Politics & portraits in the United States & France during the Age of Revolution / T. Lawrence Larkin, editor.

Format:

Book

Government document

Contributor:

Larkin, T. Lawrence, editor.

Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, publisher.

Series:

Smithsonian contribution to knowledge

A Smithsonian contribution to knowledge

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Portrait painting, American--18th century.

Portrait painting, American.

Portrait painting, American--19th century.

Portrait painting, French--18th century.

Portrait painting, French.

Portraits--Political aspects--United States--History--18th century.

Portraits.

Portraits--Political aspects--United States--History--19th century.

Portraits--Political aspects--France--History--18th century.

Portraits, American.

Portraits, French.

Revolutions.

History.

France.

United States.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

x, 294 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 27 cm.

Other Title:

Politics and portraits in the United States and France during the Age of Revolution

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2019.

Summary:

"On the evening of 24-25 August 1814, British forces under Admiral George Cockburn and General Robert Ross invaded Washington D.C., burned the Capitol, and destroyed some splendid state portraits of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, the French monarchy's gift to the American Congress some thirty years earlier. To mark the bicentennial of this event, art historians from universities and museums in the United States and Canada, France and Germany, gathered at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery on 25-26 September 2014 and engaged in a broad discussion of how royal, republican, and imperial heads of state and diplomats were represented in a manner that would promote their authority or mission with potential allies; how national, state, and provincial delegates were portrayed in a way that suggested the values of a faction, constituency, or class; and how prominent merchants, families, and their retainers were rendered to encapsulate new roles as responsible citizens. Our hypothesis was that between the War of Independence of 1776 and the War of 1812 the United States maintained a complicated and tense political relationship with Britain and France, which had an impact on patterns of trade and diplomacy, cultural representation and consumption on both sides of the Atlantic. The transition from monarchical to republican forms of government was accompanied by a shift from aristocrats to citizens as the primary patrons, artists, subjects, and viewers of portraits, and for this reason images of heads of state, delegates, and families often reveal an uneasy integration of old aristocratic forms and new republican values. Five thematic introducers and fourteen essayists illuminate the challenges at play in the creation of viable political identities in the modern era"--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part I Images of Authority In France And The United State

Part I Introduction p. 19 / T. Lawrence Larkin

The U.S. Congress's State Portraits of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette: The Politics of Display and Displacement at the Capitol, 1800-1814 p. 21 / T. Lawrence Larkin

Bonaparte as a Republican p. 39 / David O'Brien

Man + Horse: Repurposing the Equestrian Portrait in the Post-Revolutionary Era p. 55 / Heather McPherson

Part II The Portrait As Diplomatic Gift

Part II Introduction p. 75 / Brandon Brame Fortune

Gilbert Stuart's "Lansdowne" Portrait of George Washington: From Diplomatic Gift to State Portrait p. 77 / Ellen G. Miles

Portraits for Diplomacy: Gilbert Stuart's Pendant Portraits of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison p. 91 / Gaye S. Wilson

Rivalries and Dissensions within the Maison de l'Empereur: Napoleon's Portraitists and the Production of Diplomatic Gifts p. 105 / Cyril Lécosse

Part III Republicanism and The Politician's Portrait

Part III Introduction p. 119 / Philippe Bordes

Faces of the Nation: Physionotrace Portraits and the Invention of Political Modernity p. 121 / Guillaume Mazeau

Representing the Representatives: Portraiture and Sovereignty in Revolutionary France, 1789-1795 p. 135 / Gerrit Walczak

Signs of Power: Bonaparte and the Concordat of 1801 p. 152 / Kathryn Calley Galitz

Part IV Patriotism and the Family Portrait

Part IV Introduction p. 167 / Amy Freund

Woman on a Wire: How Marie-Antoinette, d'Angiviller, and Vigée Le Brun Confounded Critics by Balancing Majesty and Maternity at the Salon of 1787 p. 169 / T. Lawrence Larkin

Architectural Portraits: Mount Vernon, Monticello, and La Grange p. 191 / Kevin D. Murphy

Politicizing Portraiture: Family Portraits and Visual Rhetoric in Revolutionary France p. 208 / Marlen Schneider

Part V The "Face" and "Body" of Early Repuelican Capital Cities' Paris, Philadelphia, New York, and Washington

Part V Introduction p. 225 / Margaretta M. Lovell

Urban Portraits, Two Centuries Ago: Faces, Bodies, and Footprints p. 227 / Jeffrey A. Cohen

From Portrait to Plan: Mapping Capital Cities in France and the United States p. 244 / Min Kyung Lee.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-279) and index.

ISBN:

9781944466206

1944466207

OCLC:

1045644234