![]() ![]() The traits of ideal beauty considered fashionable during the fifteenth century were shaped and developed to be represented in a profile portrait. Though social status plays a part in the idolization of the portrait, the physical attributes depicted share a narrative of the beauty standards placed upon women among all classes. It was thought to inspire other women to achieve the same ideals of feminine beauty. Their achievement of beauty and preservation of family name was recognized as the highest nobility for a woman. This was one of the limited means by which women could display their status, especially in formal or public fashion, as they could not participate in the city's political or social life. ![]() Those immortalized by art were considered the culmination of the perfect woman, following new codes and roles expected by the changing structure of Renaissance culture (Tinagli, 1997). Their contribution to society was perceived through the lens of their family name and preservation of it, whether forged or by birthright, and through the production of male heirs (Chojnacki, 2000). Elite women of the time were celebrated through portraiture with the interest of their roles as mothers becoming increasingly linked to lineage. The women in these portraits are perceived as virtuous, beautiful, and decorative, and redefine the traits of ideal feminine beauty through the significance of their wealth and family (Hughes, 2002). Portraits painted during the fifteenth century in Italy illustrated the social role and status of the women they portrayed. Commissioned art illuminates a particular set of social and idealized beauty archetypes in women, shared by the artist and patron alike. The female body was considered the mirror of the soul, encapsulating the perfect beauty, whether exploring the new humanist ideology or applying the techniques of realism to the art of the Church. With the idea of inspiring spiritual perfection, religious paintings served as a source of strength and a dignified model of feminine virtue, representing the idolized woman as chaste and submissive (Verdon, 1990). ![]() Though the humanist form conflicted with the values of the Church, religion was still engrained in everyday life as a source of guidance and political leadership in Renaissance Italy. Artists of the time thought creating visual forms of female beauty through eroticism and nudity was the most genuine way to capture the natural world and demonstrate skill. Despite not accurate portrayals of the norms and realities, paintings of women embodied the idealized notion of beauty through the enhancement of physical attributes and behaviors seen in portraiture and mythological art. While women remained limited in social positions, they were in large part the subject of the art that came to define and symbolize societal principles. ![]()
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