Women in Visual Arts, 1400-1800: Theory and History

Through lectures, discussion and individual projects, this course considers the roles women have played in the Early Modern art world as makers, buyers, patrons, donors, critics, and art collectors. It also takes up issues of gender, of race, of masculinity as well as femininity. A central theme of this class is how debates about the so-called Woman Question, which was essentially an ongoing quarrel about the nature and social role of women, shaped the representations and experiences of women of different classes and conditions. Our focus will be on visual representations, as well as period writing of and by women.