Aging and Old Women in Eighteenth-Century France

FAIN: FT-291518-23

Jessica Lynn Fripp
Texas Christian University (Fort Worth, TX 76129-0001)

Research for a book exploring the changing perceptions of the elderly and aging women in 18th-century French visual and material culture.

Aging and Old Women in Eighteenth-Century France is an interdisciplinary study of the representation of menopausal and elderly women in eighteenth-century French visual culture. Men and women lived increasingly longer lives in the eighteenth century. Perceptions about the elderly changed, leading to the creation of old age homes, medical discussions of what is now known as menopause, and Revolutionary festivals celebrating old men and women. Historians and specialists in French literature have discussed the life experiences of aging women, but the topic has largely been neglected in studies of visual culture. My project asserts that old women were more prominent in visual culture than has been previously considered: they appear in paintings of domestic life, popular prints, and plays. These representations add to our understanding of the treatment and experience of aging women. They responded to ageist and contradictory notions and generated new ideas about old women.