The Political Theory of Painting from Reynolds t – "The Body of the Politic": "The Body of the Public" - Softcover

Barrell, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300063555 ISBN 13: 9780300063554

Publisher: Yale University Press, 1995

Synopsis

What is the function of painting in a commercial society? John Barrell discusses how British artists and writers of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, including Sir Joshua Reynolds, William Blake, and James Barry, attempted to answer this question. His provocative and illuminating book offers a new perspective on both art criticism and eighteenth-century British culture. 'I have learned as much from this book as from any work of art history I know.' Thomas Crow, London Review of Books 'Traversing two fields of academic study, art history and political theory, is an ambitious project. Barrell's combination of these two fields of knowledge and scholarship creates the possibility of perceiving the eighteenth century anew ... His text breaks new ground.' Pamela Divinsky, Oxford Art Journal 'Brilliant, original, and strongly argued ... The book is an extraordinary achievement, and I doubt we will read eighteenth-century art criticism in the same way any longer.' Robert Folkenflik, Studies in English Literature John Barrell is professor of English and Related Studies at the University of York.

About this title

Synopsis:

What is the function of painting in a commercial society? This text describes how British artists of the late-18th and early-19th centuries attempted to answer this question.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0300063555
• ISBN 13: 9780300063554
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 378