Painting As a Way of Life : Philosophy and Practice in French Art, 1620-1660.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Neer, Richard.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Poussin, Nicolas, 1594?-1665.

Poussin, Nicolas.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (414 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2025.

Summary:

Neer uncovers a key moment in the history of early modern art, when painting was understood to be a tool for self-transformation and for living a philosophical life. In this wide-ranging study, Richard Neer shows how French painters of the seventeenth century developed radically new ways to connect art, perception, and ethics. Cutting across traditional boundaries of classicism and realism, Neer addresses four case studies: Nicolas Poussin, renowned for marrying ancient philosophy and narrative painting; Louise Moillon, who pioneered French still life in the 1630s; Georges de La Tour, a painter of intense and introspective nocturnes; and the Brothers Le Nain, specialists in genre and portraiture who inspired Courbet, Manet, and other painters of modern life. Setting these artists in dialogue with Montaigne, Descartes, Pascal, and others, ranging from the studios of Rome to the streets of Paris, this book provides fresh accounts of essential artworks—some well-known, others neglected—and new ways to approach the relation of art, theory, and daily life.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION Before Theory: Painting and Philosophical Practice

PART I Poussin's Classicism

1 Poussin's Self-Portraits and the Dream of Classical Theory

2 Poussin's Philosophy

3 Poussin's Practice

4 Landscape and Disproportion

PART II Realism, Acuity, and Metaphor

5 Discerning Eyes: Louise Moillon, Still-Life, and Genre

6 Corporeality and Metaphor in La Tour and Le Nain

CODA

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Neer, Richard Painting As a Way of Life

ISBN:

9780226835501

OCLC:

1505733779