Genre painting (or petit genre), a form of genre art, depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity can be attached either individually or collectively, thus distinguishing it from history paintings (also called ''grand genre'') and

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this ...

s. A work would often be considered as a genre work even if it could be shown that the artist had used a known person—a member of his family, say—as a model. In this case it would depend on whether the work was likely to have been intended by the artist to be perceived as a portrait—sometimes a subjective question. The depictions can be realistic, imagined, or romanticized by the artist. Because of their familiar and frequently sentimental subject matter, genre paintings have often proven popular with the bourgeoisie, or

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...

. Genre subjects appear in many traditions of art. Painted decorations in ancient Egyptian

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...

s often depict banquets, recreation, and agrarian scenes, and Peiraikos is mentioned by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

as a

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

panel painter of "low" subjects, such as survive in

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

versions and provincial wall-paintings at

Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was burie ...

: "barbers' shops, cobblers' stalls, asses, eatables and similar subjects". Medieval

illuminated manuscripts An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...

often illustrated scenes of everyday peasant life, especially in the

Labours of the Months The term Labours of the Months refers to cycles in Medieval and early Renaissance art depicting in twelve scenes the rural activities that commonly took place in the months of the year. They are often linked to the signs of the Zodiac, and are ...

in the calendar section of books of hours, most famously the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.

To 1800

The

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

dominated the field until the 18th century, and in the 17th century both Flemish Baroque painting and Dutch Golden Age painting produced numerous specialists who mostly painted genre scenes. In the previous century, the Flemish

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

painter Jan Sanders van Hemessen painted innovative large-scale genre scenes, sometimes including a moral theme or a religious scene in the background in the first half of the 16th century. These were part of a pattern of " Mannerist inversion" in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

painting, giving "low" elements previously in the decorative background of images prominent emphasis. In the second half of the 16th century, Pieter Aertsen and Joachim Beuckelaer painted in Antwerp works showing in the foreground cooks or market-sellers amidst a bountiful spread of vegetables, fruit and/or meat, with small religious scenes in spaces in the background. Around the same time,

Pieter Brueghel the Elder Pieter Bruegel (also Brueghel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; – 9 September 1569) was the most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes (so-called ge ...

made peasants and their activities, very naturalistically treated, the subject of many of his paintings. Jan Steen Vrolijke huisgezin

Adriaen and Isaac van Ostade,

Jan Steen Jan Havickszoon Steen (c. 1626 – buried 3 February 1679) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, one of the leading genre painters of the 17th century. His works are known for their psychological insight, sense of humour and abundance of colour. Lif ...

, Adriaen Brouwer, David Teniers, Joos van Craesbeeck, Gillis van Tilborgh, Aelbert Cuyp,

Willem van Herp Willem van Herp (I) or Willem van Herp the Elder (variations on first name: 'Guilliam', 'Gilliam' and 'Guillaume') (c. 1614 in Antwerp – 1677) was a Flemish Baroque painter specializing in religious paintings and small cabinet paintings of "low ...

David Ryckaert III David Ryckaert III, David Rijckaert III or David Rijckaert the Younger (2 December 1612, Antwerp - 11 November 1661, Antwerp)Jacob Jordaens, Johannes Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch were among the many painters specializing in genre subjects in the

during the 17th century. The generally small scale of these artists' paintings was appropriate for their display in the homes of middle class purchasers. Adriaen Brower - The Smokers

The apparent 'realism' of 17-century Dutch and Flemish art gives the viewer the initial impression that the artist solely intends to depict scenes of common life in a realistic way. Underneath the realistic representation are, however, often hidden underlying meanings, either moral or symbolic. For instance, Gabriel Metsu's ''The Poultry seller'', 1662 shows an old poultry seller handing a young woman a live rooster with its head craning upwards. The suggestive pose of the rooster's head and the fact that the Dutch word for 'birds' (vogelen) was also a vulgar term for sexual intercourse indicated that the artist also included a scabrous meaning in his painting. Genre painters often included symbolic meanings in their paintings. For instance, Adriaen Brouwer painted a number of genre portraits that represent the five senses or the seven deadly sins. An example is his genre group portrait ''The Smokers'' which depicts the sense of taste.Ingrid A. Cartwright, ''Hoe schilder hoe wilder: Dissolute Self-Por traiture in Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Art'', Advisors: Wheelock, Arthur, PhD, 2007 Dissertation, University of Maryland University of Maryland (College Park, Md.), p. 8 Other artists included moral meanings into their genre scenes. Jan Steen's ''The Happy Family'' painted in 1668 depicts a merry family evening with the head of the family, clearly inebriated, singing out his lungs, backed up by the mother and grandmother. The children join in on musical instruments. The moral of the picture is clarified in the note hanging from the mantelpiece reading "So de ouden songen, so pijpen de jongen" ("As the Old Sing, So the Young Pipe"), i.e. children will learn their behaviour from their parents. Jacob Jordaens had painted a series of paintings on the same subject matter about 30 years earlier. Antoine Watteau - Pleasures of Love - Google Art Project

Antoine Watteau - Pleasures of Love - Google Art Project

One of the recurring themes in Flemish and Dutch genre painting is that of the '' merry company''. These works typically show a group of figures at a party, whether making music at home or just drinking in a tavern. Other common types of scenes showed markets or fairs, village festivities ("kermesse"), or soldiers in their camp or guardroom. The Dutch painter Pieter van Laer arrived in 1625 in Rome where he started to paint genre paintings incorporating scenes of the Roman

Campagna Campagna (Italian: ) is a small town and '' comune'' of the province of Salerno, in the Campania region of Southern Italy. Its population is 17,148. Its old Latin name was Civitas Campaniae (City of Campagna). Campagna is located in one of th ...

. He also joined a loose organisation of Flemish and Dutch painters in Rome known as the

Bentvueghels The Bentvueghels (Dutch for "Birds of a Feather") were a society of mostly Dutch and Flemish artists active in Rome from about 1620 to 1720. They are also known as the Schildersbent ("painters' clique"). Activities The members, which included ...

(Dutch for 'birds of a feather'). Van Laer was given the nickname "Il Bamboccio", which means "ugly doll" or "puppet". A number of Flemish and Dutch and later also Italian painters, who painted genre scenes of the Roman countryside inspired by van Laer's works were subsequently referred to as the ''

Bamboccianti The ''Bamboccianti'' were genre painters active in Rome from about 1625 until the end of the seventeenth century. Most were Dutch and Flemish artists who brought existing traditions of depicting peasant subjects from sixteenth-century Netherla ...

''. The initial Bamboccianti included

Andries Andries is a Dutch and Afrikaans masculine given name or surname equivalent to Andrew. Given name People with this name include * Andries van Artvelt (1590–1652), Flemish painter * Andries Beeckman (1628–1664), Dutch painter * Andries Bek ...

and Jan Both,

Karel Dujardin Karel Dujardin (September 27, 1626November 20, 1678) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Although he did a few portraits and a few history paintings of religious subjects, most of his work is small Italianate landscape scenes with animals and peasan ...

Jan Miel Jan Miel (1599 in Beveren-Waas – April 1664 in Turin) was a Flemish painter and engraver who was active in Italy. He initially formed part of the circle of Dutch and Flemish genre painters in Rome who are referred to as the 'Bambocciant ...

and Johannes Lingelbach. Sébastien Bourdon was also associated with this group during his early career. Other Bamboccianti include Michiel Sweerts, Thomas Wijck, Dirck Helmbreker, Jan Asselyn, Anton Goubau, Willem Reuter, and Jacob van Staverden. Their whose works would inspire local artists Michelangelo Cerquozzi,

Giacomo Ceruti Giacomo Antonio Melchiorre Ceruti (October 13, 1698 – August 28, 1767) was an Italian late Baroque painter, active in Northern Italy in Milan, Brescia, and Venice. He acquired the nickname Pitocchetto (the little beggar) for his many painti ...

Antonio Cifrondi Antonio Cifrondi (June 11, 1655 – October 30, 1730) was an Italian painter of the late Baroque, mainly of genre themes. He was active in Brescia and near Bergamo. He was born to a poor mason in Clusone. After some local training. Cifrondi moved ...

, and Giuseppe Maria Crespi among many others. Sweerts, Hommes se baignant

Louis le Nain The three Le Nain brothers were painters in 17th-century France: Antoine Le Nain (c.1600–1648), Louis Le Nain (c.1603–1648), and Mathieu Le Nain (1607–1677). They produced genre works, portraits and portrait miniatures. Lives and work The ...

was an important exponent of genre painting in 17th-century France, painting groups of peasants at home, where the 18th century would bring a heightened interest in the depiction of everyday life, whether through the romanticized paintings of Watteau and Fragonard, or the careful

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: * Classical Realism *Literary realism, a mov ...

Chardin Chardin is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, (1699–1779), French painter noted for his still life works * Jean Chardin, (1643–1713), French jeweller and traveller, author of ''The Trave ...

. Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725–1805) and others painted detailed and rather sentimental groups or individual portraits of peasants that were to be influential on 19th-century painting. In England, William Hogarth (1697–1764) conveyed comedy, social criticism and moral lessons through canvases that told stories of ordinary people ful of narrative detail (aided by long sub-titles), often in serial form, as in his '' A Rake's Progress'', first painted in 1732–33, then engraved and published in print form in 1735. Developments in 16th Netherlandish art were received in Spain through the presence of Flemish artists working on projects in Spain as well as through Spain's sovereignty over the Spanish Netherlands. During the

Spanish Golden Age The Spanish Golden Age ( es, Siglo de Oro, links=no , "Golden Century") is a period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding with the political rise of the Spanish Empire under the Catholic Monarchs of Spain and the Spanish Ha ...

of painting in the 17th century, many picaresque genre scenes of street life as well as the kitchen scenes known as '' bodegones'' were painted by Spanish artists such as Velázquez (1599–1660) and Murillo (1617–82). More than a century later, the artist Francisco de Goya (1746–1828) used genre scenes in painting and

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniqu ...

as a medium for dark commentary on the human condition. Beginning in about 1808 Goya painted a significant number of genre scenes and he dealt with genre subjects again in various drawings during the period from 1810 to 1823.

19th century

With the decline of religious and historical painting in the 19th century, artists increasingly found their subject matter in the life around them. Realists such as

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and ...

(1819–77) upset expectations by depicting everyday scenes in large canvases of a scale traditionally reserved for "important" subjects. They thus blurred the boundary which had set genre painting apart as a "minor" category. Realist paintings on such a scale, and the new type showing people at work, emphasizing the effort involved, would not normally be called "genre paintings". Both monumental scale and the depiction of exhausting work are exemplified by '' Barge Haulers on the Volga'' (

Ilya Repin Ilya Yefimovich Repin (russian: Илья Ефимович Репин, translit=Il'ya Yefimovich Repin, p=ˈrʲepʲɪn); fi, Ilja Jefimovitš Repin ( – 29 September 1930) was a Russian painter, born in what is now Ukraine. He became one of the ...

, 1873). History painting itself shifted from the exclusive depiction of events of great public importance to the depiction of genre scenes in historical times, both the private moments of great figures, and the everyday life of ordinary people. In French art this was known as the

Troubador style Taking its name from medieval troubadours, the Troubadour Style (french: Style troubadour) is a rather derisive term, in English usually applied to French historical painting of the early 19th century with idealised depictions of the Middle Ages ...

. This trend, already apparent by 1817 when Ingres painted ''Henri IV Playing with His Children'', culminated in the

pompier ''L'art pompier'' (literally 'fireman art') or ''style pompier'' is a derisive late-19th century French term for large 'official' academic art paintings of the time, especially historical or allegorical ones. The term derives from the helmets wi ...

art of French academicians such as Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904) and Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (1815–91). In the second half of the century interest in genre scenes, often in historical settings or with pointed social or moral comment, greatly increased across Europe. William Powell Frith (1819–1909) was perhaps the most famous English genre painter of the Victorian era, painting large and extremely crowded scenes; the expansion in size and ambition in 19th-century genre painting was a common trend. Other 19th-century English genre painters include

Augustus Leopold Egg Augustus Leopold Egg RA (2 May 1816, in London – 26 March 1863, in Algiers) was a British Victorian artist, and member of The Clique best known for his modern triptych '' Past and Present'' (1858), which depicts the breakup of a middle-clas ...

, Frederick Daniel Hardy,

George Elgar Hicks George Elgar Hicks (13 March 1824 – 1914) was an English painter during the Victorian era. He is best known for his large genre paintings, which emulate William Powell Frith in style, but was also a society portraitist. Biography Born ...

William Holman Hunt William Holman Hunt (2 April 1827 – 7 September 1910) was an English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His paintings were notable for their great attention to detail, vivid colour, and elaborate symbolism ...

and

John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest ...

. Scotland produced two influential genre painters, David Allan (1744–96) and Sir David Wilkie (1785–1841). Wilkie's ''The Cottar's Saturday Night'' (1837) inspired a major work by the French painter

, '' After Dinner at Ornans'' (1849). Famous

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

n realist painters like Vasily Perov and

also produced genre paintings. In Germany, Carl Spitzweg (1808–85) specialized in gently humorous genre scenes, and in Italy

Gerolamo Induno Gerolamo Induno (13 December 1825 – 18 December 1890) was an Italian painter and soldier, best known for his military scenes. His older brother, Domenico, was also a well-known artist and they often worked together. Biography He was born in M ...

(1825–90) painted scenes of military life. Subsequently, the Impressionists, as well as such 20th-century artists as Pierre Bonnard, Itshak Holtz, Edward Hopper, and David Park painted scenes of daily life. But in the context of modern art the term "genre painting" has come to be associated mainly with painting of an especially anecdotal or sentimental nature, painted in a traditionally realistic technique. George Caleb Bingham 001

In Belgium, the nationalism of the new state born in 1830 gave rise to history painting glorifying the past of the nation and genre painting returning to the models of 17th-century. Examples of artists working in this retro style include

Ferdinand de Braekeleer Ferdinand de Braekeleer (Antwerp, 12 February 1792 – Antwerp, 16 May 1883), sometimes spelled as Ferdinand de Braeckeleer, was a Flemish painter and printmaker.

, Willem Linnig the Elder and Jan August Hendrik Leys. Under the influence of foreign artistic movements such a realism, Belgian artists in the second half of the 19th century were able to break away from the old traditions and create a new format for their genre paintings. An example is

Henri de Braekeleer Henri Jean Augustin de Braekeleer (11 June 1840 – 20 July 1888) was a Belgian painter. He was born and died in Antwerp. He was trained in drawing by his father Ferdinand de Braekeleer, a well-known genre painter, and his uncle Jan August Hen ...

who used light and colour to infuse his intimist genre scenes with a modernist spirit. The first true genre painter in the United States was the German immigrant

John Lewis Krimmel John Lewis Krimmel (May 30, 1786July 15, 1821), sometimes called "the American Hogarth," was America's first painter of genre scenes. Born in Germany, he immigrated to Philadelphia in 1809 and soon became a member of the Pennsylvania Academy of ...

. He was influenced, at least initially, by English artists such as William Hogarth and Scottish painters such as David Wilkie and produced gently humorous scenes of life in Philadelphia from 1812–21. Other notable 19th-century genre painters from the United States include George Caleb Bingham, William Sidney Mount, and Eastman Johnson. Harry Roseland focused on scenes of poor African Americans in the post-American Civil War South, and John Rogers (1829–1904) was a sculptor whose small genre works, mass-produced in cast plaster, were immensely popular in America.Harry Roseland
at Encore Editions The works of American painter Ernie Barnes (1938–2009) and those of illustrator

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of the country's culture. Rockwell is most famous for the ...

(1894–1978) exemplify a more modern type of genre painting.American Scenes of Everyday Life, 1840–1910
at the Metropoliton Museum

Genre in other traditions

Japanese

ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk ta ...

prints are rich in depictions of people at leisure and at work, as are Korean paintings, particularly those created in the 18th century. Notable Korean painters include Kim Hongdo, Sin Yun-bok, and

Kim Deuk-sin Kim Deuk-sin (1754–1822) was the son of a royal court painter, Kim Eungri, and followed in his father's footsteps. He entered royal service as a member of the Dohwaseo, the official painters of the Joseon court. Kim Deuk-sin is known for his ...

; notable Japanese printmakers include

Katsushika Hokusai , known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. He is best known for the woodblock print series '' Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'', which includes the iconic print '' The Grea ...

, Tōshūsai Sharaku, Utagawa Hiroshige, and

Kitagawa Utamaro Kitagawa Utamaro ( ja, 喜多川歌麿; – 31 October 1806) was a Japanese artist. He is one of the most highly regarded designers of ukiyo-e woodblock prints and paintings, and is best known for his ''bijin ōkubi-e'' "large-headed ...

Gallery of Flemish genre paintings

File:Jan Sanders van Hemessen 002.jpg, Jan Sanders van Hemessen, ''Brothel scene'', c. 1545–50 File:David Teniers (II) - Tavern Scene - WGA22082.jpg, David Teniers the Younger, ''Tavern scene'', 1640 File:Joos van Craesbeeck - Soldiers and Women.jpg, Joos van Craesbeeck, ''Soldiers and Women'', 1640s File:Gillis van Tilborgh - Elegant Company.jpg, Gillis van Tilborgh, ''Elegant Company'', between 1655 and 1675

Gallery of Dutch 17th-century genre paintings

File:Hendrick Avercamp - Ice Scene - 785 - Rijksmuseum.jpg,

Hendrick Avercamp Hendrick Avercamp (January 27, 1585 (bapt.) – May 15, 1634 (buried)) was a Dutch painter during the Dutch Golden Age of painting. He was one of the earliest landscape painters of the 17th-century Dutch school, he specialized in painting th ...

painted almost exclusively winter scenes. File:Gerard van Honthorst - Der liederliche Student - 391 - Bavarian State Painting Collections.jpg,

Gerard van Honthorst Gerard van Honthorst (Dutch: ''Gerrit van Honthorst''; 4 November 1592 – 27 April 1656) was a Dutch Golden Age painter who became known for his depiction of artificially lit scenes, eventually receiving the nickname ''Gherardo delle Notti ...

, ''Merry Company'', 1623, using the

chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...

technique typical of

Utrecht Caravaggism Utrecht Caravaggism ( nl, Utrechtse caravaggisten) refers to the work of a group of artists who were from, or had studied in, the Dutch city of Utrecht, and during their stay in Rome during the early seventeenth century had become distinctly in ...

File:Judith Leyster A Boy and a Girl with a Cat and an Eel.jpg,

Judith Leyster Judith Jans Leyster (also Leijster; baptised July 28, 1609Molenaer, JudithNational Gallery of Art website. Accessed February 1, 2014. – February 10, 1660) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works, portraits, and still lifes. Her work was h ...

, ''A Boy and a Girl with a Cat and an Eel'', File:Pieter de Hooch - The Visit.jpg, Pieter de Hooch, ''The Visit'',

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Genre Works Painting Visual arts genres