> That being said, it's incredibly sad that women were so devalued and minimized in that time.

This might be traced back to the 'first' art critic, John Ruskin campaigned vigorously for a better education for women and girls than was available. However, a big motivator for this was his fear of industrialisation. He saw woman as the counter-balance to this force, and strongly positioned them as the centre of family life: feminine and (importantly) uncompetitive.

Much art criticism that followed inherited these assumptions.