Greuze and the Painting of Sentiment

This reassessment of the work of Jean-Baptiste Greuze, the eighteenth-century painter, reconstructs the broader movement in French painting of which he was the leading figure. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary sources, it notes the extraordinary popularity that Greuze enjoyed in his lifetime. The volume reveals that the family life scenes he produced in the 1760s promoted an enlightened social vision and argues that the painting of sentiment was subsequently appropriated to serve a more conservative agenda.