A year into the pandemic and we still can’t visit museums or other venues. At least we can enjoy art online. A number of my favorite museums are hosting virtual lectures and tours. You can even take 360° tours of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And the National Museum of Women in the Arts has an online exhibition you might like, The Book as Art: Books in Disguise.
Last week we looked at paintings of women reading. Today, let’s take a look at women writing.
I don’t know how I feel about this painting by Vermeer. The subject in the painting must be upper class because her coat is lined with ermine. Also, is she wearing large pearl earrings? She must be very rich indeed. How do you feel about this painting?
The first thing that popped into my mind about this painting is that the subject doesn’t look very comfortable. But maybe that doesn’t matter since she seems focused on the letter she’s writing. Maybe she’s writing a love letter to a suitor…
This is an etching of Phillis Wheatley. She was an enslaved woman who secured her own freedom. Phillis became a literary prodigy and visited London in 1773 to promote her poetry. I hope you want to learn more about Phillis. If you do, you can learn more about her on this podcast by The History Chicks.
I don’t know Vermeer well, but I am catching on that he enjoyed painting vivid scenes of women while they were writing. The detail in this painting is incredible. Did you notice the sealing wax on the floor? There is even a painting in the painting!
What’s your favorite painting of women?
xoxo, Jane
I am impressed by the tension and discord between the very splayed figure and the surrounding smooth, defined shapes! Almost as if she is on a rack. Yet the calm tall vertical shapes contain her while in that taut position.
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You are right. That’s a good observation!
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This is an amazing post. I didn’t know about Phillis wheatley and the fact that she secured her own freedom.
Your description and analysis of the paintings makes them come alive.
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Thank you so much for your kind words!
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