Women In Renaissance Art

The Renaissance was a period of rebirth for the arts and reintroduced elements of Greek and Roman tradition to Italy’s once modern art style. One of these artistic traditions was the nude figure originally popularized by the Romans to glorify the human body. This along with the ideas of humanism created depictions of heroic, idealistic people who people at the time tried to thrive and be like. However, while these Renaissance peoples emerged in art, many female figures were drawn and designed in specific ways unlike that of men, a characteristic of art coined as “the period eye.” Originally identified by Michael Baxandall, the period eye referred to the way women were drawn in art during the Renaissance period, “with demure actions, their legs

The final piece that takes a different turn on the depiction of women in Michelangelo’s art is Florence Pieta, located in the Museo dell 'Opera del Duomo of Florence Italy. This sculpture conceptually is fascinating, while typical Pietas usually only feature Mary the Mother of God and sometimes Mary Magdalene mourning over the Body of Jesus Christ, this Pieta features Nicodemus, a Jewish council member from John’s Gospel. The addition of Nicodemus already shows that this sculpture is based around disbeliefs Michelangelo has with the faith since it defies the ways of typical Pietas, but when looking at Magdalene specifically, one might notice more traditions were broken as well. Typically in Pietas, Mary Magdalene is the one comforting the dying Jesus on her knees, but in Michelangelo 's Florence Pieta, Nicodemus is carrying the dead Jesus away from Magdalene and to the nearby Madonna, leaving Magdalene the outcast of the group. Along with that, when Michelangelo decided to enviably destroy the sculpture before his death, Magdalene was the least elaborated character in the work and was the most reworked by future artist Tiberio Calcagni when reconstructing the statue, so what gives? All this suggests that “Magdalene has been perceived as an unauthentic and incidental figure, alien to the group and to creative genius of Michelangelo” (APA CITE) and based off other signs that mock the erotic nature of Christ and Magdalene 's relationship like the way she touches Christ suggests Michelangelo was trying to “depict the Madonna’s relationship with Chris in a warm and emotional manner” versus set intimate one with