Women as Subjects

Most of the famous artworks from the Renaissance are by men and feature women. Everyone is familiar with Da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Botticelli's Birth of Venus, even if they do not know the name. Clearly women were a common subject. But why were women such a popular subject? And what do these images tell us?

When looking at the reason for creating a piece of art, subjects featuring women can be put into two categories:

Instructional- these images suggested proper behavior

Display of Wealth- these portraits were used as a status symbol