After the heroic nudes of the Renaissance and depictions of the tortured bodies of Christian saints, early seventeenth-century French artists turned their attention to their fellow humans, to nobles and beggars seen on the streets of Paris, to courtesans standing at their windows, to vendors advertising their wares, to peasants standing before their landlords. Fascinated by the intricate politics of the encounter between two human beings, artists such as Jacques Callot, Daniel Rabel, Abraham Bosse, Claude Vignon, Georges de la Tour, Jean de Saint-Igny, the Brothers Le Nain, Pierre Brebiette, Jean I Le Blond, and Charles David represented the human figure as a performer acting out a social role. The resulting figures were everyday types whose representations in series of prints, painted galleries, and illustrated books created a repertoire of such contemporary roles. Realism and Role-Play draws on literature, social history, and affect theory in order to understand the way that figuration performed social positions.
Published by University of Delaware Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.



About the Author
Marika Knowles is Lecturer in Art History at the University of Saint Andrews.


Book Information
ISBN 9781644532058
Author Marika Takanishi Knowles
Format Paperback
Page Count 324
Imprint University of Delaware Press
Publisher University of Delaware Press
Weight(grams) 454g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 20mm