Shield Jaguar and Lady Xoc, Maya, Mexico 725 vs. Venus of Urbino, Titian, 1538

The women of Mayan culture played a vital role in religious rituals. Because fertility was an important theme in Mayan culture, the women depicted in art where often adorned in extravagant jewelry. Although Lady Xoc, the Sheild Jaguar’s wife, is knelling beneath her husband, her extravagant headdress and necklaces show her importance in society. In this relief, Lady Xoc is piercing her tongue with a barbed wire to signify the birth of a son to the Lord’s other wife. The fertility of Mayan women was something cherished by their culture. Women were adorned and the key parts of religious practices that worshipped new offspring. Women in Italy during the Renaissance were idealized for different reasons. Venus of Urbino was the idealized women and wife for patron Guidobaldo. Women were seen as sexual figures and this women looks as though she is offering herself to the viewer as her maids search for her clothing. Unlike Lady Xoc, the Venus is not participating in any sort of religious ritual. Although the color originally on the Shield Jaguar has faded, there is an evident deep contrast in the reds and whites of the Venus of Urbino. The pale white skin of her body makes the Venus seem pure. The colors also organize the painting, the woman is reclining on a diagonal and the reds from the cushion and the maid’s skirt bring the viewers eye to a diagonal. In Mayan culture, women were nearly worshipped as important integrals to society for fertility purposes, in Italy women were seen as important integrals for pleasurable pursuits.