Genre Works - Genre Painting

Genre painting, also called genre scene or petit genre, 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 them from history paintings and portraits. 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 to be perceived as a portrait by the artist - sometimes a rather 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 petit name contrasts this with the grand genre, history painting. Genre themes appear in nearly all art traditions. Painted decorations in ancient Egyptian tombs often depict banquets, recreation, and agrarian scenes, and even medieval prayer books such as the Book of Hours (see Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc De Berry) are decorated with "peasant" scenes of daily life.