Cupid Vs Cornucopia

Each image is obviously different from one another such as the varying display of female figures. Two of the images (Allegory and Psyche Abandoned by Cupid) display a less masculine female form while Allegory is the only painting discussed that displays a more conservative form of dress. The difference is more likely due to how obvious the allegories are to the Classical era. Psyche Abandoned by Cupid and Origin of the Cornucopia are directly from Greek myths. In the Renaissance era, female exposure and forms were more likely to deviate from the societally normal female figure due to the characters being representative of the Classical era. However, Allegory represents values and personified values that the Renaissance people more closely identified
Many females were held to a standard that would allow them to be married and “good wives.” The ideal female would be chaste, conservative except to her husband, demure and feminine, all traits that are challenged with these allegorical paintings. Psyche represents a female that actively and independently seeks out her lost lover. Janssens’ river nymphs show a display of the female figure and, furthermore, a strong and almost masculine form of the female form in contrast the common soft and “vase-like” ideal that is voiced by Firenzuola. Allegory, though not as exposed in a physical depiction, displays women as personifications of a multitude of values. Not only was there a deliberate decision to depict these values as female goddesses, but there was also a deliberate decision to allow these allegorical figures represent “non feminine” traits of the time such as Victory and (war time) Fortitude. Allegorical paintings display their importance by allowing artists to remove themselves from societal constraints and to portray female figures in a different