Portraying Pregnancy: Holbein to Social Media

by Karen Hearn

Though many early modern women spent much of their lives in a state of pregnancy, their pregnancies are seldom made apparent in surviving portraits. Comprising material from the fifteenth century to the present day, Portraying Pregnancy considers the different ways in which a sitter’s pregnancy was, or was not, visibly represented to the viewer. 
 
Over a span of more than five hundred years, art historian Karen Hearn looks at representations of pregnancy through the ages and interrogates how the social mores and preoccupations of different periods affected the ways in which pregnant women were visually depicted. Exploring different religious, cultural, and historical settings, Hearn reveals how portrayals of pregnancy have changed over time and across contexts. Some portraits reinforce an “ideal” female role while others celebrate fertility or assert shock value. Eighty color images accompany Hearn’s extensive and illuminating history, including painted portraits, drawings, miniatures, prints, photographs, sculpture, textiles, and objects.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, History

112 pages, Paperback

Published April 4, 2020

Reviews

[Rachel McNeil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, and it’s quite interesting that people chose to omit pregnancies from their portraits on purpose. I first heard about Karen’s research while on a conference and bought her book then and there. It’s not a long read, but it’s great. I gave four stars because I felt like the meat of the book was really the Tudor and Jacobean portraits (which make sense) and everything covered later seemed a bit rushed and brief for my liking. Also, there was confusion over the name of Prince Charlotte’s man-midwife, who on one page was called Richard and on the other Robert. I would recommend this book to others though as it was worth the money.

[Charlotta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was interesting look to how pregnancy was potrayed in different eras. It is a really good quick look to the subject.