Visual of Woman
Christina Rossetti: In an Artist's Studio
The poem In an Artist’s Studio by Christina Rossetti explains an artist observing a model and painting pictures of her. The first quote that I thought was interesting stated, “Every canvas means the same one meaning, neither more or less.” Since before this, the artist was explaining how lovely and angelic she is, this line could mean that she is simply beautiful. I was confused by the part where she said neither more or less because it makes the reader question the artists view on the model. The next line that stood out to me was at the end; it stated, “Not as she is, but as she fills his dream.” I think this line was trying to say that the artist paints the model not how she actually looks or is, but how he dreams of her. One thing that this could possibly mean is that the model isn’t a real person and only exists in the artist’s head. On the other hand, this could mean that the model isn’t as beautiful as models are supposed to be...
I love this image because I believe that it perfectly reflects everything we have talked about thus far in class on women throughout history. The woman in this piece of art has a red handprint over her mouth. I think this reflects the idea that women could not speak their minds and had a lack of a voice in the past when it came to ideas. Women were looked at as people who were unintelligent and whose only purpose was to cook, clean, and stay submissive to their husbands. This idea is portrayed in this piece of art and it is clear that anyone that looks at this can see that this woman is not able to have simple freedom and is being held back by this red-stained handprint.
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