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The "Power of Women" (''Weibermacht'' in German) refers to a group of themes in literature and the fine arts that focus on women who use their feminine wiles to triumph over men.〔Russell p. 147〕 It is not clear who first coined the term Weibermacht, but the term evidently gained currency in the sixteenth century in Germany and the Low Countries during the Northern Renaissance.〔Nurse p. 1〕 Maryan Wynn Ainsworth defines it as a medieval and Renaissance artistic and literary topos, showing "heroic or wise men dominated by women", presenting "an admonitory and often humorous inversion of the male-dominated sexual hierarchy".〔Ainsworth, p. 59〕 Susan Smith described it as "the representational practice of bringing together at least two, but usually more, well-known figures from the Bible, ancient history, or romance to exemplify a cluster of interrelated themes that include the wiles of women, the power of love, and the trials of marriage". Smith argues the topos originates in classical literature and finds it in medieval texts such as ''Aucassin et Nicolette'', ''The Consolation of Philosophy'', the ''Roman de la Rose'', and the ''Canterbury Tales''.〔Harp p. 208〕 She argues that the topos is not simply a "straightforward manifestation of medieval antifeminism"; rather, it is "a site of contest through which conflicting ideas about gender roles could be expressed".〔''c.f.'' Nurse p. 1, who characterises it as arsing from the complex religious and social turmoil provoked by the European Reformation of the sixteenth century.〕 The topos was attacked by Christine de Pizan around 1400, who argued that if women wrote these accounts their interpretations would be different from those of men.〔Wolfthal p. 57〕 In the visual arts, images are found in various media, mainly from the 14th century onwards, and becoming increasingly popular in the 15th century. By then the frequently recurring subjects include Judith beheading Holofernes, Phyllis riding Aristotle, Samson and Delilah, Salome and her mother Herodias, Jael killing Sisera, Bathsheba bathing in sight of David, the idolatry of Solomon, Virgil in his basket, as well as many depictions of witches, and genre images of wives dominating their husbands. The last group came be called the battle for the trousers.〔Salomon, 87; "''strijd om de broek''" in sixteenth century Netherlandish literature and printmaking.〕 Joseph and Potiphar's wife and Lot and his Daughters were somewhat late joiners to the group, but increasingly popular later on.〔Russell, pp. 147–148, Nos 20–32 (Judith), 87–110, 120–125; Ainsworth, pp. 59–66; Salomon, pp. 87–88; Hall, 41-42〕 Tomyris, the Scythian queen who defeated Cyrus the Great and abused his corpse, was painted by Rubens and several Italians.〔Hall, 305〕 These scenes, mostly shown in consistent compositions involving just two persons and visually distinctive actions, were easily recognisable and seem to have also been represented dramatically in entertainments of various sorts, whether as short scenes or tableaux vivants.〔Snyder, 461〕 ==Visual arts== In early images from the Gothic period genre subjects or "classical" ones such as ''Phyllis Riding Aristotle'' and ''Virgil in his Basket'', in fact both medieval legendary accretions, were more popular than the biblical ones predominating later. They often appear on the same pieces as the Assault on the Castle of Love, as on a casket in Baltimore. This and similar subjects of courtly love mostly survive on ivory objects for female use, such as caskets or mirror-cases. It shows ladies defending a castle against men, generally unsuccessfully.〔But not always. More typically the only real resistance is Cupid firing arrows.〕 These images are essentially light-hearted romantic fantasy given a comic treatment; such scenes were sometimes staged as light relief at tournaments.〔Loomis, Roger Sherman, "The Allegorical Siege in the Art of the Middle Ages", ''American Journal of Archaeology'', Vol. 23, No. 3 (Jul.–Sep., 1919), pp. 255–269,(JSTOR (free) )〕 The Power of Women theme is especially popular in Northern Renaissance art from the sixteenth century, which depicts "images drawn from historical, mythological, and biblical sources that illustrate women's power over men, specifically as a result of their sexual attractiveness".〔Salomon, 87〕 Several of the stories involve the killing of the male, and this and their religious context effectively remove much of the comic potential of the group, but by no means the erotic possibilites exploited by many artists. The question of the attitudes shown towards violence by women in the cause of virtue is perhaps best seen in the figure of Jael, whose killing of Sisera by hammering a tent peg into his head makes an especially graphic image. According to some feminist critics, depictions of her turned hostile in the Renaissance, and like Judith she is certainly grouped with "bad" figures such as Herodias and Delilah. Yet she was included, with Judith and Esther, as one of Hans Burgkmair's "Drei Gut Judin" ("Three Good Jewesses") trio of Biblical heroines in his ''Eighteen Worthies'', adding nine women to the traditional male Nine Worthies.〔Russell, 29–39, No 1; Wolfthal, Diane (October 2000). Images of Rape: The Heroic Tradition and its Alternatives. Cambridge University Press. p. 123. ISBN 0521794420; Bohn, Babette (2005). The Artemisia Files "Death, Dispassion and the Female Hero:Gentileschi's Jael and Sisera". Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226035824.〕 The Power of Women subjects are seen in painting and other media, but prints were their special home. Lucas van Leyden made two sets of woodcuts known as the ''Large Power of Women'' and the ''Small'', from their size. Both of these began with Adam and Eve, and added Jezebel and Ahab to the usual subjects. They have somewhat static compositions, and it has been suggested that they draw from tableaux vivants of these scenes.〔Russell, pp. 119, 153, Large: Nos 90, 96, 100; Small: Nos 66, 92; Snyder, 461-462. The small set, of 1516–19 included the scenes with Eve, Jael, Delilah, Solomon, Jezebel and Herodias, the large set of c. 1512 added Virgil and the legend of the ''Bocca della Verità'' or "Mouth of Truth" in Rome. The ''Aristotle and Phyllis'' of c. 1515 is in the same format but may be a later addition. Since no museum has a full set on the same paper they may have been sold mainly singly.〕 Another set by Hans Burgkmair (1519) is known as the ''Liebestorheiten'' or ''Follies of Love''.〔Russell, p. 160, Nos 94, 97. This set contains: ''Samson and Delilah'', Bathsheba and David, The Idolatry of Solomon, and Phyllis riding Aristotle.〕 At the same time there was also an interest, often among the same artists, in women from similar settings who were powerless, or only able to escape their situations by suicide, such as Susanna, Dido of Carthage, Lucretia, and Verginia.〔Russell, Nos 1–14〕 The story of Esther lay somewhere between these two extremes.〔Russell, Nos 1, 15, 16〕 The Little Masters were among those artists greatly interested in both groups. The treatment of both groups, especially in prints, was often frankly erotic, and these groups took their place alongside female saints and lovers both mythological and realistic in the common treatments of women in art. Interest in such themes spread to Italy, affecting Venice first, and the subjects became common in Late Renaissance Italian painting, and even more so during the Baroque, perhaps culminating in the work of Artemisia Gentileschi, who painted nearly all the biblical Power of Women subjects, most more than once. While her choice of subjects is assumed to be driven by her difficult life, Cristofano Allori's best known work, ''Judith with the Head of Holofernes'', uses as models his former mistress for Judith, with her mother as the maid, and a self-portrait for the head of Holofernes.〔Lucy Whitaker, Martin Clayton, ''The Art of Italy in the Royal Collection; Renaissance and Baroque'', p.270, Royal Collection Publications, 2007, ISBN 9781902163291〕 In Northern painting, the Cranachs were the first artists to paint the subjects often.〔Ainsworth, p. 66〕 In 1513 Lucas Cranach the Elder decorated the nuptial bed of John, Elector of Saxony with a set of scenes including ''The Idolatry of Solomon'' as well as ''Hercules and Omphale'' (see below) and the ''Judgement of Paris''. The respective sons of the patron and artist, John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony and Lucas Cranach the Younger, generated another set of paintings, now in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister.〔Ainsworth, p. 62〕 The possibility has been raised that some of the Cranach workshop's many ''Judith''s are portraits of ladies at the Saxon court;〔Ainsworth, pp. 63–66〕 some other paintings of Jael certainly are portraits. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Power of Women」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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