Marie De L Incarnation

Marginalization of any individual in seventeenth century Europe was not uncommon, as most were not directly involved in the political, religious, and educational institutions of the time. However, in the cases of Glikl bas Judah Leib, Marie de L’Incarnation and Maria Sibylla Merian, the lives of women were subjected to the societal guidelines, thus marginalizing them to a greater extent than their male counterparts. These women were placed on the outsides of society, either directly or indirectly, yet they were able to use their resources and their minds to exert some form of power and autonomy. For Glikl bas Judah Leib, her power came from her religion, self-reliance, and business acumen, even though her juxtaposition of being Jewish and

At the age of 18, Marie entered into an arranged marriage with Claude Martin, a silk trader of Tours. Marie was against this marriage and would have rather entered into a convent. However, Marie was a dutiful woman and her obedience, to her husband or to God and the church later in life, defined her. Widowed at the age of 19, with one son, and lawsuits that took the silk shop and most of her inheritance, Marie was trapped. No longer could she enter into a convent, and she was forced to live with her father and later her sister and brother-in-law. After Claude’s death, Marie did not gain any of the benefits of being a widow. In her brother in-law’s shop, she was subject to his rules and his work. Her business-like mind allowed her to keep books and inventory, which placed her ahead of most women. Even so, she was thrust into a position that she did not want to be in, thus placing her in a more marginalized state. Up until her realization of sins and her meeting of her spiritual advisor, she held no power in her life because she was living a life she did not want to be a part of. Ultimately, the life that she felt disconnected with was deeply rooted in her marriage that left her widowed, and that brief time dislodged all of her religious

Regardless of how it ended, Maria’s marriage much like Marie de L’Incarnation was an unhappy affair. Maria was fairly well off, and her family came from respected and talented painters. Her education in still life, painting techniques, and reading through the library allowed her to pursue her passion of painting the natural world’s insects and flora. Her marriage to Johann Andreas Graff, a student of her father, was an opportunity to marry a like-minded individual. Unlike the marriages of the other women, Maria knew and was familiar with Johann. The addition of two children and their success as painters implied that they were living a happy life. But Maria’s abrupt conversion and movement to a Labadist community clearly indicate that their troubles were significant. The abruptness of this could not have been rooted in an epiphany of spiritual guidance, as she had given no indication of bringing her husband with her. Her conversion was most plausibly because of his unspecified vices. This conversion placed Maria within the confines of an extremely conservative protestant sect, an even further marginalized group of society than women and certainly more marginalized than her life as an up and coming naturalist. Maria’s new religion allowed her to a divorce, letting Johann marry and have a child with another woman , and