Representation Of Women Through Art

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a man towards a woman during the seventeenth century. The painting "The Proposition" represents an indecent proposal towards a woman and her reaction to this indecent proposal. During this century, there was a resurgence of prostitution throughout European countries. The women represented in many paintings were thought of as willing participants to the offering of prostitution. In Leyster's painting "The Proposition", she tries to give a totally different perspective of women's views during the seventeenth century. In this painting, Leyster shows a woman who is rejecting a proposition of prostitution offered by the man who is laying his hand on her shoulder. The woman in this painting does not look up at the man and keeps sewing. She ignores the man demonstrating her indifference to the proposition offered by the man. With this painting, Leyster changes the whole image of the convinced, easy woman to the decent, uninterested woman. She tries to give the viewer her point of ...

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For some women, "marriage in effect meant independence. After presenting her husband with one or two children, she had ample leave to pursue her own pleasures" (Duncan pg.10). Mothers received their children with indifference or even hostility. The caring of these children was thought of as "debilitating, obnoxious, and coarsening" (Duncan pg.11). Children many times grew up without knowing their parents because they were given to a wet nurse for the first years of their lives. Opposing these views, Drouais painted a family portrait which reflected the ideal family with the new concept of conjugal love and family harmony. New family concepts began to grow after this art became ...

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