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Painting as Social Conversation: The petit sujet in the Ancien Regime by Ryan Lee Whyte A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Fine Art University of Toronto © by Ryan Lee Whyte 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-39835-7 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-39835-7 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada Abstract Painting as Social Conversation: The petit sujet in the Ancien Regime by Ryan Lee Whyte A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Fine Art University of Toronto © by Ryan Lee Whyte 2008 This dissertation analyzes the petit sujet, a type of painting and printmaking whose subjects were popular and non-literary in origin, low in social status, contemporary, French, and anonymous, and that developed through and in response to the eighteenth- century Paris Salon du Louvre, the public exhibition of the more or less contemporary works of the Academie royale de peinture et de sculpture. The dissertation contextualizes the petit sujet by analyzing the structures of the social and artistic world of the Salon, focusing on the circulation of reproductive prints and of interpretive texts, to argue that the petit sujet was a,public art form in both structural and interpretive terms: just as its artists adapted their practice to a newly public artworld, critics crafted a new means of interpreting their works. The dissertation conceptualizes the petit sujet, and the new ii interpretive model it generated, through comparative, hermeneutic readings of artworld documentation: criticism, print Annonces, print letters, etc., and treats reproductive prints, or rather their non-letter component, as both pictorial and conceptual interpretations of the paintings or drawings they reproduced. This dissertation conceives of the petit sujet as a vehicle of transmission of social and aesthetic ideals, and relies on a semiotic model of the art object while understanding the art object as circulating and in contact with a heterogeneous audience. This dissertation argues that, although the elite controlled the textual interpretation of the petit sujet, the mode of engagement they crafted for it was public in that it treated the petit sujet as a catalyst for the refinement of a vision of society. Through comparative, hermeneutic, semiotic, stylistic, social- contextual and iconographic readings of the work of J.-F. de Troy, J.-B.-S. Chardin, J.-B. Greuze, E. Jeaurat, P.-A. Baudouin, their reproductive printmakers, and dozens of other academic and non-academic artists, the dissertation argues that the productive freedom and interpretive ease of the petit sujet ran counter to academic principles that aimed to stabilize both iconography and interpretation. iii Acknowledgments It was my great fortune to find a dissertation advisor who treated me as a colleague. W. McAllister Johnson's care, patience, generosity, and tireless devotion to this project, and more importantly, to my intellectual development through it, was more than I could have hoped for and a testament to his profoundly ethical conception of scholarship and pedagogy. Whatever richness and solidity this dissertation possesses are due to him. I would like to thank Marc Gotlieb, whose rigour and clarity of vision saved the dissertation more than once. For his dynamic and stimulating read and the very productive critical dialogue that arose from it, thanks to Todd Porterfield. For her careful and challenging critique of the text, and for her excellent advice, I owe thanks to Alison Syme. I would like to thank Philip Sohm, Elizabeth Legge and Yannick Portebois for their very helpful engagements with the text. For readings of early chapter drafts my thanks goes to Alexander Nagel and Michael Koortbojian. For their very generous assistance I would like to thank Mikael Ahlund, Curator, Paintings and Sculpture, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm; Rickard Becklen, Conservator of Painting, Nationalmuseum; Veronique Royet, Bibliothecaire au Departement des Estampes et de la Photographie, Bibliotheque nationale de France; Sophie Join-Lambert, Conservateur au musee des Beaux-Arts de Tours; Marshall Pynkoski, Opera Atelier; Francois Rouget, Queens University; and Renata Schellenberg, Mount Allison University. At the University of Toronto Libraries I owe thanks to Robin Healy and to the peerless Margaret English. Thanks not least to the heart and soul of the Department of Art: Rohini Witke, Use Wister, Gaby Sparks and Joanne Wainman. For endless support and advice and for reigniting my love of art history, I owe a debt to Jenny Purtle. This dissertation is dedicated to my parents. v Table of Contents I Title i Abstract... ii Acknowledgements iv Table of Contents vi List of Plates viii List of Appendices xiii Abbreviations xiv Epigraph xvi Introduction 1 1. Prehistory of the petit sujet. Jean-Francois de Troy's tableau de mode 22 2. The Emergence of the petit sujet: Chardin in the Salons and in Prints 36 3. Icono graphic Limits of'the petit sujet: Depictions of Public Space at Mid-Century 92 4. Greuze's Transformation of the petit sujet 127 5. In the Shadow of Greuze: The Decline ofthe petit sujet 166 Conclusion 188 Appendix I: Iconographic, Thematic and Formal Influences of Fashion Plates on de Troy's tableau de mode 192 Appendix II: Chardin's Repetitions and the Engravings after Them 198 Appendix III: Table: Chardin's Repetitions 205 Appendix IV: Annonce for Laurent Cars after J.-B.-S. Chardin, Une Dame variant ses amusements!La Serinette 206 Appendix V: Chronology of Etienne Jeaurat's Street Scenes 207 vi Bibliography 209 Plates 225 vii List of Plates 1. Jean Dieu de Saint-Jean, Femme de qualite s 'habillantpour Coure le Bal. BnF Est. 2. Louis Surugue after J.-F. De Troy, L 'Ornement de I 'Esprit et du Corps. BnF Est. 3. J.-F. Beauvarlet after J.-F. de Troy, Toillette pour le bal. BnF Est. 4. J.-F. Beauvarlet after J.-F. de Troy, Retour du bal. BnF Est. 5. Robert Bonnart, Dame en deshabille sur un lit de gazon. Musee Carnavalet, Paris 6. C.-N. Cochin pere after J.-F. de Troy, Le rendez-vous a lafontaine ou VAlarme. BnF Est. 7. Jean Mariette, L 'Eau. BnF Est. 8. Jean Mariette, Dame de Qualite en Echarpe. BnF Est. 9. J.-F. de Troy, Assemblee dans unparc ou la Declaration d'amour. Sansouci Palace, Potsdam 10. Jean Dieu de Saint-Jean (?), Femme de qualitez a sa Toillette. BnF Est. 11. Jean Mariette, Le Matin: Dame de Qualite a sa Toilette. BnF Est. 12. J.-F. de Troy, La declaration d'amour. Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Mass. 13. J.-F. de Troy, Lajarretiere detachee. Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Mass. 14. Jean Dieu de Saint-Jean, Femme a la Mode. BnF Est. 15. Jean Dieu de Saint-Jean, Femme de Qualite en Deshabille sortant du Lit. BnF Est. 16. N. Bazin after J.-D. de Saint-Jean, Femme de qualite deshabillee pour le bain (1685). BnF Est.. 17. N. Bazin after J.-D. de Saint-Jean, Femme de qualite deshabillee pour le bain (1686). BnF Est. 18. F. Guerard, Le Jeu a deviner. BnF Est. 19. C.-N. Cochin pere after J.-F. De Troy, Lejeu de pied-de-boeuf. BnF Est. 20. J.-F. de Troy, Vertumne etPomone. The Ball State University Museum of Art, Muncie, IN 21. J.-F. de Troy, Lecture de Moliere. Private Collection, U.K. viii 22. J.-B.-S. Chardin, La Gouvernante. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa 23. F.-B. Lepicie after J.-B.-S. Chardin, La Mere laborieuse. BnF Est. 24. J.-B.-S. Chardin, Le Benedicite. Louvre, Paris 25. J.-B.-S. Chardin, Le Benedicite. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam 26. R.-E.-M.. Lepicie after J.-B.-S. Chardin, Le Benedicite. BnF Est. 27. J.-B.-S. Chardin, Une petite fille jouant au volant. Private Collection 28. C.-N. Cochin pere after J.-B.-S. Chardin, La Blanchisseuse. BnF Est. 29. C.-N. Cochin pere after J.-B.-S. Chardin, Le gargon cabaretier.