En route Project – Vatican Apostolic Library

In the Victorian era, the female condition was seen primarily through the lens of domestic vigilance, with the woman’s main duties being wife and mother. Young women from respectable families, introduced to society, had only a few years to find a husband and settle down; once this was achieved, their role was to bear children, heirs, and oversee the house and its activities.

A section of the exhibition is dedicated to illustrating this social and cultural condition—now thankfully outdated—featuring a passageway between the exhibition spaces and the Barberini Hall. In this space, visitors can explore a selection of some of the key literary works and publications aimed at the female audience of the time.
In a large showcase on one of the so-called Poniatowski tables, two examples of moral tales, with a strong Protestant and pedagogical character, will be displayed. These works were dedicated to the education of youth: Household Troops, or Small Service is True Service by Mary Harriette Debenham (R.G. Lett. Est. 2.V.53) and the famous A Peep Behind the Scenes by Amy Catherine Walton, better known as Mrs. O. F. Walton (R.G. Lett. Est. 2.V.52).

Also featured is a volume of La Mode Illustrée, which, despite its name, was not a magazine about fashion and costumes but a women’s periodical founded in 1860 by Emmeline Raymond, with an almost entirely male editorial staff. Aimed at middle-class women, it provided advice and guidance on various aspects of daily life, from clothing to hairstyling, from home decor to child-rearing, from gardening to embroidery to cooking, as well as tips on etiquette and social life.

Continua: In dialogo con Maria Grazia Chiuri