Woman as Artist, Subject, or Patron in Baroque Art

Many elements must come unitedly for a exposure to be considered successful. Perhaps paramount in seventeenth century Europe were the guidelines set forth for contrivance following the Council of Trent Clarity, naturalism and emotional stimulus. Many workmans fulfilled these requirements in their have got authoritys Rubens assiduous his mastery of drawing, while Caravaggio masked his appargonnt lack of acquirement by inventing a new way of painting, tenebrism (Caravaggism). While clarity could be open relatively easily, this doesnt mean images had to be simple.One of the most complex elements of Baroque painting is the use of women as subjects, particularly women of power, be they royal, scriptural, or workmans themselves. Artemisia Genteleschis Judith Slaying Holofernes (1620) presents a female painter drawing on her own experiences to depict a heroine defeating a great enemy as only a gentlewoman could. Peter capital of Minnesota Rubens Medici Cycle (1622-25), specific ally The founding of Her Portrait to heat content IV, shows the product of a woman patron trying to glorify herself as a queen and justify her political ideals while existence presented sort of literally as an object to her husband-to-be.Finally, Diego Valazquezs Las Meninas (1656), a royal family portraiture management on the daughter of Philip the IV and Mariana of Spain, but using the commission as a vehicle to draw attention to the artist and praise his craft. utilize these three works, one can conclude that a woman, present as the artist, the patron or a decorative faux-subject, was a very muscular tool in Baroque art. Artemesia Genteleschis Judith Slaying Holofernes shows the Old Testament novel of a Jewish widow and her maidservant beheading the Assyrian commander Holofernes to bring through the city of Bethulia.The history of the artist is a infrangible influence on this work, as Artemesia was raped at age 17 by an run of her father. Mary ONeill points proscribe d in her article Artemesias Moment that rape in the 17th century was a crime against a familys honor rather than the victim herself. This surely doesnt mean there is an absence of the psychological prostitute that accompanies the crime, and this work is seen as a revenge painting, an outlet for the artist to voice her feelings on a personal subject.Maybe one of the first examples of art therapy, a very powerful and deliberate action is taking quad empowering women while checking their femininity in tact, as mentioned in Mieke Bals article, period Hunting Judith on the Cutting Edge of Knowledge. Bal says the three major jobs in womens lives are life-giving, in this case, saving the city and its residents life taking, the killing of Holofernes and in between, hard work, the two women with their sleeves rolled up, completing a task. The fact that the artist is female plays a large part in the mood and response of the painting by both men and women.In this case we can equation it to a male-painted version of the same event. Caravaggios, Judith Beheading Holofernes (1599) shows the two women as upset toward their charge and unwilling to make a mess, but the most hitting visual difference is the red sash present in the dry land of both paintings, in Caravaggios, it remains hanging as it should be in the space, in Artemesias, it has fallen over the victim (victim? ) suggesting a battle has interpreted place and the women have triumphed.In Rubens Medici Cycle, Louis VIII had come of age while his begin acting as regent, ruled France, when he grew tired of her policies, Marie de Medici commissioned the artist to make 26 paintings depicting events in her life to be shown to members of the cut court and valuable visitors, with the intent to glorify herself as a legalize ruler of France, Painted Propaganda, as David Freedberg puts it in his book Peter Paul Rubens Oil Paintings and Oil Sketches. She was not meant to be shown as a classical member of the royal family, but as the single ruler of the rural in which her son was the rightful ruler.The fourth painting in this series, The Presentation of Her Portrait to Henry IV, shows the lady patron as a portrait, an object, being presented to a man, her husband-to-be. Though a woman as an object is principally seen as degrading, the way in which she is presented by deities and allegorical personifications strengthens the perception of the Medici Hymenaios and Amor take in the portrait to the faggot while Jupiter and Juno look on in approbation and France stands behind Henry in support of the union. She in addition engages the viewer, staring straight off out of both frames, something the Kings isnt able to accomplish.This series wasnt meant to be viewed distinctly by men and women, only to glorify the Queen Mother of France to all large number of France. The painting was produced at a time when Marie de Medici needed the support of her people, and although her feat to keep the thr one was ultimately unsuccessful, this painting among the series is a strong example of what women could accomplish as patrons to artists. Diego Valazquezs Las Meninas shows the more traditional negative way women can be shown as objects. composition dominated by women, the set off depicts the Daughter of Philip IV and Mariana of Spain, Infanta Margarita surrounded by maids, dwarves, pets, other people important to the royal family as she goes about seemingly unimportant tasks. To her right, stands the artist, aposentador to the King, staring out at the audience as he paints. The king and queen are alluded to in a mirror on the back wall, present in the viewers space, as their physical presence in a portrait with the artist would be disrespectful. The artist takes advantage of this commission to raise his own status as an artist and member of the court.He does this by pretending Margarita is the subject, resplendently dolled up and centered, but bored and uninterested, only there to showcase the artists skill as a painter along with her servants. The Queen is also taken advantage of, present with her King in the background. Michel Foucault points out the objectivity of the King and Queen in his in-depth interpretation of the work in the first chapter of The parade of Things, In the midst of all those attentive faces, all those richly dressed bodies, they are the palest, the most unreal, the most compromised of all the paintings images. only present to bring up the idea of the work the raise the artist and the art higher in the community. Men and women would both view this work similarly, showcasing the artists mastery of spacial representation and perspective, with underlying tones of narcissism as they discover the highly decorated and erudite painter peeking out from behind the canvas. In these three very different views of women in paintings, as artists, as patrons, and as objects, we see how women were depicted, or used, as subjects in seventeenth-ce ntury art.It seems views of women have remained the same in the few hundred geezerhood since these works were completed, they can be seen as powerful, inspirational and strong, but also passive, boring, or as mere filler. The differences in composition, mood, and ideas were fun to discover as you move from a woman painter depicting a biblical event while drawing from her own experiences to a man attempting to keep a woman in the lifestyle to which shes become accustomed and not be executed himself.