Abstract

WOMEN & RELIGIOUS ART: GENDER DEPICTIONS IN THE RENAISSANCE ERA

Georgie Ann Weatherby

Volume: 7 Issue: 4 2017

Abstract:

Women throughout religious history have been commonly depicted as adornments to men, adoring nurturers who rarely express a personal opinion, while staunchly supporting the views of those males central to their lives. To fulfill a warrior role of power and leadership strongly contests this gentle, calming influence so typically associated with the “instinctual” female. Feelings of anomie can be the impactful result for the recipient. This leads to the following questions: How are women truly projected via religious art in Renaissance times? Do they defy the image of the familial centerpiece? Do they instead embrace that norm? Female reflections are analyzed in Renaissance art wherever representations figure at least somewhat prominently. The location selected for study resides in Florence, Italy: The Accademia Museum. What results thereafter is a discussion of the feelings of anomie (but also of progress/feminization) that arise from disconcerting views of women as expressed in celebrated art forms, even if those are not the concerted norm for this fruitful artistic period.

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