The Market-Woman c. 1542

Sebald Beham made this tiny engraving, entitled "The Market-Woman," sometime in the first half of the 16th century. During the early 1500s, the Protestant Reformation was shaking up European society. Beham, although initially sympathetic to its cause, was later exiled from Nuremberg for his radical views. This image presents us with a figure who is part of the working class, and a woman at that. It challenges the traditional representations of women at the time, who were often depicted in domestic settings or as allegorical figures. Instead, we see a woman actively engaged in the public sphere, making her living. The items she carries, like the rake and the produce, are both the tools of her trade and signifiers of her labor. What does it mean to see a woman, head covered, and clearly toiling for her living? How does it challenge, or perhaps reinforce, existing stereotypes about labor, gender, and social class in the 16th century? There is dignity in her work, but also perhaps a commentary on the changing social landscape of the time.