Artesanas - History Lab https://historylab.es Fri, 20 May 2022 07:36:47 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://historylab.es/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-icono-historylab-32x32.jpg Artesanas - History Lab https://historylab.es 32 32 The spinners https://historylab.es/the-spinners/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-spinners Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:26 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/las-hilanderas/ Velázquez's work shows an interior of women working in textiles, emphasising their profession through the fable of Arachne

The post The spinners first appeared on History Lab.

]]> Velázquez’s work depicts a craft workshop made up of women. In the foreground are the spinners, women of the village who occupy the most important place in the representation, where three generations are shown participating in the work of spinning and reeling the wool. Their bodies convey activity and liveliness as they cooperate in a manual task. In the background are three upper-class women, one of whom focuses her gaze on the mechanical workers. In the 17th century, spinning wheels and spinning were poorly paid jobs that supplied the needs of the weavers’ guilds. Although Velázquez depicts the interior of a possible tapestry factory, the spinning work did not take place inside the factory, but in the house-workshops. At that time, the ordinances of 1561 prohibited women from joining the guild (historiographically increasingly disputed), although their presence in the workshops continued. The master’s wife took over the spinning and was assisted by other women from the age of 12, as they were considered servants since they were denied the status of apprentices.

The post The spinners first appeared on History Lab.

]]> The industry https://historylab.es/the-industry/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-industry Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:26 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/la-industria/ Goya's work was executed in a different format from the traditional one for the grand staircase of Godoy's palace

The post The industry first appeared on History Lab.

]]> In the 18th century, the enlightened project of the Bourbon Monarchy opened the doors of the guilds to women, eliminating the restrictions that had excluded them until then without incorporating new forms of production. From then on, the first public schools for girls from the lower classes were promoted, giving them an essential role in the tasks “proper to their sex” (those related to textiles). The textile workshops were spaces of sociability and mutual support for women who worked 12-14 hour days in less healthy hygienic conditions than the work suggests. Neither age nor health were clear limits to their involvement in the task of spinning linen, cotton, silk or wool, work that took place in factories in rural areas and, especially, in the domestic sphere. Some women became masters in trades linked to the textile industry, such as cordwainers or weavers, although this may be an exception.

The post The industry first appeared on History Lab.

]]> The washerwomen https://historylab.es/the-washerwomen/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-washerwomen Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:26 +0000 https://historylab.es/2022/02/19/las-lavanderas/ A group of young women, portrayed by Goya, rest after they have laid out some clothes while waiting for them to dry

The post The washerwomen first appeared on History Lab.

]]> The work of the washerwomen depicted in Goya’s composition shows one of the trades that remained intact in Madrid society until well into the 20th century. They are women who washed for their families, but also for middle- and upper-class people or for institutions such as hospitals and barracks. It was a widespread and low-income profession, as well as physically hard, as it required a stooped position and permanent contact with water. These washhouses were places of female sociability where women shared joys, knowledge, confidences, jokes and laughter. In 1790, a Royal Decree addressed to this group prohibited them from shouting and making obscene gestures to passers-by, which raises the question of male behaviour.

The post The washerwomen first appeared on History Lab.

]]>