Italiaanse weduwe 1598

This is Christoph Krieger’s woodcut of an Italian Widow. It's a printed image, made for circulation in early modern Europe. The image speaks to the socio-cultural codes around female status in 16th-century Italy. A widow was expected to dress plainly, as we see here. Her sombre clothing marked a liminal position in society. No longer defined by a husband, yet expected to remain chaste and pious. Visual signifiers such as these were used as an effective means of social control, defining and maintaining class and gender norms. But how do we know this? Social historians look to contemporary conduct books, legal documents, and even sumptuary laws to find further information on the history of fashion and social status. The image’s meaning is contingent on a broader social and institutional context that the art historian can illuminate.