Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

Review this print of Le Moyne's La Gallerie des femmes fortes (detail above).

The phenomenon of women ruling states and kingdoms encouraged artists to take up themes of strong women acting heroically. Many such works were commissioned by or dedicated to female rulers, but others were part of a general response by artists to the heightened profile of women in society. One popular trend was the creation of painting cycles or illustrated books about women from biblical and classical history known as "galleries of strong women."

The paradox of women displaying virtues that traditionally were considered outside the female norm became an important concept in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and informs the ideal of the femme forte, or strong woman (Maclean, 1977). The femme forte possessed not only the traditional female virtues such as chastity, but also the classical masculine virtue of fortitudo--a constellation of traits such as liberality, magnanimity and constancy. Although many Renaissance and Baroque artists expressed ambiguous messages about female beauty, stressing the danger to men of a woman's sexual attractions, most often, the femme forte ideal included beauty as a positive value (Maclean, 1977).

Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, Museum purchase

Unlike the image of Susanna by Carracci, this representation of Susanna and the Elders (detail above) by Stanzione presents her as heroic.

A growing number of writers stressed the equality of men and women, using comparisons between male and female characters from the Bible and ancient history to demonstrate that great men often displayed "female" virtues and women displayed "masculine" ones. Visual artists advanced this theme through illustrations of heroines and heroes that conveyed their equality through poses, gestures and actions representing nobility and dignity.

The early modern period in Europe was marked by wars, and many noblewomen had to defend their lands, achieving success and renown in the traditionally masculine sphere of warfare. Famous female warriors from the past served as role models, perhaps inspiring contemporary women to courageous acts--for example, Joan of Arc, the peasant French woman who lifted the siege of Orléans and led the dauphin to Reims to be crowned; Zenobia, queen of ancient Palmyra; and Clorinda, the chaste warrioress from Torquato Tasso's epic Jerusalem Delivered. Female rulers had themselves represented as allegorical figures of war and peace, in the guise of the classical goddess of war, Bellona, or as the goddess of military triumph, Minerva Victrix.

This period saw a fascination with Amazons, the legendary ancient tribe of women renowned as warriors. It became fashionable among queens and noblewomen to have themselves portrayed as warriors or to decorate their palaces and castles with paintings of Amazonian battle scenes. Such works honored the female leaders of the day and served to inspire other women to acts of valor. They were also a necessary signal that the female ruler fully comprehended and embraced the warrior role--in spite of its profound association with the male sphere--and could be depended upon to ensure the defense of her realm in times of war as well as peace.

Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri-Columbia, Gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation

View Bordone's painting Athena Scorning the Advances of Hephaestus (detail, left).

	Thinking Point
	In what ways was it important for women rulers new to the throne to rely upon both masculine and feminine representations?

Protected by her armor, the female warrior was considered to embody the essence of purity. Athena Scorning the Advances of Hephaestus, from the middle of the sixteenth century, is an interesting commingling of female virtue, beauty and strength, its subject referring to the chaste goddess Athena, who successfully resisted the unwanted advances of a powerful male.