Arte is an adaption of a manga written by Kei Ohkubo. The anime reflects 16th CE Florence thriving in the era of the Renaissance. In the 16th CE, Florence was flourishing from cultural and creative revival from the era of the Renaissance.
Being A Girl In The Renaissance Era
Arte was a girl from an aristocratic family who wanted to be a painter. Although she was unaware of the outside world, as she had always lived with her parents and paid tutors for learning crafting and painting.
The era where a woman is considered as only as a burden, where the only worry was the dowry, and the only thing that mattered was the woman's etiquettes, so as the men could consider them for marriage.
Considering the situation of Katarina, a small girl who was told to learn etiquettes and manners as she comes from a noble family. Her father doesn't care about her daughter's feelings or what was that she wanted.
He always looked at her as a burden and worried only one thing, if Katarina did not learn all the things a woman should, the amount of dowry would be asked more from a family he would marry her off.
But Katarina was a girl who was revengeful and never acted like the decent girl her parents wanted her to be. She had her dreams, she even considered to not accept herself as a noble birth. The amount of hate that she carried with herself for those who discriminated against the births as a position to be given for rich and poor.
When Arte went to Venice, one thing was clear, the discrimination against women was prevalent everywhere.
The Era of Discrimination
The era where people were treated according to their birth status and gender. Arte and her master, Leo were the two victims who suffered from these cruel discriminations.
Leo was judged upon his birth status and thrown out and rejected by every atelier in his city just because he was a beggar. Same as for Arte, she was rejected and insulted because she was a woman. Despite looking at their talents and judging accordingly, they rejected them for ridiculous reasons.
Back in the Renaissance era, being a woman and taking up the same profession as men was not at all accepted, therefore rejected. Arte was judged by everyone because she was a girl and was asked to not to get into crafting and painting, but be a woman who could be accepted by any other noble family with her proper etiquettes.
No one believed that a woman could be capable of doing craftmanship as men could, but Arte slapped on their face by showing her true abilities and talents. She was able to do any job or task which even men would find difficult to complete.
During her job in Venice, she was told that she got such a handsome job offer just because she was from a noble family and was a woman, not because of her true talent and hard work.
But she never failed to impress anyone for her great and inspiring hard work. Back when she was there in Florence, everyone spoke bad about her, that how could a girl be a painter and made the city embarrassed.
Her master, Leo treated her just and made her do an equal amount of work an apprentice should do. He never judged her just because she was a girl. Leo always stood by her and supported her whole heartedly.
Use of Art In This Era
In the Renaissance era, where art culture was looked up to as a way to impress each other's business, became a tool for trading. Even though people of that era were not interested in art, they still bought them to impress their clients.
One of the prominent signs for the art in that era was that it was not only enjoyed by the people who were inspired by it but also by those who wanted to make good use out of it in terms of business and relationship building.
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