In the period before the French Revolution, the grands sujets of history and myth dwarfed the emerging genre of paintings of everyday life, including "animals and fruits," garden parties, morning toilettes, kitchen duties and family scenes. Yet for reasons evidenced in the 230 color and 60 b&w illustrations of this lavish catalogue, that latter genre enjoyed a huge popularity among collectors and art connoisseurs, including Diderot, and foreshadowed the modern developments in art to come less than a century later. Essays establishing the historical context of genre painting will surely be of interest to scholars of the period, but verge on numbing for lay readers. The label copy in the latter half of the book is much more engaging, offering detailed insight into each painting in this travelling exhibition (which will be at Washington D.C.'s National Gallery of Art this fall). In particular, the writing on Chardin, with quotes from his contemporaries generously interspersed, reveals just how original this painter was—and how controversial. But the book's reproductions—in deep, sharp, full-page majesty—generate more than enough interest in themselves. (Sept.)
