(#10) Vanitas and the Feminine State
This may or may not be a draft of a visual analysis paper I wrote for my Renaissance art history class. Enjoy :)
In German painter Georg Pencz’s work A Sleeping Woman (Vanitas) (1544), we peer into what feels like a voyeuristic diorama of an unknown woman’s bed chamber where she lies nude on a red bed propped up by a large cushion asleep. In the background, we see a recessed shelf upon which sit two glass vases, a candle snuffer, and a candle just extinguished. While the woman lies exposed except for a yellow cloth that drapes her thigh, the painting is not limited to sexual interpretations. Her pensive expression and Pencz’s parenthetical title of “Vanitas” clue us into the deeper meaning behind the piece. Pencz’s A Sleeping Woman (Vanitas) focuses on an alternative interpretation of the tradition of vanitas in paintings that delves into the feminine dilemma of the fear of losing beauty and youth with age.
Pencz painted this piece towards the end of his life in 1544. While he is German, Pencz’s visits to Italy influenced his style of painting as he adopted and appropriated the Mannerist style of work. In 1525, Pencz was imprisoned for being a follower of German reformist Thomas Munster who held radical views against the Church. He was labeled a “Godless Painter,” which provides context to this secular painting of a woman sleeping since it does not have connections to the Bible or mythology despite being painted twenty years after this incident. According to the Norton Simon Museum, Pencz also borrows from Giorgione and Palma Vecchio in representing a nude woman and the northern European style of painting with its still life elements.
Let’s take a closer look at the figure herself. The woman is not identifiable as a mythological or biblical character–she is a mysterious subject. While she is young, her youth is not fresh. The woman is likely in her late twenties or older. She lies propped up on a curiously large pillow, which does not mold to her body or comfort her. Instead of supporting her body, there is an awkward gap between the woman and the pillow at her mid back. In addition to this discomfort, the woman lies cold, her pale white skin and hairless body only covered by small yellow cloth wrapped around her right leg. Her pubic region is shaved and smooth. The woman’s right hand rests just below her belly button while Pencz places her left hand on her hip. Her left leg crosses the right at the knee. In her sleep, the woman’s head turns toward her left shoulder, leaving her face in profile. Her honey brown hair is pressed against her head and pillow. While Pencz paints the woman sleeping, it is not a peaceful slumber. There is a restless stiffness in her body and a discontent expression on her countenance seen in the slight furrowing of her brow.
The pose and figure is reminiscent of Girogione and Titian’s Sleeping Venus (1510). Instead lying in an idyllic scenery and dreaming in serenity, the woman lies discontent in a barren bed chamber. Venus is commonly associated with love and marriage. Given Pencz’s knowledge of Giorgione, he was likely familiar with this painting and its symbolism. While Venus sleeps with a pleasant facial expression–presumably dreaming about love–Pencz’s woman does not. Perhaps she is dreaming of her own unsatisfactory marriage.
The pensive nature of the woman reflects the theme of “vanitas” suggested in the parenthetical title. The National Gallery in London defines vanitas as a theme found in still life painting emphasizing mortality, stemming from the Latin word for vanity, “in the sense of emptiness or a worthless action.” Vanitas is more common in still life paintings and is typically represented through objects that suggest human achievement such as books, instruments, and extinguished lamps. We see vanitas in the extinguished candle but Pencz’s focus on a sleeping woman differs from this tradition. The typical symbols of vanitas and procurements of knowledge in a fleeting life are associated with men and their endeavors. According to Pencz’s vanitas, it is women’s beauty that is fleeting–not her knowledge or accomplishments. The woman is reduced to her beauty, which instead of ending with death, leaves with age, and her marriage. Pencz’s choice to depict the woman sleeping contradicts the concept of vanitas. While she sleeps, she accomplishes nothing.
This obsession with beauty lends itself to the other definition of vanity: having excessive pride in one’s appearance. Here, Pencz presents a conundrum: women are discouraged from having pride about their appearance yet their beauty is their greatest asset. Other depictions of female vanity use mirrors to depict self-adoration, assuming self-awareness in their beauty. Instead of the surface level critique of women being vapid in their concern over their appearances, Pencz focuses on the inner psyche of the woman before us. There is irony in the fact that the woman in the painting is still young. She still has her beauty yet she is preoccupied by the thought of losing it already.
A larger question remains: why did Pencz want to engage in this subject matter? Is he a feminist painter? Was this combination of the female nude and still life intending to comment on the state of women’s beauty and role in society or is it a coincidence? After examination of Pencz’s oeuvre, such an interpretation would be a departure from the rest of his work. In comparison with female artists of the same era, such as Sofonisba Angousola and Artemisia Gentileschi, Pencz falls short of providing the woman agency.
