Gender roles have been prevalent in society going far back as 19th Century leading up to present day. How women and men have expectations at a societal standard to meet, and how that has fluctuated throughout decades. Women were to raise the family, provide cooked meals to their husbands and children. While men were meant to work, choose their wives, be drafted in war, make their family wealthy. The changing variable in this dynamic is class, whether or not a woman had to work as well as provide for the family. Current day gender roles still exist, even more so now that women are given more opportunity in more developed countries.
Between the Renaissance and the 19th century, women were not taken seriously as artists. The act of painting a nude was a man's job, and this was a result of male gaze. How a woman can never be naked, only nude, an object to be seen. More and more women combat this gender role by depicting real, raw emotion in the subject. An example is the difference of how Artemisia Gentileschi and her father, Orazio Gentileschi, depicted Judith and her maidservant after killing Holofernes.
In Orazio's painting, Judith, wearing red, and her maidservant, in blue, is carefully carrying the decapitated head of Holofernes. Their. expression seems lost, confused, as if they are not aware of what had just occurred. Judith is clumsily holding the sword in her hand, as if she doesn't know how to use it...despite killing her enemy. The composition of the work of art all structurally points back to Holofernes' pristine face. His head is turned so it is clearly portrayed, as well as the lighting making it clear as day. Judith and her maidservant's hands flow toward his head, almost cradling it like he's asleep. The main takeaway from Orazio's depiction is despite the fact that the subject of the scenario is the success of a woman taking down her enemy, the defeat of a man is what is the main focus, and is depicted as if it were an accident.
Artemisia's painting of Judith and her Maidservant feels like a polar opposite in a side-by-side comparison to her father's work. Judith and her maidservant are seen looking out for spectators as they carry the hidden, decapitated head of Holofernes to his army to claim victory. Judith is carrying her sword in a manner in which she is armed to dispose of anyone else who is observing. The lighting is primarily on Judith, rather than the head, which is now in the corner of the composition, partially covered, and realistically bleeding through the basket.
Not only did Artemisia paint this scenario, but also the scene of Judith actively killing Holofernes. Seeing that painting, I wonder how the painting would change if a male artist were to depict it. Seeing how Orazio portrayed the victory of Judith, a male artist would probably turn the scenario from a surprise attack after drugging Holofernes, to a grapple. Holofernes would still be murdered in the painting, but he would be depicted in a manner where Judith would be in a submissive position and his head would be in the center of the painting and well lit. The polar opposite of how Artemisia Gentileschi has portrayed in her painting.
Paintings leading into the 19th century focused more about the domestic scene of women in their homes than the historic. However, the difference between the situations when depicting these scenarios was class. Lilly Martin Spencer successfully depicts the difference in class the paintings We Both Must Fade and War Spirit At Home. We Both Must Fade is centered around a girl who is being groomed for marriage. The crinkled texture of a new dress being taken out of the box and worn, as well as the jewelry box beside the flower to be her dowry. War Spirit At Home portrays a mother, her three children, and a grandmother in a small, enclosed space. The mother is trying to stay informed, educated while her children march to symbolize that their father is out to war, or has deceased in war. The difference in money creates a different atmosphere in the everyday life of women.
Lilly Martin Spencer. “We Both Must Fade (Mrs. Fithian).” Smithsonian American Art Museum, americanart.si.edu/artwork/we-both-must-fade-mrs-fithian-22794.
The War Spirit at Home: Celebrating the Battle at Vicksburg - Lilly Martin Spencer - The Athenaeum, www.the-athenaeum.org/art/detail.php?ID=19020.
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