Feminine Figure 1600 - 1688

This is Claude Mellan's "Feminine Figure", an engraving on a sheet, made sometime in the 17th century. Mellan, working in a time where gender roles were rigid, presents us with a female figure that challenges those norms, particularly in relation to artistic skill and representation. The woman stands, nearly nude, confidently holding a torch. She’s a figure of enlightenment, standing on a pedestal that seems to have a broken sculpture. A visual representation of ‘smashing the patriarchy’. There's a palpable tension here between vulnerability and strength. Mellan’s choice to depict the figure with a torch might be read as an assertion of female knowledge and agency. What do you think this engraving says about women and their roles in the 17th century? How does it make you feel about the progress of women through history?