Seeing women in the early modern period is complicated by various factors. Image producers were overwhelmingly represented by men, as were the producers of published books and their authors. The male gaze also comprised these works’ target audience. Our data set devoted to early modern women, however, reveals a surprising observation. The following images example overarching trends in how women are featured in early modern book illustrations. Through the concepts of nudity and of strength, women and in some cases their power become potent symbols for values and ideals in the period. While three of them depict royals (symbolized through their crowns), the first two exhibit the woman’s body through her nakedness in ways that a male sovereign would not be represented, an observation that is perhaps less surprising.

From another perspective, in these images the crown becomes the focal point and demonstrates that her body is powerful through her role in society. In the latter images, both women are bearing swords (and the second armor). Early modern codes for indicating women differ from what we might expect in today’s visual culture. For example, the viewer will note that many younger women have slightly rounded bellies; this was a symbol not of pregnancy nor obesity, but rather of fertility.