An Illustration of Two "Spheres"

While reading The Madwoman in the Attic I began to think about the relationship of the woman as an object in relationship of Renaissance paintings. Specifically, when the author quotes that the woman must consider the inevitability of “uncomfortable spatial options of expulsion into the cold outside or suffocation in the hot indoors” I began to think of how women were first famously illustrated in these High Renaissance paintings. In Fra Angelico’s “The Annunciation” we see a perfect example of Mary being kept inside, while the dangers of the outside are subtly highlighted to show the dangers of the wild to not only people within the world of the painting but Mary herself. The imagery of enclosure works well for the scene illustrated, Gabriel flying inside of the small claustrophobic area Mary is painted into, while the outside leaves an ominous note of how people interpreted the dangerous world of the outside. Specifically, the use of the cypress tree as an image of death is used as a suggestion of these dangers. Mary, who is very much “stuck” inside of the sphere of the home in painting is also doomed if she leaves the safety of the inside for the outside world. The painting almost suggests that Mary is stuck in between her decision of two places, motherhood, or the wild.

Fra Angelico's "The Annunciation" showing the inside and outside for a female figure

Source: (https://www.artbible.info/art/large/255.html)