How had the female figures become an allegory of the nation during the nineteenth century in Europe? Analyse.(CBSE 2016)

1. Artists, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, often made efforts to represent a country as if it were a person. The female figures were chosen to express an abstract idea of a nation. These female figures, thus, became an allegory of the nation.

2. In France, the female figure was christened Marianne, which was characterized by Liberty and the Republic – the red cap, the tricolor, the cockade. Statues of Marianne stood in public squares to remind the people of the national symbol of unity.

3. In Germany, the female figure – Germania became the allegory of the German nation. In visual representations, Germania wore the crown of oak leaves, as the German oak stood for heroism.

NOTE – Allegory was used as a powerful symbol of uniting the people of a country. Artists portrayed females as a symbol of national unity and independence that often reminded people of their common struggle against the oppressive.