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Table listing powerful women of Renaissance and Baroque Europe. |
Unprecedented numbers of women ruled European states and kingdoms during the Renaissance and Baroque
periods. Among the best known are Spain's Isabella of Castile, who ruled Castile and Aragon jointly
with her husband, Ferdinand; Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I of England; Mary Stuart of Scotland;
France's Catherine de' Medici, Marie de' Medici, and Anne of Austria; and Christina of Sweden. The
phenomenon of female rule brought to the fore longstanding disputes about the appropriateness of
women controlling their own destinies, along with newer concerns about the suitability of women
exercising authority over others--whether in the state or the household.
This exceptional period of history also saw a burgeoning of images of powerful women. Artists and
their royal patrons understood that images were potent vehicles for promoting the empowerment of
women. Images of heroines from the biblical and classical traditions were part of the everyday
visual vocabulary of the time, providing rich material with which to affirm a woman's right to rule.
While many leaders used images to create a powerful presence in courtly culture and diplomatic
circles, those made anxious by the idea of women in power also turned to the visual arts to lament
the transgression of the social order and to reinforce male prerogatives. Then, as now, artists gave
expression to the pressing issues of their time, responding to the heightened profile of women in
society by taking up strong women as their theme.
vestigates the ways a woman's power was achieved and then conveyed to others over the
course of her lifetime. With male leadership the norm, the anomaly of female rule often came about
as a condition of the woman's relationship to a man in power, usually a husband, son or father. How
women exploited these links to secure and wield power, and went beyond them to fashion novel ways of
projecting and communicating that power, are subtle but consistent themes in many of the works
presented here.
The Women Who Ruled exhibition, on which this seminar is based, comprises nearly one hundred images
in a great range of media--paintings, prints, book illustrations, drawings, sculpture and decorative
arts objects. They allow us to explore the ways female imagery during this period expressed and
shaped attitudes about gender and power. Through the use of symbols, myths, references to the Bible
and classical art and literature, and through a variety of approaches to portraying the female body,
artists enriched the debate over the proper roles of the sexes, offering a fascinating range of
ideas, emotions and aesthetic experience that continues to reward our attention.
