Vrouw maakt portret van een man 1827 - 1829

Charles Philipon created this print, “Vrouw maakt portret van een man,” which translates to, “Woman makes portrait of a man," sometime between 1800 and 1862. The print depicts a role reversal, with the woman as the artist and the man as the passive model. Philipon was the editor of the French satirical magazine, Le Charivari, in which this print was originally published. The magazine was known for its caricatures and social commentary, often challenging the status quo. During this period in France, gender roles were very strictly defined. Women were largely confined to the domestic sphere, and their intellectual and artistic abilities were often underestimated. Here, a stylish woman diligently paints at an easel, capturing the likeness of a fashionable man who is leaning in a somewhat theatrical pose. The print seems to subtly challenge these norms, by presenting a woman in a position of creative authority, while the man is positioned as an object of her gaze and artistic skill. This image is a playful jab at the rigid gender dynamics of 19th-century France, inviting us to question the social norms that confined both men and women.