CLASS NOTES: The Ligoniers: The Tensions of Gender in Paint (Sexing the Canvas: Art and Gender)

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Notes on video lecture:

The Ligoniers: The Tensions of Gender in Paint

Sexing the Canvas: Art and Gender

Jeanette Hoorn, The University of Melbourne

Notes taken by Edward Tanguay on October 22, 2016 (go to class or lectures)

Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:

feminine, abstemiousness, prominently, equine, gentleman, liberation, marriages, engaging, horses, France, equal, dwarfing, brain, Oxford, flaring, softened, arts, ingratiating, gaze, roguish, duress, Venus, passion, Edward, Alfieri, provocative, noticed, upstage, gentry, marginalized, 1771, quotidian, loved, decisive, tragedy, forced, California, mutuality, novels, cocked, forelock, sensibility, 1771, sexuality, scandal, Roman

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the Ligonier paintings

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, Second Viscount Ligonier

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Penelope, Viscountess Ligonier

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both portraits painted in

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located at The Huntington Art Collections in

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outstanding examples of 18th century portraiture

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fine examples of the gendered culture of

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Gainsborough painted a number of portraits of the and landed aristocracy

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in which take a prominent position

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Ligonier's father George Pitt

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founded library at

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commissioned for Gainsborough to paint both paintings

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Painting #1: Edward, Second Viscount Ligonier

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presents Lord Ligonier in mode, as an everyday man of sensibility

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he is relaxed and leaning against his horse

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the horse is place more in the composition than its master

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and addresses the viewer in a more way

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British portraitists grappled with teh problem of introducing horses into human portraiture without physically the man or woman who constitutes the portrait's principal subject

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avoided direct comparisons of the human sitter and his or her companion

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often relegating the horse to a position within the picture

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but Gainsborough took pains to give the two figures prominence

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made comparisons between Lord Ligonier and his horse inescapable

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the placement of the Viscount's raised right arm

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his dangling hat

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his coat

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server to cut off the receding hindquarters of the horse

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so that it appears to stand upright on two legs like the man beside it

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the horse attracts the eyes as much as the does

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the horse is made to take on some of the characteristics of femininity

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femininity (intended to gain approval or favor)

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the soulful gaze

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the horses alertly ears

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the romantically flowing invest the creature with an uncanny appearance of sympathetic sensitivity

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the horse is threatening to its master as the primary subject of the picture

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or it may be a way to emphasize the quality of the man of sensitivity of one who is kind and attentive to the horses on which he depended

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Viscount Ligonier was the owner of a large stable of horses

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known to spend large periods of time in the company of his animals

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Ligioner is presented in a very relaxed, if not slightly pose

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legs astride

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while his mare stands neatly and and modestly by his side

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perhaps Gainsborough simply intended to accurately represent Ligonier with a mare

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his portrait is not unsympathetic to Viscount Ligonier

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the portrait is a celebration of the mare and her master

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an informal and very lively portrait of a country gentleman with his horse

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Painting #2: Penelope, Viscountess Ligonier

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painted in early

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the culture of sensibility was itself a culture of women

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two sides of the culture of sensibility's orientation toward reform were

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1. the of women from their internalized and brutally enforced limitation

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2. reformation of men

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both stemmed in part from the reformist impulses of women who sought to change mild manners from the vice, profanity, wantonness in the dueling culture of the masculine sphere

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to a way of life that celebrated virtue, , piousness, charity, homeliness, and an appreciation of the

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these values were generally considered to be

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its fundamental intention was to reshape men

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although each sex was to be and sensitized

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some proponents of the culture of sensitivity claims that women were capable of all things

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"there is no labor of the which women are not as capable of performing at least as well as men"

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female was also emerging as a subject for scientific debate

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some theorists of sensibility argued that women as well as men had a sex drive, and that women had a sexual appetite that was as innate as that of men

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the heroines of the 18th century show that they wish for and need sexuality

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but with a partner tested for civility, gentleness and

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novels were full of elopement and of clandestine correspondence between women avoiding authoritarian husbands and their lovers

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with the emergence of woman's self-assertive consciousness came a concern over what was described as the woman of unbridled sexual sensibility, especially among literate women

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one of the reasons that the novel came under attack was that reading them could sexually arouse women and this made uncontrollable

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there are few portraits of this quality painted of women in 18th century Britain that are associated this level of sexual

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less than three months after the portraits were complete and while they were still on exhibition at the Royal Academy

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Viscount Ligonier fought a duel with his wife's lover, Count Vittorio

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Lady Ligonier fled to

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the Viscount sued for divorce

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dueling was one of the practices which the culture of sensibility sought to outlaw

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in this sense Viscount Ligonier failed the test of sensibility

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Count Vittorio Alfieri

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was more a man of sensibility

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poet and playwright

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the founder of Italian

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but him seducing Lady Ligonier and then leaving her would certainly not qualify him as a man of feeling

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Gainsborough noted that he was in accepting this commission

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he completed the portraits under some

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a number of characteristics in these portraits suggest that Gainsborough the difficulty in relationship between the two sitters

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and made a subtle commentary upon it in his paintings

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Viscountess Ligonier stares in a very determined way out of the picture plane

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and away from the viewer

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refusing to meet our

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her look is independent and aloof

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her manner so as it might be defined as defiant

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her attitude seems at odds with that of a demure and happy wife

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or perhaps she's merely lost in determined thought

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included attributes associated with

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the shell motif prominently placed on the pedestal behind Lady Ligonier

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a symbol of

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resting upon the pedestal is a statue of a naked, dancing, bacchant

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Penelope is dressed in a -style costume

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she pulls the skirt of her costume with her right hand to her hip, revealing her petticoat

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all of these features suggest that Penelope has had or will have her way in love

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Gainsborough is sexualizing Lady Ligonier

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showing her as a fashionable and independent woman of her time

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but Penelope's father hung this picture in his house suggesting that there was nothing particularly in the way his daughter had been presented

Vocabulary:

ingratiating, adj. intended to gain approval or favor ⇒ "The horse is made to take on some of the characteristics of femininity, even ingratiating femininity."

abstemiousness, n. [ab-STEEM-ee-us-ness] the quality of being temperate or sparing in the use of food and strong drinks ⇒ "Two sides of the 19th century culture of sensibility's orientation toward reform were (1) the liberation of women from their internalized and brutally enforced limitation, and (2) reformation of the character of men, and both stemmed in part from the reformist impulses of women who sought to change manners from the vice, profanity, and wantonness in the dueling culture of the masculine sphere, to a way of life that celebrated virtue, abstemiousness, piousness, charity, homeliness, and an appreciation of the arts, and while these values were generally considered to be feminine, the fundamental intention was to reshape men, although each sex was to be softened and sensitized."

Spelling Corrections:

wantoness ⇒ wantonness

Ideas and Concepts:

On 18th century female sensuality and the dangers of reading, via tonight's Sexing the Canvas class:

"As the 18th century progressed, female sexuality was emerging as a subject for scientific debate. Some theorists of sensibility argued that women as well as men had a sex drive, and that women had a sexual appetite that was as innate as that of men.

The heroines of the 18th century novels show that they wish for and need sexuality, but with a partner tested for civility, gentleness and mutuality. Novels were full of elopement and of clandestine correspondence between women avoiding authoritarian husbands and their lovers.

With the emergence of woman's self-assertive consciousness came a concern over what was described as the woman of unbridled sexual sensibility, especially among literate women. In fact, one of the reasons that the 18th century novel came under attack was that reading them could sexually arouse women which made marriages uncontrollable."