Mary Cassatt, Woman in Black at the Opera, 1880

This piece is iconographically linked to a woman’s place in society. The main woman is in black, which means, since she is relatively young, she is most likely a widow. Therefore that means that she is most likely by herself in the opera box, as the painting does not show anyone else in the frame, and there is no indication that there is anyone else present. She has binoculars, which is an iconographic indication that she is actively engaged with her surroundings, and is persistently peering into the world, which in 19^th century Europe was not a world that she was meant to inhabit in that way. From her left hand we see she is holding a fan, which contrasts greatly against her black dress and clothes. The fan itself and the patterns on it are Japanese, indicating that not only is she a woman who is aware of the fashion and the newest trends, but she is a modern woman, which further cements her place in the opera box. Finally, the biggest iconographic indication in the piece comes from the man on the other side of the theater, who is not in focus with the rest of the painting, and is actively staring at her. The viewer knows that he is actively staring at her as he is facing a different direction from the rest of the people, and seems to be leaning forward to point his own opera binoculars at her. His presence is iconographically linked to how men view woman who are independent and out on their own. He stares at her, as she is most likely alone and a widow, and this was not societally accepted during this time period. He goes out of his way to stare at her, and he represents the male dominated society that would stare and gawk at a woman who dares to act differently than societal norms would usually allow. The woman’s strength is shown through the fact that she does not seem to notice the man staring at her, and even if she did notice him it does not seem to affect her as she does not appear to care.

Berthe Morisot, Mother and Sister of the Artist, 1870

The main iconography of the piece stems from the position of the women in the painting itself, and dress and facial expressions they wear. The woman in white in the background is the younger woman, she is wearing a white dress which is iconographically linked to the dress of the younger woman. This is a great contrast to the other woman in the painting, who is wearing all black. The color black is iconographically associated with that of an older woman, and the fact that we as the viewer know from the title that the woman in black is the artist’s mother tells the viewer that the woman is indeed older. The second part of the iconography revealed in this painting is the expressions on the women’s faces. The older woman has a contemplative expression as she stares at her book, she is obviously engaged by it and passes her time reading. The woman in white by contrast is bored, and looks out into the distance in the direction of the viewer. Her bored expression is iconographically linked to the boredom that many woman had experienced during that time. Under late 19^th century societal constraints, women where not allowed many engaging activities. This lead the women of the time to sit idly with little to nothing to do. An extension of the iconography of this scene is the fact that the woman in white blends into the background. This is an extension of the previous iconography, and the blending of the woman in the background further adds to the artist’s point about the boredom of women in the home. The complete iconography of the piece is an image of boredom. The two contrasting figures represent the difference between a young woman who is deeply bored and the older woman who has accepted and is at peace with the boredom that comes with her life.

Harriet Hosmer, Queen Zenobia or Zenobia in Chains, 1859

The iconography in this piece comes from the extended meaning of its subject, Queen Zenobia, in chains. Queen Zenobia was a queen who reigned over Palmyra in the late 200s. When the Roman conquest came through her kingdom, she was captured and enslaved. As there were ancient documents and/or letters describing the capture of the queen, her capture and enslavement had been a subject for sculpture previously. In other works, she is portrayed as nude and captured, and the subject of those works focus on the inherit sadness of a queen who had lost her kingdom and was now enslaved. What makes Hosmer’s work different however is the way in which she portrayed Zenobia iconographically. Zenobia in this work is fully and lavishly clothed with her cloth still flowing, she is crowned and is wearing jewels in which she continues to wear proudly, and she is visibly and heavily chained. The main difference in this work as compared to other renditions is that Hosmer is telling a different story through her iconography. By leaving her clothed and jeweled, Hosmer creates the narrative of the proud and strong queen, who despite everything that has happened to her still wears her royalty and is still proud. All of this is iconographically linked to the place of women in the 1800s when she was working. Women were second-class citizens at best in their own country, without the right to vote, and with little other rights. Hosmer used the iconography of the chains as an extended metaphor of the societal chains that were imposed on women during this time. Furthermore, by creating a pose for Zenobia where she wears her chains and her crown at the same time, the extended metaphor for women is that they continue to thrive and persist in a country that will try to chain them.

Lilly Martin Specer, We Both Must Fade (Mrs. Fithian), 1869

In this painting, the iconography can be drawn chiefly from the title of the work. The title, We Both Must Fade, is a reference to the fact that the woman in the piece is holding a flower and is contemplating the mortality of both herself and the flower she holds in her hand. The flower in her hand is iconographically symbolic of women in general. Women were seen during this time as delicate, pretty, and fragile, like a flower, and often compared to the fact that a flower’s beauty does not last, and is ephemeral at best. Therefore the fact that the flower in the woman’s hand is slightly wilting down is iconographically linked to the future the woman holding the flower will certainly face, an eventual wilting of her youth and beauty. Another iconographic element in this piece is the mirror that she gazes into. This mirror is meant to completely ground the symbolism in the piece, as the woman gazes into the mirror, she is gazing at herself and the flower in her hand. Therefore the mirror acts iconographically not only as a type of vanity, showing the woman looking at her beauty in the mirror, but is almost meant to be the opposite of that, by looking into the mirror with the flower, the woman is now contemplating her own beauty in the context of the knowledge that it will eventually fade. One final iconographical element found in this piece is the box of jewelry on the table beside the woman. These are symbols of her beauty, and perhaps they are symbols of gifts that have been given to her because of her beauty. They are meant to represent that she is beautiful and she knows that she is beautiful, and they are intentionally placed next to the flowers to contrast meaning. The flowers this piece act almost like a momento mori, where iconographically they are most likely an extension of meaning from the flower the woman is holding in her hand, they are meant to show that the beauty found in life will not last.

Emily Mary Osborne, Nameless and Friendless, 1857

The iconography in this piece stems mostly from the way in which the characters in the scene are dressed, and the actions in which they are taking. The most prominent iconographic element is the woman in the center dressed in all black. She is most likely whom the title of the piece is referring to, as her presence in the piece is distant. Not only does she not make eye contact with anyone in the piece, but she interacts with no one in the piece at all. The fact that she is wearing all black tells the viewer that she is a widow. In her hands is a cord, which most likely is attached to a pocket watch. The fact that she is a widow makes the pocket watch iconograhically important, as the viewer will assume that it belonged to the husband who had died. This leads to the general iconography of the setting itself. The piece takes place in a pawnshop, which is apparent as the man who is behind the desk is appraising a work of art presented to him. The men on the left are looking over pieces of art that have been brought. The boy is holding a portfolio, meaning that the mother and the boy are intending to sell the art to survive. The boy is iconographically important to the piece as well, as it shows the reader that the woman is a mother and that she is selling these things as a last resort to gain money for her family and for her child. Her plight is reflected through the iconographic parallel symbolism of the mother and boy leaving the front door of the shop as well. Finally, the last iconographic symbol in the piece is the black umbrella. The woman is in mourning and is wearing all black, but the inclusion of the black umbrella adds more misery symbolically to the piece, showing how bad her luck is and that her fortune is not great if the weather is not kind to her.

Alice Walker, Wounded Feelings, 1801

The iconography in this piece is found in the small details of the characters in the painting. It is used to help tell a story of what is going on in the scene. The most prominent one is the use of the color Red. Red is found on the jacket of a man, who is leaning on his hand talking to a woman. The red is also found on the shawl of the woman, who is leaning on the side, looking distressed. The red is symbolic of passion and seems to suggest that she is a fallen woman who had been wooed by that man in particular. This agrees with the iconography of the single glove on the floor. The glove appears to be a woman’s glove, and the fact that it is left on the floor has an iconographic meaning of the woman exposing herself, allowing herself to be used, and then abandoned as the man who had wooed her is flirting with someone else. The title of this piece, Wounded Feelings, is the key to the general meaning of the piece, and allows the viewer to establish this connection with the iconographical meaning. A final iconographical element is the face of disdain on the woman on the far right of the piece. She is ‘looking down her nose’ at the man who is flirting with the other woman. That woman can be seen to be ichnographically linked to what general society thinks of that man and his actions toward women. She seems to know and expect the trouble that he causes, and her face reacts accordingly towards the actions that she, representing general society, finds inappropriate and despicable. All of these iconographical symbols support the title, that the gentleman in red had used and abandoned her, and is now actively flirting with another woman who will most likely meet the same fate.

Anna Vallayer-Coster, Still Life, 1767

This painting is a still life, and therefore each item has iconographical presence and meaning. It was painted during the 18^th century in France, and that fact has much to do with many of the items present in the piece. Each item in the piece is a display of wealth. The most prominent item in this still life is the lobster on a platter in the center of the painting. Lobsters are found in Normandy and Brittany in France, and for a lobster to be served farther inland in the country (in a city like Paris for example) would mean that the person eating that lobster was wealthy and was not only able to afford the lobster itself but all of the seasoning that would have gone with it. In 18^th century France, where the majority of the population were poor peasants, this decadent dish is truly iconographically linked to the idea of prosperity and wealth. The second food that contains iconographic meaning is the bunch of grapes in the far upper right of the piece. Since the ancient Roman rule of the area of France, the country has been producing wine and has been well known through Europe for its vineyards. Therefore the grapes are a familiar and French presence in the piece, included because grapes were probably on the tables of most people who would also be eating lobster. These two foods are iconographically linked in the piece because they are both symbols of French wealth and prosperity. Finally, the pieces of silver and glass are also iconographical references to wealth. Silver in itself is reserved for the very upper classes, and as there are large silver pieces in the painting, the artist is trying to portray wealth. However, the most decadent of the pieces are the glass cups in the back left of the piece. Glass was incredibly expensive and rare, and was reserved for the elite. The artist painted the glass to show the wealth of the table, especially during this time in which Versailles and the hall of mirrors were seen as over-the-top displays of decadence, this is an obvious iconographical reference to prestige.

Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun, Portrait of Marie Antoinette with Her Children, 1787

The iconography of this piece is steeped in its history, and the history of its main subject Marie Antoinette. Marie Antoinette was the queen of France, and was the queen before and during the French Revolution until she was eventually beheaded. She was seen during her reign as excessively decadent, out of touch with her people, and removed from the problems that the poor peasants were facing in France at the time. Therefore the iconography of the empty crib, the children surrounding and adoring her, and the comparatively modest dress is all meant to combat those previous conceptions about her. The empty crib is iconographically linked to a loss of a child. As it was common for women to lose children during this time, the empty crib was meant to portray that despite her royalty and money, she endures the same kind of pain and loss that most women of the time experienced. The children surrounding her are iconographically linked to the idea of prosperous motherhood. This can be seen as an attempt to humanize her and ground her to a familiar life that most other woman would have experienced. Of course it can be assumed that as a queen she was not raising the children herself, so the iconography and the intended meaning that the artist was attempting to portray was very deliberate and meant to draw familiarity from women and families. Finally, the iconography behind the dress she is wearing in the painting is a deliberate choice by the artist to attempt to portray her as modest. Many of her famous portraits that had been seen around the country at that time had her in a very large and decadent dress, layers of jewelry, and the utmost fashionable trends of the time. So to have her in a comparatively modest dress is a deliberate iconographical attempt to portray a different image.

 

Rachel Ruysch, Flower Painting, Early 1700s

The piece’s main subject and focus is a giant bouquet of flowers, in a vase, on a flat stone surface, in the corner of a room. In the bouquet, most of the flowers are in bloom, although there are still some that are about to bloom and are still in the bud. The most important aspect of this piece is the color, and the reds and the greens found in the piece. Most of the big and relatively important flowers contain red, and the theme of the red color is what continues to draw the eye in and around the painting. There is a bright red flower on the top, a series of red flowers in a line below it, another couple of red flowers below those flowers, a big red flower, and finally on the lowest tier is the final row of flowers that face down. The direction in which these red flowers face creates a line for the viewer, the eye naturally travels down in the direction of the facing flowers, and thus creates a relative line and gives direction to the viewer’s eye. There is also in the center of the bouquet a theme of white. There is a large white flower, and there are brighter white-looking colors around that area of the white flower, thus creating another place in which the eye is meant to travel and focus on. Finally, there is the color green. Green is most noticeably present in the background of the piece, as it is the color of the wall, and even the surface in which the vase rests on seems to be green. However, the green is also a unified background theme as the flowers are surrounded by green foliage. This dark green foliage works to highlight the flowers and their bright colors in full bloom. Finally, there are two sea shells which rest on the surface found in the piece.

Judith Leyster, The Proposition, 1631

There are two main figures in this piece. There is a woman, sitting down on a chair. Above on her right is a man. His left hand is on her shoulder, and his other hand holds something. There is a table between them, and a candle. The flame from the candle illuminates the faces and creates shadows on the back wall. The most significant colors in this piece are the blue and the white of the woman’s garment. The blue is highlighted against the darkness of the background created by the shadows, making the most colorful and vibrant part of the piece, and adding to this exuberance the blue is exactly in the center. The white of the garment pops out against the dull grey/greens of the background, and also contains traces of the blue of the lower part of the garment to unify the piece. There is a strong diagonal line in he piece as well that stretches from the top left of the piece and ends on the bottom right. It begins at the top of the shadow of the man. It follows his leaning body down, and then the leaning woman continues the line as she is leaning in the same general position and direction. Thus the line continues down the side of her body. As the back of the garment fades into the shadows, it becomes indistinguishable from the chair, and thus the diagonal lines ends at the chair leg. The leg points to the corner and follows the shadow, thus making a strong diagonal line that connects both the shadows and the figures in the piece. The other line is a more literal vertical line in the piece that comes from the legs of the table, and continues to travel vertically along the edge of the man’s arm and his head. This line supports the diagonal line in the sense that they cross each other within the piece, thus supplying the viewer with a point that draws the eye and then travels from there.