Whitney Chadwick
Chapter 2-
Quote 1. “Those who inscribe themselves on the Roll of Membership- whether men or women- should be contrite and should confess their sins”
Response: Even though the quote is referring to both genders, I feel like it is mostly for women. Even though it’s stated that women were basically forgotten, anything that happens, the fault goes to women. Men had more freedom, women didnt, so women were expected to act accordingly. If out of line, it was “ a sin.”
Quote 2. “It would hardly win us respect, if our wife busied herself among the men in the market place, out in the public eye.”
Response: Alberti cautions this as he believes this is what would happen. Him and men back in that era and so on through the years, believes that a women’s domain was to be with family. To cook, clean, and just stay home. I like to think that this type of control lead to men thinking of bad outcomes. Sheltering women so much that they believed wives would go beyond to flirt with men among in the marketplace, a place women would go to shop to provide food for her family, a place where they also may potentially get smart and learn from overhearing conversations.
Chapter 3-
Quote 1. “That the women artists of Bologna were exceptional is without question.”
Response: This small quote stood out to me. The last chapter poured down on women, explaining how little they were to men, how controlled they were, and how bad it would be for women to even walk and talk among the marketplace. In Bologna however, there were many women artists that were successful, and how Bologna took pride in their women artists.
Quote 2. “During his life, the eccentric Reni had refused to have anything to do with women, barring them from his house in fear of poison of witchcraft at their hands.’’
Response: Despite women artists being successful, this shows that men still were cautious about women. Women roaming around were perhaps deemed bad. However Reni wasnt just cautious, he was in fear.
Guerrilla Girls
Quote: “Historians fight over who was the greatest artist of each era, as though there was an aesthetic Olympics where only the winners count.”
Response: I feel like historians do kind of argue on who was better than who, and the only winners were the ones that were most famous, such as Michelangelo, or Leonardo. There will always be one person who will try to say one artist is better due to certain reasons, when in reality all artists are kind of the same. No skill was better than the next person and any skill that was “better” was just different artistic styles.
Middle Ages and renaissance-
The Middle Ages were tough. Women were expected to care for the family, cook, and clean. In public, they were suppose to “act right”, such as being quiet, nice, and obedient. However when the renaissance era arrived, women were able to climb to the top, of course going through hardships. One of them being Sirani.
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| Elisbetta Sirani, Portrait of Anna Maria Ranuzzi as Charity, 1665 |
Quote- “Sirani has frequently been dismissed as one of several insignificant followers of Reni in Bologna, and a painter of sentimental madonnas.”
She went through hardships, yet her artistic pictorial style gained popularity with contemporaries in Bologna, such as Lorenzo Pasinelli. Lavinia Fontana is another great example, however she also had an upper hand as her father was also a painter. She took on her father’s artistic style.
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| Lavinia Fontana, Consecration to the Virgin, 1599 |
Fontana was able to influence other artists. Her father was a painter and her teacher. She focused on naturalism, mannerism and classicalism. Sirani however, wanted to push the limits. Of course when Sirani got married, she had to ask her husband, Brutus, to confine in her.
“I confesse, that a women’s wit commonly is too weake to keepe a secret safely: but yet, Brutus, good education, and the company of vertuous men, have some power to reforme the defect of nature. And for my Selfe, I have this benefit moreover: that I am the daughter of Cato, and wife of Brutus.”
She states what is true. If the benefits of being the daughter if a painter wasnt true, she would have most defiantly had it ay harder. Her life must’ve bee hard yes, but with a great benefit.
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