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1650 BCE
The 17th Century-Venus Attired by the Three Graces
Killigrew’s painting, Venus Attired by the Three Graces, created in 1650, is one of her prominent artworks. Killigrew created the painting to showcase female beauty, fertility, and spirituality. The painting reinforces the norms of the 17th century that sexualized women and judged them based on their sexual attraction. The depiction of nudity could symbolize physical feminine beauty, but based on 17th-century norms, nudity could be an undignified representation of women. -
1620 BCE
Judith Slaying Holofernes by Gentileschi
Gentileschi’s painting titled “Judith Slaying Holofernes” was created in 1620. Gentileschi created the painting as a protest against her experience of rape. The slaying of the male by females symbolizes the power of women in fighting sociocultural power imbalances and injustices visited upon them by males. The depiction in the painting is a symbolism of women’s physical and spiritual assertion which challenged the norms and traditions of the Renaissance.
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1614 BCE
Minerva Dressing by Lavinia
Lavinia’s paintings titled “Minerva Dressing” was done in 1614. Through the painting, Lavinia wanted to challenge the sociocultural expectations of the Renaissance period concerning the conduct of women. She was the first female artist to depict female nudity through art. She wanted to break the sociocultural stereotypes that limited women from enjoying their artistic freedoms and exploring their sexuality. -
1200 BCE
Herrad of Landsberg’s Seven Liberal Arts
The seven liberal arts grammar are logic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music, which are represented by the seven semi-circles attached to the inner circle. Philosophy sits at the center with Socrates and Plato. Herrad of Landsberg created this painting to show the superiority of philosophy as a source of knowledge upon which all other forms of knowledge depend (Lain, 2020). -
1165 BCE
Hildegard von Bingen’s the Universal Man
The painting is an illumination characteristic of medieval art. It is done on a parchment or vellum with a border containing miniature art. Hildegard created this artwork to illustrate the relationship between God and man. -
The 17th Century-The Proposition
Judith Leyster's 1631 painting titled 'The Proposition" shows a woman sewing in candlelight in a darkened room as an older man leans over her, touching her right shoulder and offering her coins. Leyster created the above painting to highlight women's choices in response to male advances. The woman is focused on sewing and appears disinterested in the man's monetary offers. The painting was inspired by the 17th-century stereotypes rooted in the sexual objectification of women.