Horace Vernet and the Thresholds of Nineteenth-Century Visual Culture


Book Description

This collection reconsiders the life and work of Emile Jean-Horace Vernet (1789-1863), presenting him as a crucial figure for understanding the visual culture of modernity. The book includes work by senior and emerging scholars, showing that Vernet was a multifaceted artist who moved with ease across the thresholds of genre and media to cultivate an image of himself as the embodiment of modern France. In tune with his times, skilled at using modern technologies of visual reproduction to advance his reputation, Vernet appealed to patrons from across the political spectrum and made works that nineteenth-century audiences adored. Even Baudelaire, who reviled Vernet and his art and whose judgment has played a significant role in consigning Vernet to art-historical obscurity, acknowledged that the artist was the most complete representative of his age. For those with an interest in the intersection of art and modern media, politics, imperialism, and fashion, the essays in this volume offer a rich reward.




French Images from the Greek War of Independence (1821-1830)


Book Description

The Greek struggle against Ottoman rule was a crucial event in the history and politics of nineteenth-century Europe. In particular it had a strong impact on the political and cultural life of France during the Bourbon Restoration, where it was appropriated and promoted as the symbolic spearhead of liberal ideas and of the growing Romantic rebellion. This book by Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer examines the French paintings, prints, and sculptures inspired by the Greek War of Independence. Athanassoglou-Kallmyer reinterprets important works by the foremost exponents of the Romantic movement - including Delacroix, Gericault, Horace Vernet, Ary Scheffer, and David d’Angers - showing how they viewed the Greek struggle as a setting for the opposing forces of conservatism and liberalism. She explains that, far from being mere pictorial records of specific war episodes such as the massacre at Chios or the fall of Missolonghi, images of the clashes between Greeks and Turks reflected the mottos and arguments of the French liberal propaganda echoed as well by contemporary newspapers, parliamentary debates, broadsides, pamphlets, popular plays, and poems.




The Final Spectacle


Book Description

The book examines military paintings in France in the 1850s and 1860s, when the genre experienced a new lease of life. It recreates the paintings’ art-historical, historical and social context, and considers the explosion of military subjects in their own right rather than as a consequence of war reporting. The paintings’ entertainment value effectively communicated political agendas, catering to the emerging phenomenon of mass spectatorship and giving rise to innovative compositions. The book also looks at the other side of the artistic spectrum, proposing that smaller formats adapted the sentimental techniques of military memoirs to focus on the soldiers’ experiences of warfare and to elicit a critique of war.







The Afterlife of Ophelia


Book Description

This collection of new essays is the first to explore the rich afterlife of one of Shakespeare's most recognizable characters. With contributions from an international group of established and emerging scholars, The Afterlife of Ophelia moves beyond the confines of existing scholarship and forges new lines of inquiry beyond Shakespeare studies.




Ingres and His Critics


Book Description

This book examines the critical writing and journalistic reportage on Jean-Auguste-Dominque Ingres, from the time of his renunciation of the Salon in1834 until his large retrospective at the 1855 Universal Exposition, the crucial middle decades of his career. This massive body of writing demonstrates how Ingres shaped his career in the rapidly evolving art world of mid-nineteenth century Paris. Enjoying the benefits of his affiliation with the Academy, the artist also employed certain modes of presentation, most notably the single-artist exhibition and illustrated monograph, through which he distanced himself and his work from the embattled world of artistic officialdom.




Husbands, Wives, and Lovers


Book Description

In this interdisciplinary exploration of the cultural and social history of early 19th-century France, Patricia Mainardi focuses on what was considered a major social problem of the time - adultery. In a period when expectations about marriage were changing, the problems of husbands, wives and lovers became a major theme in theatre, literature and the visual arts. The author demonstrates that this intense interest was historically grounded in the post-revolutionary collision between the new concept of the individual's right to happiness and the traditional prerogatives of family and state. duty or happiness more important? Are arranged marriages doomed to be empty of love and poisoned by adultery? Should adulterous wives and their lovers be punished while husbands may commit adultery with impunity? Out of such legal, social and cultural debates ultimately emerged modern bourgeois family values, Mainardi argues. And she illuminates how art, in all its varieties, both influences and is influenced by social change.




The Soldier's Reward


Book Description

A sweeping history of intimacy and family life in France during the age of revolution The French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars devastated Europe for nearly a quarter of a century. The Soldier’s Reward recovers the stories of soldiers and their relationships to family and domestic life during this period, revealing how prolonged warfare transformed family and gender dynamics and gave rise to new kinds of citizenship. In this groundbreaking work combining social, cultural, gender, and military history, Jennifer Ngaire Heuer vividly describes how men fought for years with only fleeting moments of peace. Combatants were promised promotion, financial gain, and patriotic glory. They were also rewarded for their service by being allowed to return home to waiting families and love interests, and with marriages that were arranged and financially supported by the state. Heuer explores competing ideas of masculinity in France, as well as the experiences of the men and women who participated in such marriages. She argues that we cannot fully understand the changing nature of war and peace in this period without considering the important roles played by family, gender, and romantic entanglements. Casting new light on a turbulent era of mass mobilization and seemingly endless conflict, The Soldier’s Reward shows how, from the Revolution through the Restoration, war, intimacy, and citizenship intersected in France in new and unexpected ways.




A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Art


Book Description

A comprehensive review of art in the first truly modern century A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Art contains contributions from an international panel of noted experts to offer a broad overview of both national and transnational developments, as well as new and innovative investigations of individual art works, artists, and issues. The text puts to rest the skewed perception of nineteenth-century art as primarily Paris-centric by including major developments beyond the French borders. The contributors present a more holistic and nuanced understanding of the art world during this first modern century. In addition to highlighting particular national identities of artists, A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Art also puts the focus on other aspects of identity including individual, ethnic, gender, and religious. The text explores a wealth of relevant topics such as: the challenges the artists faced; how artists learned their craft and how they met clients; the circumstances that affected artist’s choices and the opportunities they encountered; and where the public and critics experienced art. This important text: Offers a comprehensive review of nineteenth-century art that covers the most pressing issues and significant artists of the era Covers a wealth of important topics such as: ethnic and gender identity, certain general trends in the nineteenth century, an overview of the art market during the period, and much more Presents novel and valuable insights into familiar works and their artists Written for students of art history and those studying the history of the nineteenth century, A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Art offers a comprehensive review of the first modern era art with contributions from noted experts in the field.