Feudal System In Quinten Massy's An Old Woman

This painting is a portrait of an old woman who is sitting on a chair while facing to the left. She is wearing a yellow flower dress with a beige jacket while sitting in an empty room. Her beauty is illustrated by her curly, gray hair and also her wrinkled face, neck, and hands. These details is what makes her look real and pure. I like how detailed it is because it reminds me of my grandmothers.

Moreover, the Black Death led to a decrease of serfs working on manors across Western Europe as well as a decrease in a noble’s economic power, which led to the undoing of

In 1347 while everyone was off at the 100 years’ war, an unforeseen attack came from the east that took out nearly thirty percent of the known world’s population. It changed everyone’s lives, making the rich poor, the poor rich, and encouraging the population to be self-centered. It was the Black Death.

Before the Black Death struck the Middle Ages, most countries abided by the feudal system in society. Feudalism was very strict and most people would be born into their class, not able to earn their way up. The situation of plague helped break down the already weakening system of feudalism. Peasants in this era were at the very bottom, made up a majority of the population and provided free labour to ensure that everyone had food and service whenever demanded.

The Black Death wasn’t some minor disease, but a disease so deadly and widespread at the time, that it greatly impacted Europe’s population, economy, and political structure. Carried by fleas and infected rats, the plague entered Europe through trading. According to C. Warren Hollister, “none can have emerged from the ordeal unaffected…” This portrays the severity of the plague, and how even if your life was spared by the “hands” of the Black Death, your life was changed in some way. Many people died in their homes, in hope of surviving the plague. Although many perished, those who survived were exposed to many opportunities. According to

After Edward III died in 1377, England experience domestic issues during the reign of Richard II

Concerning color, there is a stark contrast between the figure on the painting and the background. More specifically, the figure of the woman is predominantly delineated in white color, especially pale, ashen white, as far her apparel and facial complexion are concerned, while there are also various hues of grey, with respect to her hair and accessory feather. These white and grey shades are vividly contrasted with the prevailing red and crimson hues of the background (viz. the drape, armchair, and table). Moreover, one can detect colors of dark green (jewelry), some beige on the left (pillar), and darker or lighter shades of blue on the right side of the canvas (sky), which all in concert and in addition to the subtle purple hue forming the sun or moon exude a certain dramatic sentiment. Also, there is brown, which often easily segues into gold (viz. books and attire details respectively). The main contrast of colors between white and red would be interpreted as serving the purpose of rendering the figure of the woman, and especially her face, the focal point of the work, despite, paradoxically enough, the lush red shades at the background. Bearing that in mind, the significance of the woman’s face will be enlarged upon later, when discussing aspects of her identity.

It was determined that the women in the portrait was most likely a freeborn, upper-middle class citizen of Rome. The portrait seems to have been a part of a funerary monument, a conclusion which was drawn due to the pattern of cleavage observed at the back of her head and the sides of her face. It was also observed that there was a

The portrait is displayed horizontally with a gold trimmed frame. The subject is a female that looks to be in her early 20’s sitting upright on a large brown chair. If the viewer travels up the painting the first indication of the woman’s class is her satin, blue dress. The saturated blue shines and falls in the light like water. Paired with the dress are her exceptionally detailed endings to her sleeves. The lace is even painted as though it is translucent, allowing a little of the blue dress to show through the sleeve. Flowers throughout history have symbolized innocence of a woman and her virginity. The repeating theme of flowers, in the sleeve cuffs and ribbon) in the woman’s attired suggests her purity or innocent nature. Another very details section of the painting includes the corset/torso details. The sewing suggests texture in the torso with small beading in between. Towards the top of the chest in the center, the female seems to bear an extravagant, ribbon piece with a tear drop bead in the center. The light pink

The little girl’s dress gives the texture of lightness and seems like airy fabric that would be thin and translucent. The time in this piece is very accurate of the late 1700’s and when viewing it, the time seems classic. The emphasis of this piece is mainly the mother and the daughter, however when looking at them you are drawn into looking at their realistic eyes. The eyes seem like the focal point which draws the viewer in to the picture.

The art and beauty in this painting is exemplified through the eyes of Boucher. It starts with a beautiful couple taking a rest after picking up some followers. Their clothing looks very elegant and colorful which shows that they are aristocrats. The man’s eyes are gazing at a shepherdess who gathered her own flowers. Their eyes are locked despite the man having his own woman right in front of him. The light brushstrokes of the dresses, flowers, and trees

The Black Death decimated about twenty five to fifty percent of europe’s population thus curtailing the amount of available labor and skyrocketing the price of items, the shortage of labor allowed peasants to climb up the social ladder. This dramatic change decreased aristocratic incomes and threatened the power of lords and as a result lords issued the statute of laborers, which attempted to limit wages to pre plague levels and forbid the mobility of peasants as well. The decline in population and the improved lives of the peasants also led to the change from labor service to rent thus weakening manorialism and freeing peasants from duties of servile labor. Frightened lords exercised their power to oppress the rising peasants by issuing taxes and allowing mercenaries to live off peasants land. The peasantry responded maliciously with revolts involving killing, burning houses down and other deadly violence acts.

Specifically , the women's costume is painted by little child . Thus , it shows the importance of the mother . what is more , the painting also shows the society of that period , there is three women stays in the main position of the painting . I think period of that society that allowed a male can find several females to be his wife , but it only has one wife is the most important , it is much easier to concluding from / with the contrast to the colors used by this painting . Only colored in this painting is the most important wife and she was the legal wife (as contrasted with concubines ) . On the other hand , we can analysis of the lines and the description to conclude the most dominant is the central women , because the central women are surrounded by the two uncolored women . Actually , if you look at this painting in your first time for / of a sudden , you will feel that the painting is little sexy , but after you look at the art for longer , you will understand the author using the contrast to with the uncolored and the colored women and different designs for the colored women to show the legal women's nobleness and admire to the legal women

The woman painted is sitting in what seems to be a domestic setting. However, unlike many other painted black women in the Enlightenment, she is seated alone. She is not depicted serving a white woman or doing any labour. The white cloths wrapped around her head and body along with the light background creates a dramatic contrast between the light colours and her dark skin. Her breast is exposed, but she is not sexualized like in many paintings of white women of the period. Despite her less-than-modest exposure, the woman does not show any signs of embarrassment. She is not blushing and her gaze is fixed on the viewer in neither a demure nor passionate way. In fact, she seems nonchalant about her exposure.

McKay et al. (2011), in the combined volumes depict that the most widespread change in society during this era was the collapse of the feudalism and the rise of the capitalist economy. The Black Death had caused the decrease of labor and increased trade and giving rise to middle-class people working for wages to earn a good living condition, therefore the end of serfdom (Tomlinson and Gary, 3). Rulers also realized that having money could maintain their power by instead of relying on allegiances; they were able to keep more knights in service as well as peasants.