Description
Between the 19th and 20th centuries, childhood gained great prominence in Spanish and European visual arts. In painting and sculpture, as well as in graphic arts and photography, girls and adolescents captured the imagination of many artists. The Prado's collections from this period reflected this growing interest, encompassing remarkable works of social painting that depicted issues such as childhood illness and orphanhood, portraits of daughters of Spain’s wealthy bourgeoisie, as well as images of young girls in 19th-century rural Spain and urban girls during a time of increasing schooling.The talk presented a critical review of the discourses and representations of female childhood and adolescence in the Prado’s collections, understanding that "the girl" was never a fixed subject but rather was shaped according to the cultural, medical, and legal codes of the time. From this gendered perspective, the discussion aimed to explore, on one hand, the diversity of female childhoods, and on the other, how this abundant visual repertoire contributed—alongside other discourses in the press, conduct books, and popular novels—to debates on girls concerning family models, health and hygiene, and sexuality.
The research workshop consisted of a lecture followed by a discussion with professor Patricia Mayayo Bost, researcher Carmen Gaitán Salinas, and director of the Museo del Romanticismo Carolina de Miguel Arroyo, in which an initial response was reserved for three invited commentators. After their contributions, the debate remained open for a maximum of one hour.
| Period | 3 Feb 2023 |
|---|---|
| Event type | Workshop |
| Location | Madrid, SpainShow on map |