Introduction

Today, the image of the perfect woman may be smart, athletic, or specific traits depending on the person. In the past the perfect woman was the one to fight for their country and be very patriotic or have their virginity with a baby. In the past, the perfect woman was impossible to have. Most women always want to be with their man and don’t like war. This disempowers women because the men are looking for these traits that nobody has. Men may be expecting these traits and when they don’t have them, they get less power and are looked down upon. These women may give power to the church for their symbolism. All of the paintings below have a similar theme of symbolism of a perfect woman. In Women of Britain, Say Go, the women are symbolizing Patriotism and wanting their men to go to war and help instead of staying with them. In Liberty leading the people, the women that is holding the flag is leading all the men and is taking the men’s role in war, which also symbolizes liberty and patriotism. The Virgin and Child with St Jerome and St Dominic is a very religious painting that still beholds the common theme of symbolism of women because she has a halo above her head to symbolize her innocence and virginity.

The Virgin and Child with St Jerome and St Dominic

       The Virgin and Child with St Jerome and St Dominic is a religious painting in 1485 painted by Filippino Lippi. Filippino Lippi was an Italian painter during the Renaissance in Florence. This painting shows the Virgin Mary with baby Jesus in her arms with St Jerome and St Dominic kneeling and praying for her. St Jerome is a saint and a doctor of the Catholic Church, while St Dominic is a priest from Spain and also a patron saint of astronomers (St. Dominic). Joseph is also believed to be included in this picture. He may be the man in the background walking the donkey (National Gallery). The building on the far right side is thought to be a hospital, which would relate to the charities of St. Dominic (national gallery).

       In the painting, The Virgin and Child with St Jerome and St Dominic, Filippino Lippi made the Virgin Mary at the center of the painting to bring focus to her and also uses the pyramidal structure between the saints and her. The Virgin Mary has a halo in this picture, which is symbolizing holiness. She is also symbolizing innocence and virginity by having Jesus but still being a virgin. The perfect woman would not lose her virginity. This shows how impossible and unattainable for common women to strive to become the perfect woman. To attain a child, they must have sex and thus yield their virginity. Furthermore, this painting shows how the perfect woman, when she arrives, will be very different from the “normal” woman society produced at that time. This disempowered women in that era because it disheartened and forcefully preached the idea that no women, by themselves, could even hope to be the perfect woman. Also, it would make the common woman not desire to be the perfect woman when she realizes the deviation from the path that society taught all women to follow.

Women of Britain say Go!

       Women of Britain, Say Go is an art piece made by the British government to shame men into going to war in World War I. It was created by men to affect other men. The women of England promised to not be in public with a man that is healthy enough to be in the military, which encouraged men to go fight for their country (women shaming men into war). This British Propaganda tried to appeal to young men to fight because the propaganda was expressing that women would reject the man and that all of the women wanted the men to go to war for them and their nation.

Women of Britain, Say Go is a propaganda picture of two women and a child standing outside watching the troops march past them. The women are making their husbands go into war and risk their lives rather than stay home and take care of the women in the house. These women are symbolizing patriotism here by making them fight for their country. These are very unrealistic women in this poster.  The normal women would want their man home always. These are very brave women. These women are unattainable because women don’t want their husbands to ever leave them, even for their country. These fake women show the men that their family wants them to go to war and fight instead of staying home. If they showed real women, it would discourage their husbands from leaving them. This disempowers women because it’s encouraging women to stay in the household to clean and produce babies instead of being free. 

Liberty Leading the People

Liberty leading the people is an 1830 painting by Eugene Delacroix. Delacroix was a French Romantic artist and the leader of the French Romantic school. This painting shows a bare-breasted woman leading the people with a flag in one hand and a bayoneted musket in the other, leading a troop of men to fight for their freedom. The men here are mixtures of social classes as shown by the different apparel each person is wearing. This painting is a symbol of the age of enlightenment. Delacroix uses very bright colors on Lady liberty to draw the human’s attention to her. This painting is showing the revolt of the French Revolution (Delacroix).

In Liberty leading the people, every man and Lady Liberty has the look of determination, commitment, and strength. Liberty leading the people shows the symbolism of the perfect woman because a woman is taking the role of the men and is leading the troops for the freedom of the country. She is symbolizing patriotism and liberty because she is fighting for her country and is a leader for her country. This perfect woman is unattainable because only men fight in wars and are leaders. The women’s job is usually to stay and take care of the home and children. This bare breasted woman is imaginary and there are no other real women in the painting because women didn’t fight in wars in this era. This disempowers women because due to the fact that the woman shown in the painting is bare-breasted, a harsh sense of secularity is depicted upon the women. This also paints an inaccurate and biased picture of the women in that era.

Bibliography

Delacroix - The Complete Works. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.   <http://www.eugenedelacroix.org/>.

Norwich, John Julius. Oxford Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Arts.   Oxford: Oxford UP, 1990. 265. Print.

"St. Dominic - Saints & Angels." Catholic Online. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.   <http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=178>.

"The Women of World War I." War and Gender. Web. 28 Apr. 2011.   <http://www.warandgender.com/wgwomwwi.htm>.

"Filippino Lippi | The Virgin and Child with Saints Jerome and Dominic |

  NG293 | The National Gallery, London." The National Gallery, London: Western European Painting 1250–1900. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. <http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/filippino-lippi-the-virgin-and-child-with-saints-jerome-and-dominic>.