Woman in Gothic Art

Woman in Gothic Art

Discovering Femininity in 16th Century Goth

By : Moran Benjamin , BMCC Art 110

As I ventured through corridor after corridor of captivating artworks at the Metropolitan Museum , I came upon an entire section of the place that was devoted to gothic art . It had various pieces from paintings , to sculptures , to restored ornaments . That particular section in the museum took my interest because of the brief fascination I have had with gothic culture some years ago . What caught my attention the most among the collection was a 22

' by 28 ' anonymous oil portrait of an unnamed gothic woman . The painting was in black and white , with the woman 's face as the most prominent focus . Her expression seemed solemn yet d with her palms closed together as if in prayer . Her attire seemed to consist of a coat over a tube-like ' undergarment , although this is an assumption that is not completely apparent in the painting as it could have been just one piece of clothing . In any case , her apparel had long closed sleeves . She wore a pointed head-dress which concealed her hair carefully , an elaborately crafted round necklace

When I observed the painting , the most prominent emotion that I felt was wonder . As I know a lot about current gothic art and culture , it surprised me how 16th century fashion seemed so different with what I thought was already a revival of classic attire . It was then that I began to think about what the artist might have wanted to convey with the painting . I wanted to find out if literature would reveal gender polarized issues as early as the 16th century that could be drawn out of the painting . I thought that perhaps the artist wanted to convey his or her thoughts regarding what a woman should be like during the particular era when the painting was created

Thus , I sought out to find answers to my questions . In my readings historical accounts revealed that gothic culture during the 16th century was highly influenced by Christianity (Donnachie , 2004 . This might have been the reason why the woman was drawn in a Christian praying position with palms pressed together . The head-dress which completely covered the woman 's hair was perceived then as a sign of modesty and was largely seen as the apparel typical of a woman . This led me to believe that perhaps the artist wanted to convey such socially acceptable virtues of chastity and religiosity , thereby creating a portrait of the ideal woman during the time

In Mercer (2002 , it was described that the Goths social stratification was loosely determined by the accessories that they wore . More elaborate accessories meant higher social and implicitly economic status . There were two perceivable accessories in the portrait . One is a simple ring on the subject 's left ring finger while the other is the elaborate necklace around her neck . I cross-referenced these observations with Mercer (2002 ) and determined that the artist probably intended the subject to be...