Feminist Approaches to Interpreting Renaissance Art

Abstract

The study focuses on Renaissance art through feminist sensibilities, through a combination of quantitative analysis and qualitative representation of how gender is represented through the visual rhetoric, symbolism, reliance upon patronage, and reception itself.  The available data were collected in archival records, the museum catalogue, and online repositories, including works that do not have the same iconic status as those that received much greater attention but also less-known contributions of female artists.  Software-aided quantitative analysis showed the female characters to be under-represented compared to their male counterparts, but theme types like Madonna and mythical allegories had characteristic female-representative undertones.  Patronage studies revealed that commissioners were mainly men yet women patrons played a huge part in furthering feminist ideals.  Seasoned regressive modelling of past review revealed that there was an emerging trend in positive coverage of the art with female focus in the early years of the sixteenth century.  Qualitative analysis also added context to these findings, demonstrating how symbols such as the Virgin Mary, Eve, gallery allegorical figures and others not only supported the cultural constructions of female and embodied resilience and legitimate moral authority but they also challenged national time and manipulated national authenticity.  A comparative study between female gardens and female painters showed a clear institutional marginalisation of female work several major contributions are either forgotten or under-represented within museum displays.  Increasing credit was given to the contribution of women and reassessment of feminist themes in the Renaissance art, which were recorded in feminist publications and modern exhibitions.  The methods of quantification and thematic analysis support a reworking of the Renaissance visual culture that is feminist-informed and advanced.  These results indicate that feminist approaches not only expose unevenness of the past but also provide fundamental guidelines that augment knowledge of cultural identity and representation in the early modern Europe.