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

Through lectures, discussion and individual projects, this course considers the roles women played in the Early Modern art world as makers, buyers, patrons, donors, critics, and art collectors. It also takes up issues of gender, masculinity and femininity. A central theme of this class is how 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. We will focus on visual representations, as well as period writing of and by women. This course will offer students opportunities to understand how the past can help us to think about the present.