Gendered Allegories of Power and Warfare: Warrior Women as Personifications in Early Modern Art
abstract
geographical personifications during the early modern period, focusing on sixteenth-century Italian painting. It analyses, through case studies, the ancient origin of these predominantly feminine allegories, the circumstances in which they appeared in painting and the role played by warfare in their proliferation. Additionally, the study delves into the gender dynamics at play, emphasizing how the visual portrayal of cities, countries, and republics as women, metaphorically positioned them as mothers, lovers, wives, or maidens within rhetorical discourses and propagandistic imagery.
Keywords: Sixteenth-century Italian art • Politics • Warfare • Iconography • Allegory • Geographical personifications • Gendered bodies