The image of women in painting

Résumé du document

In order to study the image of women in painting as reflecting changes in political and social context, I have chosen three works of art by three different artists, from three different periods. I will study these paintings in their historical context as a mirror of the evolutions of values. The first one is The Judgment of Paris by Jean Antoine Watteau (1718-1720). Watteau painted this work during the Regency of Philippe d'Orléans, which is a period of detente after the austerity of Louis XIV's last years. Mores (especially sexual mores) were much more relaxed and free, and the aristocracy lived in a luxurious and magnificent way. At the Royal Court, life was flighty and frivolous, and debaucheries were sometimes organized. This mood was reflected in arts, and Watteau symbolizes lightness, even though his art is very deep and poetic.

Extraits

[...] She wants to give a feeling of spontaneous. In some portraits, especially self-portraits she was close to neo-classical style[9]. Marie-Antoinette and her children consists of four characters: the Queen and her three children. The would-be Louis XVII (born in 1785) is on her knees, Madame Royale, her daughter is on her right, looking at her mother, and the heir Louis Joseph (born in 1781) is on the right of the painting, before the cradle. The empty cradle call up the death of Sophie, last child of the Queen, dead during the execution of the painting. [...]

[...] It is the birth of painting. The best representative is Chardin: his paintings are typical Enlightenment domestic scenes. He was close to Diderot who said about Chardin's painting: Une harmonie générale, un effet piquant et vrai Whereas Watteau painted the ease of aristocratic life, Chardin painted the modesty of middle-class life. Chardin was a master of intimate scenes of domesticity. He depicted objects drawn from life. His small-scale works illustrating kitchen utensils, receptacle and every day life were full of purity of modesty and of honesty. [...]

[...] We see that it is a middle class family and not a poor family because of pad chairs and because of dresses of characters which are quite high quality. The composition is very clever. As in all his paintings, Chardin put his subject in a rectangle, here divided in two parts along the table. Characters are in a triangle which is not in the centre but slightly on the right. The top of the triangle is the head of the mother. [...]

[...] His look toward Venus is enticing. Venus is accompanied by a small Cupid with wings and quiver in his back (his normal attributes). On the right, Minerva is holding a shield, a spear and a helmet (with a Gorgon's head), which are her classical attributes. She is leaving (showed by the position of her feet), grousing. Up right, Juno is taking off with her peacock (her attribute) on a white cloud, her right hand before her mouth. The nude female is emphasised by both the light and the composition. [...]

[...] In 1778, she made her first portrait of the Queen, Marie- Antoinette en grand habit de cour. In this painting, Marie-Antoinette is depicted in a white satin dress, a rose in her right hand. Before this, the Queen was disappointed by every portrait because she doesn't believe their looked like. Marie-Antoinette en grand habit de cour was made to be sent to Marie-Thérèse from Austria, mother of the Queen. Her mother wanted a portrait of her daughter in luxury appearance. [...]