The Mosaic of Dominus Julius is a late fourth-century or early fifth-century floor mosaic that was put into in the estate of Dominus Julius in Carthage. [1] This mosaic is a reflection of daily life and an explicit communication of the status and wealth of the owners, and what their life consisted of. [2] It is composed of three registers (levels), and focuses on an image of a dwelling in the center, surrounded by images of leisurely activities of the owners.
The first of the three registers is an image of a woman sitting and fanning herself. She is dressed in a simple gown that is draping off her shoulder, decorated with bracelets on each wrist, and being served olives, a duck, and a lamb by a servant of the estate. The garment that falls from her shoulder is a possible connection to the Venus Genitrix, the goddess of marriage and family. [1] This focal point is surrounded by smaller images of figures picking olives from an olive tree. It is not fully known what the purpose of the woman is. She is perhaps the lord of the estate's wife, but may just be pictured as a symbolism of an elite woman's status.[3] Elite women were higher than slave women, but still considered lower-class citizens in comparison to men. This image of a woman being served acts as a statement that represents women, both slaves and the elite, in a positive manner.[1] [1]
The middle register pictures a man on horseback riding towards the estate's house, accompanied by a servant on foot. The central house is built of powerful walls, an arcade along the facade, and four domes representing the baths. This type of home would have been a luxurious country mansion. [2] The right side of this register is of two figures with dogs going hunting. [1]
The third register contains a woman leaning against a column, standing next to a chair that she has recently risen from. She holds a mirror, wears a fillet, earrings, and a dress with a jeweled neckline. A servant stands on her left carrying a basket of roses. Another is on his knees offering fish, and a female attendant gifts her a necklace. The image on the right end of the register is the master of the house lounging on a backless chair. A servant is bringing him grapes, a rabbit, and a message that reads "Julio Domino." Dominus means 'property owner' or "master', indicating his role in the estate, and more powerful position over the woman's more leisurely activities. [1]
This mosaic is part of the pre-Vandal invasion (c. 313–429) period of mosaics in Christian art at this time, and is purposed to reflect daily life and make a statement about the wealthy power of the elite. [3] The mosaic as a whole is designed to display a picture of the great estate watched over by its master and mistress. The images of every season surrounding the estate represent the constant flow of lavish produced on the estate year round. This image communicates an ideal self image that aristocratic masters of an estate wanted to edify for themselves. The mosaic is very clear in communicating its message, both in the images it contains, and its placement in the home, where it would be seen by all masters, guests, and servants. [2] It has since been removed from the home in Carthage, and is now kept at the Bardo Museum in Tunis. [1]
Columbina is a stock character in the commedia dell'arte. She is Harlequin's mistress, a comic servant playing the tricky slave type, and wife of Pierrot. Rudlin and Crick use the Italian spelling Colombina in Commedia dell'Arte: A Handbook for Troupes.
Freeborn women in ancient Rome were citizens (cives), but could not vote or hold political office. Because of their limited public role, women are named less frequently than men by Roman historians. But while Roman women held no direct political power, those from wealthy or powerful families could and did exert influence through private negotiations. Exceptional women who left an undeniable mark on history include Lucretia and Claudia Quinta, whose stories took on mythic significance; fierce Republican-era women such as Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, and Fulvia, who commanded an army and issued coins bearing her image; women of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, most prominently Livia and Agrippina the Younger, who contributed to the formation of Imperial mores; and the empress Helena, a driving force in promoting Christianity.
A mammy is a U.S. historical stereotype depicting black women, usually enslaved, who did domestic work, including nursing children. The fictionalized mammy character is often visualized as a dark-skinned woman with a motherly personality. The origin of the mammy figure stereotype is rooted in the history of slavery in the United States, as slave women were often tasked with domestic and childcare work in American slave-holding households. The mammy caricature was used to create a narrative of black women being happy within slavery or within a role of servitude. The mammy stereotype associates black women with domestic roles and it has been argued that it, combined with segregation and discrimination, limited job opportunities for black women during the Jim Crow era, approximately 1877 to 1966.
Hannah Cullwick was a working-class English woman whose diary depicts her immense pride in her work and reveals themes of domestic and racial fetishism that structured both her life and the society of the empire in which she lived.
The Imperial Harem of the Ottoman Empire was the Ottoman sultan's harem – composed of the wives, servants, female relatives and the sultan's concubines – occupying a secluded portion (seraglio) of the Ottoman imperial household. This institution played an important social function within the Ottoman court, and wielded considerable political authority in Ottoman affairs, especially during the long period known as the Sultanate of Women.
No Wit, No Help Like a Woman's is a Jacobean tragicomic play by Thomas Middleton.
Lyddie is a 1991 novel written by Katherine Paterson. Set in the 19th century, this is a story of determination and personal growth. When thirteen-year-old Lyddie and her younger brother are hired out as indentured servants to help pay off their family's debts, Lyddie is determined to find a way to reunite her family.
Living in a wide range of circumstances and possessing the intersecting identity of both black and female, enslaved women of African descent had nuanced experiences of slavery. Historian Deborah Gray White explains that "the uniqueness of the African-American female's situation is that she stands at the crossroads of two of the most well-developed ideologies in America, that regarding women and that regarding the Negro." Beginning as early on in enslavement as the voyage on the Middle Passage, enslaved women received different treatment due to their gender. In regard to physical labor and hardship, enslaved women received similar treatment to their male counterparts, but they also frequently experienced sexual abuse at the hand of their enslavers who used stereotypes of black women's hypersexuality as justification.
The account of the beheading of Holofernes by Judith is given in the deuterocanonical Book of Judith, and is the subject of many paintings and sculptures from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. In the story, Judith, a beautiful widow, is able to enter the tent of Holofernes because of his desire for her. Holofernes was an Assyrian general who was about to destroy Judith's home, the city of Bethulia. Overcome with drink, he passes out and is decapitated by Judith; his head is taken away in a basket.
The Bardo National Museum is a museum of Tunis, Tunisia, located in the suburbs of Le Bardo.
Prostitution in ancient Rome was legal and licensed. Men of any social status were free to engage prostitutes of either sex without incurring moral disapproval, as long as they demonstrated self-control and moderation in the frequency and enjoyment of sex. Brothels were part of the culture of ancient Rome, as popular places of entertainment for Roman men.
Portrait of Laura Dianti is a c. 1520–25 painting by Titian, now held in the H. Kisters Collection at Kreuzlingen. It is signed "TICI/ANVS F." The portrait features Laura Dianti, mistress, and later wife of the Duke of Ferrara Alfonso I d'Este and an African page. She is dressed in a blue dress with her hand placed on the shoulder of her page as he looks up at her. The painting is possibly associated with a portrait of Alfonso I d'Este. It is also controversial in that it was used to contest the legitimacy of the pair's marriage after the duke's death. It traveled through many locations and was initially thought to be one of many copies until a restoration uncovered a signature by Titian.
The Villa Romana del Tellaro is a large, elaborate Roman villa dating from the late Roman Empire.
A Visit from the Old Mistress is an 1876 painting by the American artist Winslow Homer. It was one of several works that Homer is thought to have created during a mid-1870s visit to Virginia, where he had served for a time as a Union war correspondent during the American Civil War. Scholars have noted that the painting's composition is taken from Homer's earlier painting Prisoners from the Front, which depicts a group of captive Confederate soldiers defiantly regarding a Union officer. Put on display in the northern states for a northern audience, A Visit from the Old Mistress, along with Homer's other paintings of black southern life from the Reconstruction era, has been praised as an "invaluable record of an important segment of life in Virginia during the Reconstruction."
Raphael and La Fornarina is an oil painting on canvas executed in 1813, in Italy, by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. It is the first of five versions of the painting he produced between 1813 and his death in 1867. In 1814 his first version was exhibited at the Salon. The work shows the renowned painter, Raphael, sitting in his studio with his mistress, La Fornarina, on his knee. His embrace reflects his affection and desire for her, while his gaze towards his own artwork, his portrait of his mistress, indicates his love for art. This contrast represents the painter's major conflict between who he loves and what he loves. The mistress makes eye contact with the viewer and her posture, specifically her arms resting on his shoulders, shows how proud and satisfied she is with being his mistress and inspiration. The Fornarina's sensual gaze at the viewer claims her importance and place both within the artist's studio and profession.
In May 1607, one hundred men and young boys were on an expedition where they arrived in what is now known as Virginia. This group were the first permanent English settlers in America. They named the colony of Jamestown, after the English King James. The site was chosen precisely for its location and beneficial factors. Jamestown was surrounded by water on three sides of the land; this made it easily accessible for ships to come and go. It was far enough inland, making it easier to defend from a possible Spanish attack. At the time, it was said that the men had to be able to create a living before any women could be a part of the colony.
Harriet Christina Cany Peale was an American landscape, portrait, and genre painter of the mid-nineteenth century. Although sometimes described as a copyist, a greater share of her oeuvre has been made public in recent years, allowing Cany Peale to earn recognition for her genre and landscape paintings. She has been located in contemporary scholarship as an artist of the Hudson River School.
Cariye was a title and term used for category of enslaved women concubines in the Islamic world of the Middle East. They are particularly known in history from the era of the Ottoman Empire, where they legally existed until the mid-19th century.
In ancient Rome, contubernium was a quasi-marital relationship between two slaves or between a slave (servus) and a free person who was usually a former slave or the child of a former slave. A slave involved in such a relationship was called contubernalis, the basic and general meaning of which was "companion".
The Statuette of the lady Tiye is a wooden statue of a high-status woman from the reign of Amenhotep III to Akhenaten ; Dynasty 18 of the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt. Believed to depict a leading servant of the powerful Great Royal Wife Tiye, her title has been variously translated over the years as "Chief of Weavers" / "Chief of the Household" / "mistress of the harim". It is one of only about 160 wooden statues discovered from the New Kingdom. It currently resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.