When men wrote about pregnancy portraits they used a euphemism, the French word for pregnancy, 'enceinte.'" Every portrait's fleshly secret -- the fact that a pregnant woman has definitely had sex -- had to be delicately managed by the artist. Another anxiety that stalks the pregnancy portrait is death. The vogue for pregnancy portraits in elite circles at this time can partially be explained, Hearn says, by widespread concern over the childlessness of Elizabeth I. The photograph deliberately sustains the contradictions that can be seen in 500 years of pregnancy portraits: virgin, mother, Christian, sexual being.

Source: CNN January 30, 2020 04:07 UTC