Sophie Gengembre Anderson — Take the Fair Face of Woman

Added: 2026-05-02

[00:00:00]A fairy.

[00:00:01]Butterflies in her hair. Victorian England.

[00:00:05]Painted by Sophie Gengembre Anderson.

[00:00:08]A woman.

[00:00:10]At a time when women were barely allowed to exhibit, she exhibited at the Royal Academy.

[00:00:16]Her colleagues painted women as objects.

[00:00:19]Anderson painted them as beings.

[00:00:22]This painting shows exactly what men expected of women.

[00:00:25]Delicate, beautiful, otherworldly.

[00:00:29]Or is it a trap? A woman mirroring the male gaze and exposing it in the process.

[00:00:36]Is this an ideal or a critique of one?