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66 CHAPTER 2 | European Society in the Renaissance 1350–1550

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Botticelli, Primavera (Spring), ca. 1482 Framed by a grove of orange trees, Venus, goddess of love,
is flanked on the right by Flora, goddess of flowers and fertility, and on the left by the Three Graces,
goddesses of banquets, dance, and social occasions. Above, Venus’s son Cupid, the god of love, shoots
darts of desire, while at the far right the wind-god Zephyrus chases the nymph Chloris. The entire scene
rests on classical mythology, though some art historians claim that Venus is an allegory for the Virgin
Mary. Botticelli captured the ideal for female beauty in the Renaissance: slender, with pale skin, a high
forehead, red-blond hair, and sloping shoulders. (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy/Bridgeman Images)

their work as products of individual genius, however, inappropriate for women. Joining a group of male art-
so they rarely included their names on the works, and ists for informal practice was also seen as improper, so
there is no way to discover their identities. women had no access to the newly established artistic
There are no female architects whose names are academies. Like universities, humanist academies, and
known and only one female sculptor, though several most craft guild shops, artistic workshops were male-
women did become well known as painters in their day. only settings in which men of different ages came
Stylistically, their works are different from one another, together for training and created bonds of friendship,
but their careers show many similarities. Most female influence, patronage, and sometimes intimacy.
painters were the daughters of painters or of minor Women were not alone in being excluded from
noblemen with ties to artistic circles. Many were eldest the institutions of Renaissance culture. Though a few
daughters or came from families in which there were rare men of genius such as Leonardo and Michelan-
no sons, so their fathers took unusual interest in their gelo emerged from artisanal backgrounds, most schol-
careers. Many women painters began their careers before ars and artists came from families with at least some
they were twenty and either produced far fewer paintings money. The ideas of the highly educated humanists
after they married or stopped painting entirely. Women did not influence the lives of most people in cities and
were not allowed to study the male nude, a study that did not affect life in the villages at all. For rural peo-
was viewed as essential if one wanted to paint large his- ple and for less well-off town residents, work and play
tory or biblical paintings with many figures. Women continued much as they had in the High Middle Ages:
also could not learn the technique of fresco, in which religious festivals and family celebrations provided
colors are applied directly to wet plaster walls, because people’s main amusements, and learning came from
such work had to be done in public, which was judged one’s parents, not through formal schooling.

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