Analysis Of Franz Xaver Winterhalter's The Royal Family

In Franz Xaver Winterhalter’s The Royal Family in 1846, the tensions between Victorian mandates regarding women’s roles in society and the emergence of a feminist movement pushing for increasing rights and visibility for women are made apparent (Winterhalter). The painting depicts Queen Victoria and her family, husband Prince Albert and children, occupying a very domestic life. Clad in a lacey white dress, jewelry and surrounded by children, Queen Victoria can be perceived as the model for Victorian femininity and motherly values. However, this is just the surface of the image, for underneath lies a tension between her role as a wife and mother and her power as England’s reigning monarch. Looking more closely at the painting one can see that …show more content…
During the entire Victorian Era, the most notable woman in the “workforce” was arguably the Queen herself, for she fulfilled a highly visible political and social role during the height of the British Empire. However, most women during the time did not garner the same sort of respect Victoria did while working, for most women were restricted to the occupations of factory worker, prostitute, or convent girl. Moreover, even if women did shatter stereotypes and enter a professional industry, they were subsequently viewed as lesser because, rather than tending to their home life, they dared to occupy male spaces (Barrett). Moreover, despite the fact that “working-class women fueled the Industrial Revolution, making up as much as 60 percent to 80 percent of the workforce in light industries such as cotton manufacturing,” women were paid less than men and suffered from low health and safety standards at the mills in which they worked (Johnson 1). However, there were efforts being made by some women to expand the scope of their potential job opportunities to include fields such as medicine, politics and physics. Florence Nightingale, one of the most notable Victorian women and the founder of modern nursing, is just one example of a woman who, within the culture of the time, enacted change. During her childhood, Nightingale studied history, philosophy, mathematics, and languages such as French, German, and Latin, and preferred to discuss politics with her father. Despite her intelligence and her desire to serve God by becoming a nurse, her family denied her requests to seek a nurse’s training because it was viewed as an inappropriate field for a woman from her social class. Despite her family’s initial hesitation, Nightingale eventually enrolled at the