Art

    The role of women in the field of arts had been evident throughout the years despite of the difficulties associated with training and the recognition given to their fields. In the early period of the Medieval age, women are seen to be working together with the men in the various areas of arts like carved capitals, embroideries and manuscript illuminations. Historical documents also showcased that women were also involved as butchers, brewers, iron mongers and wool merchants. In particular, manuscript illumination produced a number of artists in this era like Ende, a Spanish nun of the 10th century, Guda, a German nun of the 12th century and Claricia, a laywoman of the Bavarian scriptorium in the 12th century. Meanwhile, in the Ottoman controlled Germany, Hildegard of Bingen rose as the excellent example of the intellectual genius of the Middle Ages. She wrote a number of works like The Meritorious Life, The Divine Works of a Simple Man, Scivias, a miracle play, 65 hymns and a long dissertation composing of nine books on the different accounts of nature like animals, trees, plants, minerals, fish, birds and metals (Grinstein, Biermann and Rose, p. 237).

    The Renaissance is also famed with the number of gifted women artists of the era. Christine de Pizan is a French woman who was remarkable for her work as a writer, critic and rhetorician with her magnificent piece entitled City of Women published in 1405 which talked about the symbolic city wherein women exist freely from the travesty of men. In the same manner, both Catarina van Hemessen and Lavinia Fontana were able to depict their own self with their self-portraits paintings. The two were not only considered as painters but also scholars and musicians of their time. In these times, women are considered inferior than men as their works portrayed the discrimination they got from the society. Different cultures like that of India and Britain have almost the same situations since slavery is rampant at that time. As a result, many women depicted their work through the arts without any direct indictment against the inequality they faced in the society. Meanwhile, our ancestors were definitely responsible for the spread of information about the culture of women in those ages.