In the recorded lecture we talked about many themes from women in the Renaissance, to devotion and how religious scenes were depicted idealized while others were naturalistic. We studied different Book of Hours, reaffirming the idea of these little books used for praying by many noble women. They weren’t flashy and contained dense scenes of many overlapping figures with drôleries, which are added details along scenes that add the the playfulness or can add to the storytelling. Many of the religious scenes were idealized, as seen in the Flight into Egypt in Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany where the donkey does not resemble an actual donkey. Though, other pages could have fruits or plants acting as a border and they were drawn very realistically.
We also talked about women and their status in the Renaissance. Women were not able to carry much power, unless you were a nun where you lived in a society not dominated by male presense. Therefore, nuns were more likely to be artists, a male dominated occupation at the time. They owned dolls for their prayers which acted as objects of devotion. Lavinia Fontana was an example of a women, who wasn’t a nun surprisingly, and was a professional artist. She painted a self portrait that depicted her a professional as she was dressed nicely and had a maid.