Description
This course will examine the role of women as subjects, artists, and patrons in Italian art. Their roles in the social, political, economic, and cultural life during various periods (mainly Renaissance and Baroque age) will be studied. We will look at how art reflects the perimeters set for women’s roles in society and how depictions of women, in the various guises (sinner, saint, heroine), symbolized the virtues, vices, and intangible ideas of Italian culture and learning.
We will also examine how women’s roles constrained them in many ways, but also how they provided opportunities for women to build a position for themselves in society. We will then investigate into the lives of exceptional women and understand how they were able to overcome limitations set by society.
