Portrayal of the Nation

• Artists in the 18th and 19th centuries started giving a face to a nation.

• In other words they represented a country as if it were a person.

• Nations were personified in the female form or as a female figure.

• The female form that was chosen to personify the nation did not stand for any particular women in real life.

• It sought to give the abstract idea of the nation a concrete form.

• During French Revolution artists used the female allegory to portray ideas such as liberty, justice and the republic.

Allegory

• When an abstract idea(for instance, greed, envy, freedom, liberty) is expressed through a person or a thing, it is called an Allegory.

• An allegorical story has two meanings, one literal and one symbolic.

Allegories to Nations

Germany - Germania

France - Marianne

Britain - Britannia

India - Bharat Mata