Woman youth and domestic ideology in Seventeenth-century Dutch Genre paintings



Woman Youth and Domestic Ideology in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Paintings

The interpretation and creation of Seventeenth-century Dutch Genre paintings is highly influenced by the role of gender.

Scholars of Dutch art work focus their attention on those pieces of Dutch art that signify "evil" behaviour: merrymaking, prostitution, and stuff like that. David Franits attempts to modify this approach. He presents corrective measures in this direction. He does so by evaluating those art works that signify positive behaviour with respect to ladies. The criterion he uses in order to put women in positive estimation is with regards to their domesticity. The art work that showed domestic life of those times in the Dutch history was a discourse that communicated with us and transfers messages of the ideal home. Domestic life is the women's prime concern and with this concern is related the sense of their achievement.

The popular subjects of 17th-century Dutch genre painting were related to female activities and chores. Although 17th century Dutch paintings also portrayed men shown to be engaged in skilled labour, the present day novels, movies, exhibition and text book celebrate women paintings of domestic work rather than men's. Depiction of household atmosphere hardly included the whole family. Husbands are not to be found in Peter De hooch or Vermeer's paintings. Brekelenkam and some others have merged the tradition of men portrayal in a trades print and the women's in domestic settings. Usually there is a division between men's and women's work. Ter Borch focuses on woman and child. The woman's job is that of nurturing. The paintings in which men and women are shown to be together in the house, women's position is kept lower to that of her husband.

The women related subjects are evident from Two Women Sewing (Fig. 1), Woman with Vanitas Objects (Fig. 2), Pancake Baker (Fig. 3), Woman Spinning and a Child (Fig. 4), and Woman Scouring Metalware (Fig. 5).

The task of sewing represented the women's virtuousness. Sewing is a commendable task as opposed to the rigorous task of ironing of the servant. The harmony and order exhibited by the paintings are similar to illustrations of treatises meant for moralizing. This sewing represents women's virtue which stands out in opposition to the servants “physical menial work”. Another virtuous activity is that of spinning. Paintings showing women performing spinning highlight their virtue as spinning is associated with Lucretia and Virgin Mary. The most famous image of virtue in 17th century Dutch Genre painting is spinning. The women are dressed in simple robes which depict their virtuousness. The contemporary treatises warned women against wasteful expenditure on fancy attire.

The worldly behaviour of women through the vanitas tradition is depicted in paintings as well. Jan Miense Molenaer's Lady World portrays women engrossed in self-admiration. These paintings tell the tale of women's vice and not virtue. As men considered women's captivating beauty to be an evil sign, a woman admiring herself by looking in the mirror ...