Date of Award

7-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts in Art History and Visual Culture

Department

Art

First Advisor

James Hutson

Second Advisor

Esperanca Camara

Third Advisor

Caroline Paganussi

Abstract

This thesis examines Timoclea Kills the Captain of Alexander the Great (1659) by Elisabetta Sirani as a foundational example of feminine rage within the Baroque period. By framing Timoclea’s violent act not as an outlier or solely reactive gesture, but as a deliberate, composed assertion of power, Sirani constructs a model of feminine agency that defies patriarchal expectations of female submission and passivity. Through interdisciplinary analysis grounded in feminist theory, formal visual analysis, and retrospective cultural studies, this research argues that Sirani’s Timoclea exemplifies the Baroque’s strategic use of socially acceptable iconography to veil explicit challenges to gendered expectations. This study resists reductive psychoanalytic readings that tie women’s artistic expressions solely to biographical trauma, insisting instead that feminine rage is not merely anecdotal or reactionary, but inherent and historically situated with respect, as well, to individual experiences. By comparing Sirani’s work to other contemporaneous representations of violent women, this thesis repositions Sirani as a critical voice in early modern feminism. Ultimately, this research recovers and redefines feminine rage as a composed, deliberate, and aesthetically powerful force that challenges the patriarchal gaze and expands the canon of Baroque art history.

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