The Legacy of Homer; Four Centuries of Art from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris

by Emmanuel Schwartz; With contributions by George Steiner and Philippe Sénéchal

• ISBN13: 9780300109184
• ISBN10: 0300109180
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2005-10-07
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

From its founding in 1648, the Academie royale de peinture et de sculpture and its successor, the ecole nationale superieure des beaux-arts in Paris, were devoted to the Greek model. Mythology and poetry, along with the study of sculpture, were the foundations of academic teaching there. As a result, Greek gods and heroes were reborn in innumerable works by pupils and teachers of the ecole. This lavishly illustrated book explores the impact of the poet Homer on four centuries of French artists through the lens of the ecole's superb collections of paintings, prints, and sculptures. The ecole was the most important venue for academic training of artists in Europe as well as for many nineteenth-century American artists who studied in Paris, including Thomas Eakins and John Singer Sargent. The ecole's collectionswhich feature works by great artists who were first students and later instructors (Francois LeMoine, Jacques-Louis David, and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres)were intended to enhance students' taste through study and emulation. With illuminating texts by prominent French scholars and a preface by George Steiner on the reception of Homer in France,The Legacy of Homerexamines the historic and artistic importance of the works housed in the ecole and pays homage to Homer, the great source that inspired them.

Author Biography

EMMANUEL SCHWARTZ is curator at the École Nationale SupÉrieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris. GEORGE STEINER, Fellow of Churchill College at Cambridge University, is the author of several books published by Yale University Press, including Grammars of Creation. PHILIPPE SÉNÉCHAL is professor of history at the University of Amiens.

Table of Contents

Directors' Forewords	p. VII
Preface	p. XI
The Greek Paradigm: Homer, Costume, and the Academy	p. 1
Reading Homer in France: From Text to Image	p. 3
Truth in the Fold: Notes on Drapery in the Ancient Style, 1750-1850	p. 43
A Brief Administrative and Artistic History: Teaching Art in Paris	p. 59
Catalogue	p. 77
The Historical Background and the Homeric World	p. 79
The Gods	p. 95
Achilles	p. 113
Far From Combat: The Great Scenes	p. 141
Philoctetes	p. 159
The Fall of Troy	p. 169
The Oresteia	p. 185
The Voyages of Ulysses	p. 193
Ulysses in Ithaca	p. 211
The Adventures of Telemachus	p. 229
The Aeneid: From Homer to Virgil	p. 239
Previous and Parallel Epic Cycles	p. 255
Homer's Laughter	p. 277
Appendix	p. 297
Checklist	p. 298
Glossary of Works, Places, Events, and Persons, Real and Imaginary	p. 312
Index of Artists	p. 327
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