (Zirpolo, 101-102). Gender roles are the underlying theme for
this piece as well. This piece closely relates to Botticelli other famous piece the Birth of Venus,
this piece features a nude Venus emerging from a seashell as she is blown in on the sea foam.
Female nudes had not been explored during this time, with the exception of Eve or the Virgin
Mary’s breast, unlike the male figure which was already being celebrated, Michelangelo’s
David. If this piece had emerged any earlier the Church may have obtained more power and
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could have saw to its’ destruction and the danger to its creator, but being commissioned by the
powerful Medici family, no questions were asked, and the female nude was reintroduced into the
Europe since the Antiquity.
Leonardo da Vinci is not an unknown name in the modern day, he is responsible for more
than just is most popular piece of art, the Mona Lisa, he was the first to break female portraits
from the side profile into the three-quarter profile pose in Italy, and gave women a responding
look (Garrard, 60). This was much different from the earlier portraitures that limited women to a
passive and vulnerable pose. Da Vinci included elaborate backgrounds that encompassed
detailed natural settings, this backgrounds reflect da Vinci’s tie of women to nature, and the
cycle of birth (Garrard). Aristotle’s Generation of Animals was the explication to the mystery of
reproduction, claiming that women did not provided any essence to creating life, just passive
matter, da Vinci begins to question this notion (Garrard, 70). Leonardo’s sketches of the fetus
provide the world with a better insight to the reproduction process. Da Vinci’s thoughts surround
women and the empowerment he provided them was challenged by various observes,
questioning Leonardo’s sexuality. “The eye is to be the window of the soul” –Leonardo da Vinci,
with his remarkable portraitures he was able to humanize women and alter the limitations of the
art realm (Garrard, 61).
Women became a more interesting subject matter as the nude became publically accepted
in the art world. Many different renditions of the female form developed and the ideas of chastity
were endangered. The need for female models was a difficult problem. Many artists used
prostitutes. This is important to keep in mind, seeing as that just because there were female nudes
as subject matter did not mean women were empowered by being naked, rather seen as a source
of pleasure (Lyons and Koloski-Ostrow). Titian is an artist well known for his female nudes, one
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in particular Sacred and Profane Love, 1514. This piece was commissioned by a wife for her
husband, it is an image of her dressed in a beautiful wedding dress, covering the majority of her
body, and another image of her in the nude. The wife was a widow from a previous marriage,
thus her virginity was obviously no longer intact, it is thought that this piece is challenging this
notion, as well as the idea of women in private versus public realms (Goffen). Titian’s woman,
similar to da Vinci, obtains an interactive look between the viewer and the clothed figure, she is
not ashamed of her nudity, but rather enjoying it as she looks at the clothed version of herself,
and the dressed figure looks at the viewer. There is a strange play since of perspective as the
woman watches the viewer watch the nude version of herself. Titian is challenging the society’s
issue with female nudity as well as the female sexuality. Was Titian’s intentions to provide the
female figure with a sense of sexuality and allow his figures to obtain power, or to merely depict
the pleasing female form for other men to enjoy? Intentional or not there is a clear sense of
power or ownership in the eyes of these female figures.
After looking at some specific artists and pieces that were popular topics for discussion in
concept of gender roles depicted through art, it is interesting to reflect and realize all of the artists
were men. I have come across a few female artist from this era with interesting stories, but none
can compare to the popularity of some of the artists previously discussed. Flipping through
history books and notes from women’s studies I have remembered that many of this artists were
commissioned by guilds that were created by women who had become widows. Leonardo da
Vinci worked for many women. The women of the Renaissance ultimately didn’t have a much of
a rebirth, their virtues and cultural expectations remained similar during this time, the sexuality
was suppressed as well as their female form neither celebrated nor studied at the same level as
the male figure (Kelly-Gadol).
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The objective of my essay was to dig into the gender roles of the Renaissance and how
they were reflected in the art work that emerged from this era. I wanted to know what role
women played in the artwork, what was the purpose of this new inventive art and what was it
saying about this time period. By taking a closer look at the artists and some of their collections
rather than particular pieces aided my discovery that the purpose of women in Renaissance art
was to reflect the virtues of the time period, immortalize how women should conduct themselves
in the eyes of men and religion. Depending on the patronage changed the subject of the piece,
but the overall virtues and values of the periods would ultimately be perceived. I think this is true
for any culture, the art created is supposed to preserve what the ideals of that society are, but in
this case it was the ideals men had for women, rather than women having ideals for themselves.
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Works Cited
Brown, Shelby. ""Ways of Seeing" Women in Antiquity: An Introduction to Feminism in
Classical Archaeology and Ancient Art History." In Naked Truths: Women, sexuality,
and gender in classical art and archaeology, by Claire L. Lyons and Ann Olga KoloskiOstrow, 12-42. New York, NY: Routledge .1997. Print.
Brucker, Gene. Giovanni and Lusanna: Love and Marriage in Renaissance Florence. Los
Angeles, CA: University of California Press.1986. Print.
Garrard, Mary D. "Leonardo Da Vinci: Female Portraits, Female Nature." In The Expanding
Discourse: Feminism and Art History, by Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard, 59-85.
New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.1992. Print.
Gilboa, Anat. New Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Gender in Art. Accessed November 17,
2014. <a href="http://science.jrank.org/pages/9459/Gender-in-Art-RenaissanceBaroque.html">Gender in Art - The Renaissance And The Baroque</a>.2005. Web.
Goffen, Rona. "Titian's Sacred and Profane Love and Marriage ." In The Expanding Discourse:
Feminism and Art History, by Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard, 111-126. New York,
NY: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. 1992. Print.
Grössinger, Christa. Picturing Women in Late Medieval and Renaissance Art. Manchester:
Manchester University Press.1997. Print.
Kelly-Gadol, Joan. "Did Women Have a Renaissance?" In Becoming Visible: Women in
European History, by Renate Bridenthal and Claudia Koonz. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1977.
Print.
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Lyons, Claire L., and Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow."Naked Truth About Classical Art: An
Introduction." In Naked Truths: Women, sexuality, and gender in classical art and
archaeology, by Claire L. Lyons and Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow, 1-11. New York, NY:
Routledge. 1997. Print.
Miles, Marget R. "The VIrgin's One Bare Breast: Nudity, Gender, and Religious Meaning in
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HIstory, by Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard, 27-38. New York, NY: HarperCollins
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Moulton, Susan."Venus Envy: A Sexual Epistemology." ReVision 42. 1999. Print.
Russell, H. Diane. Eva/ Ave: Women in Renaissance and Baroque Prints. New York, NY: The
Feminist Press at the City University of New York. 1990. Print.
Simons, Particia. "Women in Frames: The Gaze, the Eye, the Profile in Renaissance Portraiture."
In The Expanding Discourse: Feminism and Art History, by Norma Broude and Mary D.
Garrard, 39-58. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. 1992. Print.
Zirpolo, Lilian. "Botticelli's Primavera: A Lesson for the Bride." In The Expanding Discourse:
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