Essay about The Portraiture of Women During the Renaissance

This essay will discuss how women were represented in the portraiture during the Renaissance period. It will explain how the women’s body was pictured in portraiture as; marriage celebrant, husbands beloved, figures of fertility, mothers, display of wealth, paragons of virtues, husband’s passive representative, indication of fashion and more (Brown, 2003). Next, it will include analysis from the two female portraits of Leonardo de Vinci’s Ginerva de’ Benci and Sandro Botticelli’s Portrait of a Lady. First, I will explain what portrait means and then represent my own interpretation of Botticelli’s Portrait of a Lady by referring to instructional â€Å"activity dialog† that details how to analyse the body’s subject in the portrait (Mckennee et†¦show more content†¦Usually the artist is commissioned by patronage or the sitter to paint an image of their physical body appearance with intention to bring out their individual ity, what they present and what they value. It also serves as a mnemonical tool of remembering (Morrisson, 2004). Predominantly, portraiture was commissioned by people belonging to higher social rank and individuals who occupied the important role in the society. One of the greatest artists that arise from the Renaissance Italy was Sandro Botticelli, born in 1444 in city of Florence. He was apprenticed by patronage of the very powerful family the Medici, who were rulers of the city and central in the movement of humanism. Humanism brought back to life the classical antiquity of the ancient Greek and Rome. Some of his most famous paintings are; The Birth of Venus and Primavera (Long, 2008). In comparison to his vast art collection, his work in portraiture was very limited and some examples are Portrait of Giuliano de’ Medici 1477, Potrait of a Woman 1475 and Potrait of a Lady 1475, (Gromling Lingesleben, 1998). In this essay I will analyse the Botticelli’s Portrait of a Lady (1475), of a women named Smeralda Brandini and incorporate the dialogue activity ideas for portrait reading (Mckennee et al., 1994). The above portrait was previously owned by Parisian collector Comte de Pourtales. After him was in Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s possession, the painter and collector who later donated it to the Victoria andShow MoreRelatedWomen And Representations Of Women1606 Words   |  7 PagesThe lives and representations of women in the Florentine Renaissance In Biblical imaginary, the image of woman often originated from the image of Eve. Eve was allured by the devil and impelled Adam to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit, resulting in their exclusion from the paradise, mortality and hardship in their lives living on Earth. Since then, the female descendants of Eve were held responsible for this loss of paradise. 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