Post 3 Middle Ages and Renaissance - Beshoy

Quotes

Ch2/3rd Paragraph

“The absence of women’s names from the lists of artists responsible for the “renaissance” of Western culture in fifteenth-century Florence deserves careful scrutiny. It is in the cultural ideology that supported women’s exclusion from the arts of painting and sculpture that we find the roots of the subsequent shift of woman’s role in visual culture from one of production to one of being represented”.

According to this quote, women were excluded from Renaissance art history not because they had no talent but rather because society restricted them from pursuing artistic careers. It gets us to reflect on how unjust laws and ideologies prevented women from being artists and instead made them the objects of art. This adds to the explanation of why women's voices were removed from art and why it's important to challenge the stories we've been handed down.

Ch3/9th Paragraph

“Women artists in Bologna benefited from the civic and ecclesiastical patronage that accompanied the naming of the Emilian region around Bologna as a papal state in 1512 (culminating in the election of the Bolognese Ugo Buoncompagni as Pope Gregory VIII in 1572); the artistic competition that developed between Rome and Bologna; and the fact that the Renaissance ideology of exceptional women could be used to claim unique status for the city and its women”.

The quote above shows that during the Renaissance, Bologna provided more support for female artists than other places. Bologna provided women with higher chances to succeed and be acknowledged in the arts because of church and city funding, competition with Rome, and the idea of honoring "exceptional women."

Middle Ages and Renaissance

Many women were expected to fulfill religious and household needs. They had no access to education or jobs and were viewed mainly as mothers, wives, or nuns. The teachings of the Church, which placed a high value on submission and quietness affected the lives of the majority of women. If women wished to follow their educational or artistic interests, they were frequently forced to live in religious homes. Because of this, the majority of medieval art created by women started in churches, and its subjects were usually biblical.Women's roles started changing somewhat during the Renaissance, especially in places like Bologna where a few women were able to get education. It brought over ideas of the “exceptional woman”, which is a woman with rare talent. “The artistic competition that developed between Rome and Bologna; and the fact that the Renaissance ideology of exceptional women could be used to claim unique status for the city and its women”.