This gallery’s theme is to examine how the way women are portrayed in sculptures has changed in Europe over time. Throughout history the way woman are portrayed through sculptures has changed drastically. By looking at sculptures of woman from early history you can see the artists did not focus on the details of the woman they were sculpting. Instead, they focused on getting the core components of the woman. As time went on, artists began focusing more on the details of the women being sculpted. By doing this the artist began sculpting the “idealized” woman. A women who was elegant, graceful, and feminine. I will display this in my gallery by taking you through different sculptures that have been created in Europe.
Female figurine (2), Unknown, "2800-2300 BC" - "", From the collection of: Museum of Cycladic Art
This figurine is a very minimalist representation of a woman. It demonstrates how early on in history sculptures did not go into great detail, but showed the basic elements of the subject the sculpture was meant to represent.
Cycladic female figure (canonical type, Dokathismata variety), Unknown, "2800-2300 BC" - "", From the collection of: Museum of Cycladic Art
This sculpture also does not depict much detail of the woman it is of. It shows basic outlines and shapes. This provides another example of how sculptures did not always go into much detail of the subject.
Female figurine, Unknown, "3900-2500 BC" - "", From the collection of: Museum of Cycladic Art
The Female Figurine shows the basic components of the woman being being portrayed. Like the other pieced from its time period, the artist is not focused on details of the woman, but on the essence of the woman.
Portrait Head of a Young Woman, Roman, 4th century, From the collection of: The Art Institute of Chicago
As we get closer to the current day, the sculptures become more detailed. You can also see the woman in the sculpture taking on a more graceful and womanly form. The stone is more smoothed than early statues as well.
Wild woman, Unknown, 1475/1500, From the collection of: Rijksmuseum van Oudheden
On the contrary, Wild Woman does not follow the norm of the sculptures for its time period. It is not smooth and it does not show a graceful woman. Instead it is more rugged and does not show an idealized woman.
Female Figure, 1571 - 1573, From the collection of: The J. Paul Getty Museum
Female Figure displays an idealized woman bathing herself. Like other artists from this time period Giambologna was trying to capture the beauty and grace of a woman. The statue pays close attention to smoothing and detail to help with this goal.
Beatrice Cenci, Harriet Hosmer, 1857, From the collection of: Art Gallery of New South Wales
Beatrice Cenci is a beautifully carved marble sculpture showing a woman who had many misfortunes befall her during her life. It is carved with great detail showing her to be womanly and elegant.
Veiled Lady, Pietro Rossi, 1882, From the collection of: Gibbes Museum of Art
Veiled Lady is a very elegant and meticulous sculpture. Corresponding to the sculptures of its day it focuses on the detail of the sculpture to show a woman's grace.
Credits: All media
This user gallery has been created by an independent third party and may not represent the views of the institutions whose collections include the featured works or of Google Arts & Culture.
