women in art, part eight: facts and rumors about the most intriguing women ever depicted in works of art

There are unforgettable works of art and there are unforgettable subjects in works of art. Like, have you ever gone beyond appreciating the obvious talent - technique, style - of the artist whose work of art you are witnessing and instead wondered who was his subject and what the subject's relation to the master was? Or have ever stopped to think whether that sense of intimacy and familiarity between the artist and his subject that you feel, but can't place, is real or something that you;re just imagining? I believe that sometimes the subplots, the gossips, the conspiracy theories if you will, behind the masterpieces sometimes make for far more interesting reading than the academic discussions about them. Stuff that make bestsellers out of books or hits out of movies - as in the case of The Da Vinci Code.

In this hub/blog, the eight part of my series on women in art, I'll be attempting to put some well-known works of art - paintings and sculptures - in a different kind of light. Uh, a curious kind of light. But I'll stop short of declaring whether the information I have gathered and will be sharing herein are indeed factual or mere speculations. Besides, speculative talk makes a more engaging affair over coffee. Or tea. Don't you think?

The hub starts off with the mistress of intrigue in the world of art and the most usual suspect of them all as far as the theme of this hub goes: La Gioconda herself, better known to the world by her other name, Mona Lisa.

for j.d., the purple rose of cairo

mona lisa (1503-1506) by leonardo da vinci

Arguably the most recognizable work of art in the world, thanks in no small part to the endless theories about the subject's alleged secrets, Mona Lisa is turning 504 years old this year (2010) but is faaaaar from being a thing of the past. If only the artist included identifiable objects in the portrait, say a family emblem, or at least signed and dated his work to at least shed some light on the mystery that surrounds the woman in the painting.

Among the many entertaining theories about the painting's subject are:

• She was actually a portrait of the artist himself, that Leonardo da Vinci painted himself as a woman. The resemblance is striking, if you care to look for it. It is also suggested that it could be one of the artist's male models - the face does have some mannish qualities I dare say.

• The face was purely imagined but cunningly mapped out and rendered to hide the religious and scientific symbolisms that are believed to be waiting to be decoded - yes, including the mysterious and mysterical theory of the golden ratio. Or the 'codes' aside, the portrait is said to be a composite of the things that the artist held as ideal in a woman physically.

• She was da Vinci's mistress whom he so loved that he virtually carried the portrait everywhere he went and did several retouches as allegedly evidenced by erasures and other signs of re-layering.

• She was just a paid model (probably a courtesan in a gauze veil) who got bored in the middle of the painting session, hence that smile.

• She's no other than Isabelle of Este (Isabelle D'Este) whose husband reigned at Mantua during Leonardo da Vinci's time and was an influential political figure.

• According to a mid-16th century biography of the da Vinci by Giorgio Vasari Monna (or Mona) the subject was Lisa, the young wife of the artist's wealthy patron Francesco del Giocondo of Florence (explaining the alternative name La Gioconda). But the problem with that theory is that Vasari's book appeared 30 years after the artist's death and it didn't help his (Vasari's) case that he's known to be a writer of the hyperimaginative sort.

• And then there's that 'half-smile'. According to the 16th century writer Firenzuola, the slight parting of the lips at the corners of the mouth of the subject was a sign of elegance (therefore suggesting that the subject was a woman of affluence). And da Vinci achieved this, the smile, using the sfumato technique or the gradual blending of one area of color into another without a sharp outline. This masterful technique was also used by the artist in conjuring the landscape that, unfortunately, even the time of day is difficult to determine.

So, what's your favorite Mona Lisa story?

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alison lapper pregnant (2005) by marc quinn

English artist Alison Lapper was born with shortened legs and without arms due to a chromosomal aberration known as Phocomelia. Her mother rejected her and she grew up in a care home. During the unveiling of the sculpture in London's Trafalgar square, Mayor Ken Livingstone described the piece as "...a work about courage, beauty and defiance, which both captures and represents all that is best about our great city." And that the subject "..is a modern heroine – strong, formidable and full of hope. It is a great work of art for London and for the world.”

Lapper was indeed pregnant when this was crafted, hence the name given. The sculpture is no longer in the fourth column of the Trafalgar as the pieces displayed there are changed every six months and a competition is held to determine which work would be put up.

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venus rising from the sea (1482-1486) by sandro botticelli

Also called The Birth of Venus, this Renaissance thing of beauty depicts the goddess of love quite similar to that of Praxiteles' Aphrodite sculpture - specially the positioning of the arms and the legs. And in both works of art, the goddess is shown arising from the foam as a full-grown woman as described in the written works of Ancient Greek scholars. But the face that could also launch a thousand ships could be that of Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci, the lady love of Botticelli's patron and friend Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici. And could it be just a coincidence that Vespucci lived in a coastal town that, as traditions would have it, was the birthplace of the goddess?

*click on the image to enlarge

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spirit of the dead watching (1892) by paul gaugin

This painting is the artist's portrayal of an event he actually witnessed - that of finding his Tahitian mistress Teha'amana waking up from a nightmare with terror in her eyes which he described as "contagious". As for the young woman, he said "...Never had I seen her so beautiful, so frighteningly beautiful”. Although Gaugin is well known for his portrayal of strong women, this depiction of vulnerability and fright was a reversal of the more common norm of objectifying the female nude.

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the snake charmer (1907) by henri rousseau

It was Henri Rousseau's artist friend Robert Delauney's mother Berthe, Comtesse de Delaunay, who commissioned this painting. No, there are no rumors suggesting that the Comtesse is the black Eve emerging in a disquietingly stylized Eden charming a snake. However, it was her enchanting stories about exotic India and her experiences there that inspired this. And who can forget those eyes.

*click on the image to enlarge

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the little mermaid (1909) by edvard eriksen

The Little Mermaid sculpture found in Copenhagen is actually two women. When brewer Carl Jacobsen (of Carlsberg) saw prima ballerina Ellen Price in The Little Mermaid, he was so taken by her that he commissioned Eriksen to create a statue of The Little Mermaid in the image of Price. Price agreed to model but backed out midway when she found out that she had to model in the buff. The sculptor's wife, Eline Eriksen, took over the modeling chores left by Price. When the sculpture was unveiled on August 23, 1913 it featured Price's face on Eline Eriksen's body.

Another thing about this sculpture is that it has led a life as tragic as that of her counterpart in Hans Christian Andersen's tale. I think no other statue/sculpture has been decapitated, vandalized, mocked and even blasted with dynamite as many times as Eriksen's masterpiece.

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whistler's mother (1871) by james whistler

Originally called Arrangement in Grey and Black, this painting initially drew criticism because the artist insisted it's not a portrait but an arrangement, "it is what it is," he said. Another thing that irked the artist was the interest given to the identity of and his relationship to the sitter, his mother Anna McNeill Whistler who, according to many a viewer, was portrayed rather severely and without any trace of fondness.

It has been said that Mrs Whistler was not the original choice for the painting but the intended model did not show up. It's also suggested that the artist wanted his mother to be portrayed standing up but due to old age, she had to say no. Which is not hard to believe since, and according to many scholars, Mrs Whistler always had her way with her son - barring nothing including his personal affairs. But the rather strict relationship between the straitlaced Victorian mother and her son was indirectly toned down when the artist admitted his enchantment to her face, saying it was "grace wedded to dignity, strength enhancing sweetness."

*click on the image to enlarge

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la maja desnuda (1797-1800) by francisco de goya

The painting above caused a sensation, if not an uproar, in the Spanish society of the early 19th century when it was shown. The culprit - the first clear depiction of female pubic hair in western art. But what woman owned it? Some say the model could be Josefa de Tudó, 1st Countess of Castillo Fie, who was the mistress of Spanish Primer Minister Manuel de Godoy, one of the artist's rich patrons. However, there are those who say that because the painting so reeks of intimacy the subject should be somebody real close to the artist. And they are referring of course to Goya's paramour María del Pilar de Silva, 13th Duchess of Alba, a familiar presence in many of the artist's canvases. Goya was dropped as court painter when the Spanish Inquisition, in 1815, declared this masterpiece to be an "obscenity".

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adele bloch-bauer i (1907) by gustav klimt

This portrait of socialite Adele Bloch-Bauer became the most expensive painting at one time when it was bought by Ronald Lauder for $132M in 2005. Industrialist Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer commissioned the artist to paint his wife in 1903 as a gift to her parents. Though the alleged romantic relationship between Klimt and Adele was never substantiated, many still maintain that the erotic symbolisms - the eyes, the eggs, the tringles, the rippling gown - hint at an intimacy between the model and the artist. And to make their case stronger, the fact that Adele was the only woman who sat twice for Klimt and "appeared" in his other paintings should mean something. Hmm...

*click on the image to enlarge

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venus de milo (about 150-100 bc) by alexandros of antioch (?)

Discovered on the Greek island of Melos on April 8, 1820, the beauty of this sculpture was overshadowed by the debates over how old it was, who made it, and who should own it. The French asserted that the sculpture's provenance was the School of Praxiteles of the 5th or 4th century. However, a section on the base indicated that it was created by an artist from the later Hellenistic era, Alexandros of Antioch. Unfortunately, the section containing the telling inscription was later uh misplaced by the French museum people. And to add up to the flurry of debates, the German government said the sculpture was found on a land owned by them, hence they claimed ownership. But all that publicity aside, there is no denying that the magnificence of this maiden truly lies in the genius of the hands that carved life out of two slabs of cold marble (a line beneath the drapery on the hips marks the meeting of the two halves).

A hand holding an apple was also found on the island and many think it may have been a part of the statue. And if that's the case, the goddess was indeed the main deity in the island whose name melos is Greek for apple.

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olympia (1863) by edouard manet

Many nudes have come before her. In fact, in the same position, within the same elements, the same strategically placed hand. But what caused the scandal when she came out? It's her face... Olympia's face. Olympia was the name given by Manet to this painting of Victorine Meurent, the artist's long-time muse, friend and companion.

People found the absence of a sense of dreaminess on her face immoral. And that her smile was far from being coy, indeed it was more like a sneer - brazen, indiscreet and vulgar. And unlike the nudes of the past, she was not a goddess nor depicted as such. She was contemporary and doing nothing - not bathing, not dreaming nor was she just being languidly nonchalant. But you can tell, they said, that she was lying in wait, as the sense of alertness on her facade implies, for someone. A customer perhaps?

But the bigger question is, was Meurent depicted as she was in real life? Or was she just naturally gifted in the art of make-believe? Afterall, she had previously appeared as a bullfighter, a lady, a musician - virtually many things - on several canvases for the artist.

Meurent was also the woman in the other notorious Manet painting, Luncheon on the Grass.

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ophelia (1851-1852) by john everett millais

Millais' resident muse was the artist Elizabeth Siddal. When this portrayal of Ophelia was created, Siddal was only 19 years old. She was made to lie, fully clothed, in the artist's bathtub in his studio in London. And since it was then in the middle of winter, they made use of oil lamps to keep the water warm from under the tub. According to several accounts, Millais eventually became oblivious of the lamps as he was so into his work. The lamps burned out and Siddal contracted severe cold. Siddal's father demanded Millais to shoulder her daughter's medical expenses to the tune of £50. Millais did not pay the full amount.

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madame x (1884) by john singer sargent

She was Virginie Amélie Avegno, a New Orleans native who became the toast of Paris (where she moved after marrying banker and shipping magnate Pierre-Louis Gautreau) because of her social-skills, distinctly American beauty and alleged lavender-ish skin. But it was her association with Sargent that would cause her descent.

Amelie did not give in that easily to Sargent's pleadings for a portrait. Although he was then becoming more popular by the day, triumphing at the Paris Salon, she made him wait for two years. She was afterall the crème de la crème. And so she posed, donning a black gown to better highlight what were already obvious.

After a long spell of impatient tongue wagging all around, the painting was finally unveiled but to unprecedented criticisms. The gown was too tight, the fallen strap too vulgar (the painting above is the modified and 'accepted' version) and her skin - not her skin! - was corpse-like. To make the long-winded drama short, Amelie did not recover from the social breakdown despite several schemes to reclaim her position in the social strata. She eventually became a recluse.

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big sue (1995) by lucien freud

Currently holding the world record for the highest price paid for a painting by a living artist - $33.6M - this painting is alternately called Benefits Supervisor Sleeping. The London Jobcentre benefits supervisor is Sue Tilley who was first painted by the artist in 1993. On why Freud chose her to be his model, Tilley said : "I think he probably picked me because he got value for money. He got a lot of flesh." Adding, "I was mortified when I got there (his studio) and he told me to take my clothes off." Freud covered Tilley's tattoos with paint because "he adores flesh so much." It was performance artist Leigh Bowery who introduced Tilley to Freud realizing that the artist responded enthusiastically to his (Bowery's) heft when he sat for the artist several times.

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las meninas (1656) by diego velázquez

Okay, so the Infanta Margarita still had a lifetime to go before she can be called a woman when this painting was created but let's reconsider, and she's of the right gender besides. Anyway, what makes this painting remarkable is that Margarita, along with her maids of honor (las meninas), are looking directly at the viewer thereby sharing the experience of being the observer and the observed. And what makes it more, uh, eerie, is the fact that when you look closer, you can see the royal couple (Margarita's parents) in the mirror behind Margarita and her cortege, staring back at the viewer for they are actually being painted by the artist who was positioned in front of a large canvas. In a sense, the viewer or viewers either play the role of the King or the Queen. And Velázquez made sure we get his drift about our "role" in the painting by placing Margarita at the center and near the mirror.

*click on the image to enlarge

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the weeping woman (1937) by pablo picasso

The weeping woman is Dora Maar, a French photographer and artist who became one of Pablo Picassos's mistresses and muses. This painting was created in the same realm that shaped the artist's most popular and powerful work Guernica. On Maar, Picasso had these to say: "For me she's the weeping woman. For years I've painted her in tortured forms, not through sadism, and not with pleasure, either; just obeying a vision that forced itself on me. It was the deep reality, not the superficial one." "Dora, for me, was always a weeping woman....And it's important, because women are suffering machines."

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the nighthawks (1932) by edward hopper

The lady in red is artist Josephine Nivison, Hopper's wife. If you are familiar with Hopper, you would probably understand why he is called the J.D. Salinger of the art world. If not, here's a hint. Hopper used himself, his likeness, as model for most of his works including this one. Here. he is both the seated men. And from that you can perhaps tell that he was a rather moody, dark fellar. But why was the woman, his wife, in red and virtually the lone color in the austere landscape? Jo, was the exact opposite of her husband in character and she knew it. And she also was aware that she was more emotionally invested in him than he with her and therefore, as a way of keeping him undetached, she insisted that no other woman should model for him. And perhaps Hopper was not that oblivious to the dynamics of their relationship. That's why she painted her in red.

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the little dancer, aged fourteen (1881) by edgar degas

Have you seen her?

Marie Geneviève van Goethem was the model for The Little Dancer. She was born to working-class Belgian parents in France on born June 7, 1865 and became a student of the Paris Opera Dance School along with her older sister Antoinette and younger sister Charlotte. Based on accounts in Degas' notes, all the sisters had been his models, particularly in his works featuring ballet dancers. Marie and Charlotte both moved up the ladders of the ballet hierarchy, becoming primaballerinas. But by August 1882, at age seventeen, Marie was no longer to be found on the roster for the ballet. She disappeared completely.

It is said that the death of Marie's tailor father further pushed the family to rock-bottom existence. A very inconvenient situation which forced the mother, a laundress, to prostitute her daughters. And prostitution then was not a very uncommon means to survive. In fact, girls in those days, particularly the ballet students, found it conventional to escort rich male patrons and 'model' on the side. And Marie was no different.

The reception to the sculpture when it was first unveiled was polarized. While some praised the authenticity - Degas used real fabrics dipped in wax and real hair - of the work, appreciating the rigors of training that ballerinas endure, some criticized it for the same reason. Ballet dancers are supposed to be dreamy subjects depicted in dreamy landscapes. And Marie's face, which some described as monkey-like, and unrealistically proportioned legs didn't escape the onslaught.

The last verifiable account about Marie before she was dismissed from the opera ballet tells us that she was arrested for trying to to pickpocket one of her 'clients.'

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la goule arrives at the moulin rouge (1892) by henri toulouse-lautrec

La Goule (the glutton) was the nickname given to one of the most popular star dancers at the Moulin Rouge, Louise Weber, because she can "drain the glasses dry in bars." She popularized the cancan and was among the muses of Toulouse-Lautrec who, despite the criticisms coming from the snobbish and elitist art circles of the time, frequented the place and even made posters for the club. Weber was a provincial girl whose passion for fancy living also earned her the title "Shameless Queen of Montmartre".

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the nightmare (1871) by henry fuseli

The woman in this painting is said to be Anna Landholdt, the niece of the artist's friend physiognomist Johann Lavater. Fuseli was so smitten by her he proposed marriage. Unfortunately, his proposal was declined. Thus, many believe that this painting is an erotic depiction of an unrequited love. A belief strenghtened by a letter Fuseli sent to Lavater in 1779 in which he wrote: "Last night I had her in bed with me—tossed my bedclothes hugger-mugger—wound my hot and tight-clasped hands about her—fused her body and soul together with my own—poured into her my spirit, breath and strength. Anyone who touches her now commits adultery and incest! She is mine, and I am hers. And have her I will..."

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the lady of shallot (1888) by j.w. (john william) waterhouse

A great nephew of Waterhouse claimed that the model for this pictorial representation of Lord Alfred Tennyson's 1832 poem of the same name was the artist's half-sister Mary Waterhouse and that the artist used a portrait of hers. But some scholars believe it was the artist's wife, Esther Kenworthy, who, according to The Guardian "perched in a shrubbery in a small courtyard down a narrow lane in north London – not afloat in a fairy boat draped with sumptuous tapestries."

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the ecstacy of st theresa (1647-1652) by giovanni lorenzo bernini

"I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying."

from Theresa of Avila' autobiography

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girl with a pearl earring (1665) by johannes vermeer

The identity of the young girl in this painting remains to be one of the most delicious mysteries in the art world - undernably rekindled by that 2003 movie with Scarlet Johannson. But who was she really?

The movie, based on a book by Tracy Chevalier, does offer an answer which is almost as enchanting as any of the Mona Lisa theories out there minus the elements of mysticism and quantum physics. We are introduced to Griet, a maidservant at the Vermeer household who was eventually 'hired' by the artist to sit for him wearing his wife's pearl earrings. With undertones of intimacy, the movie was instantly a popular a romantic romp. In it, it was even implied that Griet was the same person who appeared in other Vermeer camera obscura-inspired studies like The Milkmaid. However, scholars are quick to reiterate that the movie was based on a fictional book that has no factual basis whatsoever.  Darn!

Another candidate is the daughter of Vermeer's principal patron, Pieter Van Ruijven, Magdalena. But why would Pieter, obviously a rich man, allow his daughter to be painted as somebody from the lower class? Or was there another side to the story? Perhaps Magdalena clandestinely sat for Vermeer with only a pearl earring,  which may have been overlooked or deliberately painted, indicating who she was. And does that partly-open mouth suggest a deeper association?

Or it could have been Maria Vermeer, the artist's eldest daughter who was probably 12 years old when the painting was done. Or not.

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"This was the only earthly love of my life, and I could not, then or ever after, call that love by name."

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                                                    - The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco)

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