On: Genre Painting
c>log
Genre painting (from the French word genre, meaning "type" or "kind") is a term applied to works that depict secular scenes of everyday domestic work or recreation. The term is commonly used to distinguish such paintings from works of a religious, historical, or ceremonial character, which tend to elevate their subjects above the mundane level of ordinary existence.
Genre painting, which is characterized by realism, first appears as an element in early Renaissance art and northern European 15th-century religious painting. The frescoes Good Government (1339) in the Palazzo Publico, Siena, by Ambrogio Lorenzetti and the illuminated manuscript the Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (c.1416; Musee Conde, Chantilly, France) by the Limbourg Brothers, combine glimpses of the daily life of the time with political and devotional themes.
Genre scenes play a far larger part in the work of Albrecht Durer and Pieter Bruegel, which led to the full flowering of genre painting in 17th-century Holland. Among the Dutch masters of the form were Gabriel Metsu, Adriaen van Ostade, Jan Steen, and Jan Vermeer. Their work, as distinct from the closely related forms of conversation piece and portraiture, was informal and anecdotal, depicting anonymous figures engaged in familiar activities. Since the 17th century numerous styles of painting have evolved that may be assigned to this category, and genre painting may now be graded as a fundamental, if not predominant, form of artistic expression.
Genre painting (from the French word genre, meaning "type" or "kind") is a term applied to works that depict secular scenes of everyday domestic work or recreation. The term is commonly used to distinguish such paintings from works of a religious, historical, or ceremonial character, which tend to elevate their subjects above the mundane level of ordinary existence.
 |
Genre painting, which is characterized by realism, first appears as an element in early Renaissance art and northern European 15th-century religious painting. The frescoes Good Government (1339) in the Palazzo Publico, Siena, by Ambrogio Lorenzetti and the illuminated manuscript the Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (c.1416; Musee Conde, Chantilly, France) by the Limbourg Brothers, combine glimpses of the daily life of the time with political and devotional themes.
 | |  |
Genre scenes play a far larger part in the work of Albrecht Durer and Pieter Bruegel, which led to the full flowering of genre painting in 17th-century Holland. Among the Dutch masters of the form were Gabriel Metsu, Adriaen van Ostade, Jan Steen, and Jan Vermeer. Their work, as distinct from the closely related forms of conversation piece and portraiture, was informal and anecdotal, depicting anonymous figures engaged in familiar activities. Since the 17th century numerous styles of painting have evolved that may be assigned to this category, and genre painting may now be graded as a fundamental, if not predominant, form of artistic expression.
Comments