Esther Alegre Carvajal is a university professor, in the area of Knowledge History of the art of the UNED, with extensive professional experience. Currently, his research focuses mainly on the study of female noble elites during the Modern Age, with special attention to elements of analysis such as “the city and architecture within the discipline of art and women’s history and women of the house of Mendoza within gender studies and the history of women.”
In this context, we speak with Alegre Carvajal about the work ‘Female practices in the Modern Age. Between art and power ‘. This publication is part of an extensive career, which includes about twenty books, many under its edition or direction, and of which a dozen are related, to a greater or lesser extent, with the aristocrats of the house of Mendoza.
What identity signs stands out from this book regarding other occasions in which similar issues have been addressed?
This volume is characterized by its collaborative approach, because it brings together the contributions of a large group of specialists that come from various parts of Spain and other countries. Like other books that I have directed or edited, this project focuses on the figure of the women of the elites of the Modern Age, highlighting their active role in the construction and transformation of spaces, collecting, fashion and other artistic practices. Although, this volume has a distinctive characteristic: its ability to integrate multiple perspectives, both geographical and theoretical, which greatly enriches the analysis. The International Congress that has given rise to this book was fundamental to foster an exchange of ideas that allowed developing deeply interrelated approaches.
Together, we can observe how these women not only built their palaces and their cuts, but also treasured objects such as books, paintings or oratories, promoted and commissioned works of art, marked the fashion of their time and actively participated in a wide range of cultural and social activities …
How do the contributions of so many people coordinate, roughly? (With a common link of training, mostly, in art history, they come not only from different parts of Spain, but from other countries (with their own historical processes)?
The majority of the researchers participating in this volume have known each other for a long time and we have worked together on previous occasions, which has facilitated to establish frequent connection and dialogue points. In addition, this book, as I have indicated, is the result of an International Congress held in November 2023, which allowed an exchange of ideas that enriched the approaches to the final texts finally published.
But the contributions of so many people coordinate mainly through a common framework that starts from examining and visible the experiences, roles and contributions of women in society, as well as the processes of construction of gender identities, during the Modern Age, that is, in a wide chronological strip that goes from the middle of the fifteenth century until the eighteenth century.
This analysis focuses, on the other hand, in a certain group: the women of the elites, since it was they who had access to culture and wealth, which allowed them to develop strategies in architectural promotion, cultural mediation and establish a fruitful relationship with art.
In this context, he has focused a significant part of his investigations to the aristocrats of the Mendoza Casa, the ‘Ladies Mendoza’ Why is the study of these protagonists from the history of Spain relevant?
That’s right, much of my investigations have focused on the study of ‘Ladies Mendoza’. The study of these women is especially relevant in the context of the history of Spain for several reasons. First, they played a key role in the social and cultural elites of their time. Among them, we find outstanding figures such as the Princess of Eboli or María Pacheco, La Comunera, to mention some of the examples on those that have been written most. Belonging to a family like the Mendoza house gave them not only a great political and economic influence, but also access to an elite education and cultural and artistic circles that allowed them to perform an active role beyond the traditional limits assigned to the women of their time.
The ‘Ladies Mendoza’ were not passive figures in history. They participated in the promotion of art, architecture and culture, but also had a dynamic involvement in politics and economy. Currently, through their patronage strategies and their intervention in the creation of architectural spaces and urban transformation, today we enjoy a first -level artistic heritage promoted by them, which has left an important mark in history.
On the other hand, the study of ‘Ladies Mendoza’ has contributed significantly to the interest in investigating the women of the nobility, positioning them as a specific, dynamic and versatile group within the aristocratic elites. This approach has allowed works such as the one in this book, where its active role in power structures and its influence in artistic fields are explored.
In this sense, analyzing the ‘Ladies Mendoza’ offers us a more nuanced vision in the history of Spain, since historically the role of women in elites has been invisible. By focusing on these protagonists, we can identify new narratives that enrich our understanding of historical, social and cultural processes, thus contributing to a more complete analysis of the political and cultural history of the country.
What aspects of the work may interest, say, to a less advanced audience?
Through reading these pages, the reader can discover women whose actions deserve a detailed analysis, since they display fascinating lives. We have women, such as Eleonora Álvarez de Toledo, who belongs to a Castilian lineage, Alba’s house, married Cosimo I de Médici, and became the Grand Duchess of Toscana, and was the promoter of Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli gardens, which all tourists visit when we travel to Florence. Or the two bastard daughters of Don Juan de Austria, also a bastard of Emperor Carlos V …
Each woman is inserted into the wide cultural, social, religious and aristocratic context of her time, influencing and transforming that context, which becomes evident in the review of the action of the Ducheses of the House of Pastrana or the Dukes of the Infantado as reading ladies and as patrons of artists, or studying the devotions of the Medici, etc.
Undoubtedly, these women arouse a great fascination and empathy, since their stories not only reflect the realities of their time (let’s see the viceroy of Valencia, Oa Stretch Savelli Farnese), but also their efforts and their achievements, for a long time invisible, and the deep impact they had on the society of their time.
How could you summarize the essence of the four sections that the book consists (patronage, collecting, fashion identities and borders in female cultural practices)?
The first section, ‘The Women’s Patronage. Artistic spaces and practices’ examines how the aristocrats influenced architecture and urbanism. Through six studies, examples of women, both Italian and Spanish, who built palaces, gardens, convents and churches are analyzed, and transformed the urban space, which reflects their deep interest in architecture and its relationship with politics. We can affirm that they contributed very actively to the abandonment of feudalism and the implementation of courtly society, a process that required the reconfiguration of material and social space, and that also symbolized an aristocratization of the European landscape that, in part, still lasts.
The second, ‘female collecting. Exhibition spaces and artistic pieces’, explores, through its four chapters, the relationship between female artistic practices and courtly spaces as places of power. Analyze how women created their own spaces within their palaces, such as oratories, libraries or art galleries, to develop devotional practices, readers or collectors. Perhaps, with some irony and a little humor, we could say that they were advancing to the suggestion of Virginia Woolf about the importance of women having “their own room”, an idea that develops in their famous essay of 1929 ‘a room of their own’ (‘A Room of One’s Own’).
The third, ‘women’s fashion. Consumption, clothing and luxury ‘, examines the clothing turned into fashion, in addition to consumption and luxury, which is undoubtedly one of the most recurrent artistic practices and used by the women of the elites.
Finally, the fourth section, ‘Identities and borders in female cultural practices’, explores, through four chapters, women who were music by profession, to others who practiced heresy, and female objects within mestizo and Moorish worlds.
To what extent do you think that advances in gender equality have enhanced these characteristics in women of the 21st century? How have they evolved (as noted in the presentation of the book) the so -called ‘artistic practices wielded by these ladies as means to exercise and show power’?
Advances in gender equality have undoubtedly enhanced many of the characteristics that have historically marked the exercise of power by women, especially with regard to their active participation in artistic and cultural practices. If in the past, as we have seen in the aristocrats from the 15th to 18th centuries, women used art, architecture or fashion as means to consolidate and show their power within the elites, in the 21st century women have more equitable access to artistic and cultural production spaces. This greater inclusion has allowed women to transform the dynamics of power more directly and autonomously, not only within the art world, but also in social and political structures in general.
A good example of women’s ability to occupy leadership spaces within art and culture is the publication of this volume, in which women of the 21st century analyze, question and redefine traditional power relations through a conscientious study of women of the elites of the Renaissance.
The reflection spotted on these ladies not only recovers their historical experiences, but also establishes a dialogue with contemporary power dynamics, showing how the artistic practices of the aristocrats of the past remain a key source to understand power relations today.
Book card
Title: ‘Female practices in the Modern Age. Between art and power ‘
Coordinator: Esther Alegre Carvajal
Editorial: UNED
Edition year: 2024
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