Dangerous Women

The Old and New Testaments are full of compelling female characters: good wives and bad, courageous heroines, and deceptive – sometimes deadly – femmes fatales. Dangerous Women presents works from the rich holdings of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art that explore different artists’ responses to the women of the Bible. Paintings by Pietro da Cortona, Francesco Cairo, and Fede Galizia and others stand as a reminder of how dangerous biblical women have continued to loom large in the modern imagination. These stories in this volume show how narratives of power are constructed, interpreted, and continue to evolve over the course of time. While some women saved their people, were paragons of virtue, or repented, others were purveyors of sin, harlots, and seductresses. Even if it was through their misbehaviour, all of these women – from Mary Magdalene, to Judith and Esther, to Salome and Potiphar’s Wife – shaped biblical history.

Contents: Acknowledgements; Why Are These Women Dangerous?; The Danger of Biblical Women; Plates

Author Biography

Kimberly L. Dennis is an Associate Professor in the department of Art & Art History and Coordinator, Program in Sexuality, Women’s, and Gender at Rollins College.

Mary Garrard is considered one of the founders of feminist art theory. She is Professor Emerita at American University and had written and edited many books on feminism and art history.