An exhibition FoundlingMuseum is the first major show in Britain to explore how the pregnant body has been rendered in art
IT SEEMS A curious paradox. For centuries women could expect to spend a significant amount of their lives pregnant, producing broods that often numbered into the teens. Births would be conducted at home, attended by female friends and family, meaning that the joys and difficulties of labour were familiar. In Britain women who bore several infants to term were seen as beneficiaries of divine favour, as children were considered gifts “that cometh of the Lord”.
In the late 15th and 16th centuries, representations of pregnancy were usually confined to a religious setting. Artists referred to the New Testament story of the Visitation : a meeting of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Elizabeth, her cousin, when both were pregnant. The scene featured in prayer books, embellished manuscripts and wall paintings, though many examples were destroyed during the Reformation.
But these “pregnancy portraits” were something of a blip. Many British artists continued to represent gestation obliquely, if at all, throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Pregnancy was a subject of strange shame, almost revulsion . Joshua Reynolds, painting a full-length portrait in the 1770s, complained that at almost full-term, his subject “is at a point of time when Ladies don’t look at the best.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Ashley Graham’s New Swimsuits for All Campaign Celebrates Pregnant BodiesThe model gets real about pregnancy weight gain and the pressures of 'bounce back' culture.
Read more »
Ashley Graham’s New Swimsuits for All Campaign Celebrates Pregnant BodiesThe model gets real about pregnancy weight gain and the pressures of 'bounce back' culture.
Read more »
Grimes on Feeling 'Ill-Prepared' for Pregnancy and Her Complications'This whole thing has been a bit of an ordeal. Had some complications early on, a decent second trimester but starting to hurt everywhere at 25 wksz.'
Read more »
No One Knows Amy Sedaris Better Than Her Brother DavidThe humorist paints a hilarious portrait of growing up Sedaris.
Read more »
A Code Switch Playlist For Black History MonthFor Black History Month, NPRCodeSwitch has a podcast playlist featuring stories of the hidden heroes and buried history of black America. Get started with more than a dozen episodes here 🎧▶️
Read more »