How are gender roles presented in Hicks’s triptych, Woman’s Mission? How did Hicks’s image of womanhood conform to typical ideals of the time?

Please bring in two copies of your answers to the following questions (one to hand in, and one to refer to in class). You should be prepared to discuss the readings in depth, and be able to refer to them in class (bring copies or make sure you can access them on your laptop). Also, bring in any other questions you might have for review.

Lynda Nead, “The Norm: Respectable Femininity”

1. How are gender roles presented in Hicks’s triptych, Woman’s Mission? How did Hicks’s image of womanhood conform to typical ideals of the time?

2. How did critics respond to the triptych? How do notions of class and taste factor into the criticism?

3. In what ways was the concept of “respectable femininity” contested in the mid- and late-nineteenth century? What impact did debates over this idea have on the art world?

4. How were certain constructions of femininity made to seem “natural” in Victorian society?

5. What is meant by “separate spheres”?

6. How were middle-class ideals of gender and domesticity carried into visual representations and other conceptions of the working classes?
Elizabeth Prettejohn, “Lawrence Alma-Tadema and the Modern City of Ancient Rome”
NOTE: refer to images on SmartSite for color pictures related to this article (posted right below the article)

1. How can Alma-Tadema’s Roman subjects be seen as counterparts for the modern urban imagery of French Impressionism?

2. How do his images of the city of Rome differ from those of Pompeii?

3. How do his Roman subjects address social and political concerns of his own time? What elements, according to Prettejohn, offer critiques of imperialism? How can we interpret his works as ironic?

4. What is ultimately “modern” about Alma-Tadema’s Roman images?