Role Of Women In Spanish Society Of The Nineteenth Century

Role of women in Spanish society of the nineteenth century

Introduction

In the 18th century, both Spanish and European society suffers a change. Initially, with the arrival of the Industrial Revolution, the woman occupies a job in the factory the workshop or the store, but in the nineteenth century it is held in the private field, in the family. The figure of the "Angel of the Home" arises at this time, of great relevance, which will be developed throughout the present document.

The maternal woman stays at home to care for, raise and feed what created with her husband. Thus a place of seclusion for women is built, where the obligations imposed by Catholic religion that dominated the social landscape can be met. Joaquím Vayreda plasma this image pictorially with his work with the Terrassa in 1891 (Fig 1). It shows a mother and daughter in the private field: the woman supported by the shelf emphasizing the separation between the interior and the outside, between the physical and psychological limits imposed by society.

In this way, the female confinement is disguised with sacred dyes and an opposition is produced between the scope of the masculine, to which authors such as Comte attributed intelligence, and the feminine, to which they attributed affection. This is the moment when the idea of purity of women, Marian cult and the Immaculate Conception becomes strength, especially from 1854 with the acceptance of its doctrine and its image. This produces a true obsession with the idea of virginity: the ideal at this time were young women, since they were girls, pure and virtuous .

Of course, the education of women, strongly influenced by the religion and excluded from school, was directed in the same sense: to turn them into prisoners of the family whose only purpose is marriage, procreation and motherhood in a patriarchal family system. The woman was understood as the company of men, so the ideal of women as an angel of the home had become the perfect prototype, the dream and revered by all.

During the last third of the nineteenth century, the representation of women as a mother, daughter or wife will be the favorite. However, during the rest of the century this concept evolves: airs of modernity begin to be interwoven. Now the new woman is strong and fruitful, her main role is no longer to be a companion of her husband, but to transmit fundamental values that help contribute to the change of society .

The nineteenth -century woman does not escape this maternal image or even being upper class, a social level in which it was a sample of the husband’s economic status, invalidating her from the execution of any other activity that was not to be in being inhouse with their children and be used as a kind of trophy with which to show the assets of man in the public sphere.

Fortunately, these women do not resign and seek the freedom and emancipation of the man who has deprived them. Thus, in 1900, the ladies begin to leave, fashion changes and associate them to a greater extent with the sports environment than with the elegant. Faustina Sáez Melgar talks about these aspects asking questions “If women are wise, and it is given, in addition the freedom to use and show off their wisdom, who will watch over the fortune and education of their children? Who for the good order of the house, for the inner harmony, for the domestic well -being, the only positive of life?"

The socioeconomic changes that begin to be seen at the end of the 19th and early twentie. As a result of the imbalance between the public and private sphere that has been exposed in the bourgeois field, the leisure society arises and the emancipation of women and its incorporation into the work world begins.

At the end of the nineteenth century, the first feminist movements appear and female groups begin to be organized with the aim of achieving the defense of their rights. Spanish feminism unlike in Anglo -Saxon countries characterized by conservation and heterogeneity due to the massive influence of the Catholic Church.

You have to take into account the different thoughts of the figures that supported feminist thoughts such as Concepción Arenal or Emilia Pardo Bazán, focused on access to education and a paid and equitable work. Another Spanish figure that supported it obsessively was Gimero de Flaquer, with its conception of femininity and the incorporation of liberal professions, but it was against the male of women, for it the best option was the concept of enlightened woman thatcombines domestic and studies . The fact that the feminist movement continues to support the maintenance of traditional factors implies the non -rupture of the established, but rather the continuity of what already exists, they wanted to change the society of the moment, but without losing what for it indicated its conditionof woman.

This woman’s ideal is represented in different works, such as Ramon Casas Casas work and reading of 1892 (Fig 2), where a woman appears reading in a female cabinet while doing the sewing work. The atmosphere in which it is registered separates it from the work world of man and reads to better educate his children.

For the representation of these, the contact of the Spanish artists with the Parisian world was essential, especially for the popularization of the enlightened press of the century that warned of the dangers of feminist in society and the future of the race. Although in Spain no suffragist groups such as suffragettes were created, there was an enlightened press that warned of these feminist movements describing their acts as apocalyptic. Meanwhile, in France images with male attributes referring to these feminist women were created . Returning to the Spanish field, the representation of women smoking, riding a bike or writing became the first step of the movement.

The men of the nineteenth century had the need to mitigate the terrible consequences of female work, for this they analyzed the set of work linked to women wanting to demonstrate the incompatibility of salaried work and femininity, it is more for these working women supposed a degeneration ofthe race.

The woman had entered the world of work through the industry, without qualification and low salaries, this is because the patriarchal model that, assured the submission of the worker due to her physical and mental weaknesses that made them inferior to men. The failure of the industrial revolution in Spain and the survival of the speech of domestic women, assumed that the working woman left the public sphere. To this is added her relative economic independence, which she could call into question the virility of her husband and thereby endanger the patriarchal model. A relationship between the working woman and the deeply erotic woman was established and with it the union between workers and prostitute became more evident, as shown in different studies carried out by J. Walkowitz, r. Rosen or f. Vázquez about the history of prostitution where it is confirmed that, in the time of crisis, dressmakers and servants were introduced into this world.

Prostitution in Spain will be a constant at this end of the century, this is due to the deep economic crisis that ravaged the country at this time that forced the proletariat to prostitute their women to be able to live. The idea of the pure bourgeois woman contributed to the rise of prostitution since, marital relations should only be used for procreation and not for sexual satisfaction so that, these bourgeois men resorted to prostitutes without breaking the honor of their wife,This will be represented, Josep María Junoy with the Llivertat Illuminant el Mont of 1910 (Fig 3), where we see a prostitute approaching a bourgeois man.

The erotic mentality, aggressiveness and sexual independence that men believed to discover in women will be subsequently introduced as elements associated with the figure of fatal femme or fatal woman .

At this time, prostitution was seen as a necessary good for the maintenance and order of society, but at the end of the 19th century, these will become a great danger to the future of race due to diseases such as syphilis, whichIt extended rapidly concluding that these were the main transmitters, becoming the central theme of concern of public opinion with the beginning of the twentieth century.

The prostitutes together with the beggars introduced the syphilis and with it the degeneration of the race becoming an obsession for the government, intellectuals and artists since, the beggars piled up in the streets of the cities of Spain, being all consequence of theGreat political and economic crisis of the country that resulted in poverty.

Developing

Once exposed the general landscape of the nineteenth century and the role of the woman of the end of this century and the beginning of the twentie.

As has already been announced, until the 60s of the twentieth century, the figure of women has not been of interest to historians and has been undervalued, except, of course, the great historical figures such as Isabel la Católica and Isabel II. From this moment on, thanks to the rise of the feminist movement, various authors speak of women from two perspectives: as a painter, from ancient times with Cénit in the twentieth century, and as muse or object, a model portrayed by artists, generally men.

The nineteenth -century woman is trapped by the political changes of the moment, which have been developed in the previous section. These changes will not contribute great modifications to the image of the woman: the Church sees her as a wife-love, mother and daughter, deserving of divine grace for her actions, qualified as a virgin and pure, characteristics that meet in the archetype of "Angel of the Home ". In addition, most of the women, of the lower class, lacked formal education and were formed by the customs pre -established at a social level, with maximums such as resignation and submission. Those who challenged the imposed limits, faced to be convicted of the Holy Inquisition, processed by heresy and, generally, were taken to prison, less of the punishments.

This is shown, for example, by Carlos Ruíz de Rivera in the lady with his son, painting of 1849 (Fig 4), a virginal woman who behaves as an excellent mother of her children. Another example is Federico de Madrazo with Carolina Colorado of 1855 (Fig 5), where he shows us a melancholic mother who has just suffered the death of her son and cannot fulfill her functions.

Both politics and church, medicine or legislation, the maintenance of the "Angel of the Home" role convenient for them. All of them differentiated this image, associated with the Virgin Mary, from Eva, showing the two types of women. The first one, the image of the Virgin Mary refers to the pure woman, the angel, the kind. The second of them, Eva, was characterized as the loss and feared, in allusion to original sin: who sugges it would be as lost as she. Men saw the last as a danger to their own position in the world and for the patriarchal system itself. This duality will be reflected in the painting.

The image of the virginal woman is embodied at the end of the 19th and early twentie. One of painters that shows this is Darío de Regoyos, with works such as believers of 1891 (Fig 6), in which we can observe the connection between women and the Virgin Mary through an intimate moment of prayer. Another of his works that in which this theme is reflected is daughters of Mary, of the same year as the previous one (Fig 7). It shows a set of women dressed in black who go to church, representatives of religiosity. This issue is not exclusive to painting, but also extends to literature, with works such as the Recent of Leopoldo Alas Clarín.

On the other hand, we find the lost woman who represents sin and relate to Eve. This representation was initiated by the pre -Rafaelitas with common features: sensual women who show naked parts of their body. Painted with black and red tones combined with silver and gold. All of them with striking makeup, especially the red of their lips, and a hair that covers part of their faces, with a mysterious, cunning and intelligent personality and appearance. In Spain, works such as Ramón Casas represent them, as Madeleine of 1892 (Fig 8), a woman alone in a public place of male influx, where a woman was always accompanied by a male. It presents a lost look and handles objects related to masculinity, such as tobacco and drinking. All detailed in the reds, like those of his lips, and blacks.

Colorely, man is portrayed in public environments, as Antonio María Esquivel represents in his different cadres. In case of being in private environments, men are represented as perfect parents and husbands, next to their family. An example that represents man in a public environment is the meeting of poets in the workshop of Antonio María Esquivel, 1846 (Fig 9). The work of Joaquín Bugter and Rull, Jorge Flaquer’s family of 1842/45 (Fig 10), represents the man privately, as a perfect husband with his family. Francisco Sans and Cabot with a family scene of 1878 (Fig 11) also show it.

The image of the woman will vary, although not radically but, adapting to every moment: they will be sick, helpless, fragile, in front of men: powerful, dominant, noble, right -handed and strong.

The issue of helpless woman is found above all in literature, although pictorial examples are also known. Some of these cases are the singing of mine Cid, anonymous work of the thirteenth century, where the story of the daughters of Cid is narrated, which are raped by their husbands showing them helpless and thus losing family honor. We also see it in the picture of Ignacio Pinazo Camarlench, the daughters of Cid of 1879 (Fig 12), where Sol and Elvira tied and raped is shown.

The same goes for the story of Lucrecia who prefers death before the loss of the honor of his family. This is pictorially represented by Eduardo Rosales in the death of Lucrecia of 1871 (Fig 13): Lucrecia is dead inside, about the arms of a strong, gross man. Casto Plasencia in his work Lucrecia of 1877 (Fig 14), represents her dead and accompanied by the people, on her right, all in an exterior, a place full of dangers and, therefore, inappropriate for a woman, who had to follow thefamily opinion. In both representations honor is the central theme.

In the outside world women are always accompanied by their father or husband who protects their reputation and if these are found alone it will normally be practicing charity, José Roldán with the charity of 1860 (Fig 15).

Over the years and the end of the century, the female figure begins to be perceived as the perdition of man and the fear of her arises, not only in Spain, but also in Europe. The man is afraid of the woman who becomes in the prototype, already appointed in this document, of Femme Fatale that leads to sin and the perdition, based on the figure of Adam and Eve. This representation is preceded by Lilith’s, considered Adam’s first woman, before Eva, who decides to flee from Eden to join Satan, her lover.

This new woman, transformed, seeks equality, both at the educational level, as legislative and of living conditions. Consequently, in painting, the fatal woman begins to acquire male attributes, making man a weak and helpless being. Germán Hernández Amores shows it to us in Socrates rebuking Alcibiades at the house of a courtesan in 1857 (Fig 16). In this work we can observe female power over the masculine: now the one who is dejected is man, who has fallen into temptation, but thanks to his teacher, Socrates, he can modify his mistakes. Another example of this issue, which represents it very differently, is the work of Alberto Gisbert in the swearing of Fernando IV in the Cortes of Valladolid of 1863 (Fig 17), where his wife, María de Molina, acts as a queen inA representation where the rest of the characters are men, relating it to the legitimacy of women to the throne that we find in the history of Spain with Isabel II or María Cristina.

As part of the acquisition, male attributes by the woman should not go unnoticed by the representation of these in the field of war, where they stand out more frequently individually, with characters such as Agustina de Aragón, Manuela Malasaña or Galana. They are women with force and courage fighting for the people and will be subject to representation in the 19th century.

This is found in works such as Marcos Hiraldez de Acosta, Zaragoza’s heroin of 1871 (Fig 18), and although very previously previously also in the series of engravings of the disasters of the Goya War, with its disaster7 What value! from 1810/14 (Fig 19) or J. Galvéz in his series Las Ruinsa de Zaragoza with Agustina de Aragón of 1812/13 (Fig 20), based on the previous. Moreover, from this same author we find, on oil, Agustina de Aragón of 1810 (Fig 21). In all of them the Aragonese heroine is located on deceased bodies of men and encourages troops to continue the war. It will be one of the most represented women in the history of Spanish 19th century painting.

These women will also be responsible for providing food to men of war, helping wounded and wielding weapons. They usually dress in the traditional suit of each community to place them geographically, although they were mostly located in the Aragonese zone as the aforementioned. C. Mote with his engraving first site of Zaragoza of 1808 (Fig 22), shows a woman taking food to men during the War of Independence.

These women were also used as an allegory of the Spanish people and their suffering after the war, especially in the War of Independence. Vicente Palmaroli and González represent him in the burials of Moncloa on May 3, 1808 of 1871 (Fig 23), where the consequences of the war and the suffering of the Spanish people are reported through the women of the left side of the painting, one ofThey with high hands remember the executions of May 3 of Goya, this being their background (Fig 24). The woman becomes the great loser within these conflicts: her husbands die and are left alone in the face of adversities, without a basic livelihood.

These images of women in war will be exceptional since, after this they will have to return home and continue with family life. An example of this shows us Eduardo Cano de la Peña with the return of the African War of 1861 (Fig 25). This work represents the return of the husband to the home while the woman is already there with her children, playing her maternal role. Patricia Mayayo talks about this and explains it perfectly "although they participate very actively in insurrections, women are excluded from organizations that represent the armed people and the deliberative people, local committees and political associations" . The good wife who is held in the private sphere takes care of her children and educates them.

There will be many examples that show us the aforementioned private sphere as Valeriano Bécquer does with family portrait (Fig 26) of 1856, in which he represents a mother with her daughters and leaves the husband in the background, to the left ofthe painting. In the background a picture of the Virgin with the child makes clear his relationship with the pure character of the wife. They are also represented by performing domestic tasks such as reading or touching the piano, Santiago Rusiñol with an 1894 romanza (Fig 27).

At the end of the 19th century, the sick woman will become a fashion that high -society women will even simulate. Santiago Rusiñol shows it to us in the morphine of 1894 (Fig 28) and Ramón Casas with the young decadent of 1899 (Fig 29): Both decadent women with a sickly appearance, tired of life, the second with a book in his hand, imaginingbe one of the characters in the novel.

Putting the inner world and outside, the representation of women in the window will be very common, with a history in the Italian Renaissance with French and Filippino Lippi, in the flamenco world with Roger van der Weyden, in the Netherlands of the centuryXVII with Jan Vermeer and in Spain with Murillo in women in the 1665 window (Fig 30) . These works represent women in the domestic sphere and although it seems that they like their inner world, they look out the window looking for freedom abroad. In the nineteenth century they will be portrayed by foreign artists such as Friedrich with a woman looking out the window of her study of 1822 (Fig 31). In Spain, already in the twentieth century, by Salvador Dalí in his figure in the 1925 window (Fig 32). The two previous works are characterized with a romantic air, with a desire they are freedom that seek in heaven or sea, which causes a confrontation between the individual and the universe.

As for the fatal woman, he will develop pictorially at the end of the century finding her culmination and in the twentieth century. It is related to Victorian moral: a woman with deviant behavior that no longer conforms to the angel canon of the home.

Prostitution at this time grows and with these sexual transmission diseases, related to this new woman, being represented by Ramón Casas with 1900 syphilis (Fig 33), a poster for a syphilitic sanatorium. It shows a woman with a flower in her hand, dressed in manila shawl and showing her shoulder in a provocative way, with a snake on the back that refers to Eva’s sin, the first fatal woman.

From this moment on, the representation of the fatal woman, which leads the man to the perdition will be constant, normally characterized as a sensual, voluptuous body, playing with her hair and always in a provocative position. Salvador Viniegra shows it in the fall of Adam and Eva of 1891 (Fig 34): Eva in a provocative position by seducing Adam and wrapping him with his hair, with the snake of original sin enrolled in his arm. As for religious theme this will not be the only case where we find these characteristics. Putifar’s wife is another of these issues: she tries to seduce Joseph without her husband knowing and finally José is imprisoned. Antonio María Esquivel represents us in José and Putifar’s wife of 1854 (Fig 35). Both in this, as in the previous case, women are victorious against man, either through lies or seduction.

Other examples also of religious themes are presented to us Francisco Masriera with Judith of 1888 (Fig 36) and Salomé in 1889 (Fig 37). The first of great orientalism, framed in an erotic atmosphere, showing the breasts and with a skirt that only covers the waist at the red feet, look up and with its hands it holds a saber. I salome, like the previous one, with a red skirt, looks at us sensually, with the head of San Juan BautistMystery atmosphere.

This model culminates in the Spanish twentieth century and is characterized by green in women’s eyes, combined with light (exceptionally dark) and red lips. These same characteristics are reflected in Bécquer’s literature, in his work the green eyes of 1871.

Julio Romero de Torres was one of the authors who most cultivated this pictorial style, creating women, both of light skin and dark skin, resulting in a confrontation between them, such as eros and tanatos but because both represent an eroticism that can lead todeath . These female figures are usually accompanied by normally exotic and fierce animals such as lions, or a snake representing sin.

The Morfinómana de Hermen Anglada Camaras. This oil shows the pleasure of the drug, a woman of the night who seduces men with their charms. This author painted more explicit works that he ended up destroying. Another example of the same author where we are shown the marked character of the green eyes is cool with the green eyes of 1913 (Fig 39), a lower class woman who wears a shawl and a fan that will use for the seduction of men.

Julio Romero de Torres will be one of the greatest exponent of the fatal femme and as previously mentioned, he will carry out different works based on the same characteristics. An example of this is the 1907 gypsy muse (Fig 40), a woman with green eyes and brown skin that marks the sensuality that is not immediately reflected in the work. At first glance we only see a girl lying and calm that stands out on the bottom. Another example made by him is going to be Salomé, made in 1917 (Fig 41), is the one that is closest to the character of the fatal femme of the time: Salomé, of brown complexion, short hair and red lips, shows a chest andIt outlines a smile on a black background with a cypress, a symbol of death, in this case, of San Juan Bautista.

All this continues to develop until the mid -twentieth century. Examples of this are Salome from Isidoro Guinea (1916) (Fig 42), the temptation of Buddha of Eduardo Chicharro (1922) (Fig 43), in which the lesbian theme and others of Federico Beltrán appear as the cursed Maja of 1917 (Fig 44) or Eva Night of 1927 (Fig 45), which will continue to develop the aforementioned characteristics.

Finally, at the beginning of the beginning of the 20th century a new model of women developed in parallel to the fatal femme, based on the booming feminist movements will emerge.

They will be more independent, dominant, valued outside the man who will appear practicing sports, driving or performing traditionally masculine tasks without their husband appearing. Ramón Casas again exemplify with a woman driving from 1902 (Fig 46), where what the title of the work indicates is represented. Another of this same author, the Paris-Madrid drawing of 1902 (Fig 47), follows the same characteristics as the previous. Cecilio Plá with a good 1903 game (Fig 48), represents a woman playing tennis.

Conclusions

The bibliographic review carried out with the objectives scheduled for this end of degree work, its selection, its synthesis and its formal writing, invite reflection and the elaboration of conclusions around the topic on which the entire document is articulated. Next, such conclusions are discussed.

First, it can be concluded that both the shortage of women’s representations and the archetypes developed during the end of the 19th and early 20th century are direct consequence of the society in which they were created. That is, they are the product of their spatial, temporal, political, social and cultural environment.

Second, it is concluded that the representation of women has an end: the observation of their different facets by men, conditioned by the characteristics that society should be attributed to them, of the “angel of the home” to the femme fatale, through its intermediate states. The rupture of the first archetype will not occur abruptly but slowly due to its connection with Spanish politics and society, always to the tail of the European panorama.

Given the limitations of space and time in which this document has been developed, some sections that could have been interesting have been excluded and could be part of future investigations or a major project. Some of these future development paths are the treatment of the archetype of the female nude and the relevance of the 68 revolution for the rupture with the archetype of the "Angel of the Home".