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In any art history class, one of the first things that you will learn about Dutch Baroque art is that each painting usually bears an underlying moralistic message sometimes symbolised by the various objects within the image. A seemingly mundane still-life may actually be a vanitas image, warning the viewer that all earthly objects and concerns are transient. A seemingly benign indoor genre scene may actually be a brothel scene in which any number of vices is taking place. Others are more straightforward, but the moralistic warnings are still intact.
Sadly, however, many of these images cast the woman as the sinful party. Johannes Vermeer's A Woman Asleep depicts a woman fast asleep at the kitchen table. The bright value in the centre of the painting and in the background tells us that it is still daylight. She is also still wearing her day attire. Keeping in mind the strong Protestant work ethic that predominated Baroque-era Holland, we can tell that contemporary viewers would have seen this woman as having sinned, having neglected her domestic duties. By contrast, it is implied, a "good" wife would still be hard at work cooking, cleaning, or spinning. In brothel scenes, while both men and women are committing adultery, it is often the women depicted as leading the men astray-as if men had no free will of their own-or encouraging their carnal behaviour. Vermeer's The Procuress demonstrates the latter example. Three men enter a brothel. One of them offers a coin to the procuress, or madam, with one hand and fondles her breast with the other. Rather than shoo him away or resist his advances, she smiles (as a reaction to the money or sexual advance?) and holds out her hand to accept the coin. There is no act of being led astray because the men have long since been corrupted. The blame falls on the procuress (a woman in business for herself, rather than as a helpmate to her husband) and the women under her charge (women who sell their bodies to any man who will pay, rather than giving them only to their husbands)-i.e. the female party. Judith Leyster, on the other hand, tended to level the playing field-at least in two specific paintings. Her painting The Proposition depicts a woman diligently sewing by an oil lamp. She is hunched forward, obviously concentrating deeply on her work. A smiling man stands behind her, leaning into the small amount of light generated by the lamp. One hand is placed on her shoulder, while the other is outstretched and full of coins. Taking the title into account, we can tell that he is offering her money in exchange for sexual favours. Because this is a "snapshot" into the scene, we cannot tell if he has just offered her the money or if she has been ignoring him for a while, despite his constant pestering. Regardless of chronology, the artist does convey that hard work is the route to choose over fast, "easy" money. At this point, the woman is staying on the straight and narrow, but will good triumph over evil? She could give in to the proposition and be cast in to a life of vice, or she could refuse his advances and maintain her virtue. Unlike the Vermeer painting, the cycle of vice is not at a moment of continuity. Also unlike Vermeer, Leyster depicts the man (rather than the woman) as the agent of corruption.
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The copyright of the article Vice as Human, not Gendered in Women Painters is owned by . Permission to republish Vice as Human, not Gendered in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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