Genre painting | Rural Scenes, Everyday Life, Domestic Interiors

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</div> <span class="toc-extra-link selected link-gray-900 mt-15"> Introduction </span> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/genre-painting/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/genre-painting">Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a class="section-header link-gray-900 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mb-10 mx-10" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/genre-painting/images-videos">Images</a> <div class="slider js-slider position-relative d-inline-flex align-items-center mw-100 "> <div class="slider-container js-slider-container overflow-hidden d-flex overflow-hidden text-nowrap ml-15"> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/09/4909-050-B887D2A4/Young-Woman-with-a-Water-Pitcher-canvas-1662.jpg" data-href="/media/1/229297/15045" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/09/4909-004-465F00D7/Young-Woman-with-a-Water-Pitcher-canvas-1662.jpg" alt="Johannes Vermeer: Young Woman with a Water Pitcher" height="50" /> </a> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/94/133994-050-07D68C0E/Talk-Work-oil-canvas-Francis-W-Edmonds.jpg" data-href="/media/1/229297/141336" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/94/133994-004-11A9C4F8/Talk-Work-oil-canvas-Francis-W-Edmonds.jpg" alt="Edmonds, Francis W.: All Talk and No Work" height="50" /> </a> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/40/39640-050-DD02BF52/Carousing-Peasants-Interior-oil-painting-Adriaen-van-1638.jpg" data-href="/media/1/229297/32211" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/40/39640-004-F50D0469/Carousing-Peasants-Interior-oil-painting-Adriaen-van-1638.jpg" alt="Carousing Peasants in an Interior, oil painting by Adriaen van Ostade, c. 1638; in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich." height="50" /> </a> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/07/132907-050-1DFF4979/Lifes-Day-canvas-oil-Three-Times-Across-1861.jpg" data-href="/media/1/229297/136920" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/07/132907-004-F5230CC5/Lifes-Day-canvas-oil-Three-Times-Across-1861.jpg" alt="Bellows, Albert Fitch: Life's Day" height="50" /> </a> </div> <button disabled class="prev-button js-prev-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-blue " aria-label="Previous"> <span class="material-icons md-24" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_left"></span> </button> <button disabled class="next-button js-next-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-blue " aria-label="Next"> <span class="material-icons md-24" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></span> </button> </div> </div> <div class="mb-30 tlr-related-quizzes"> <div class="text-gray-900 p-5 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-10 mb-10"> Quizzes </div> <div 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in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. 45.7 × 40.6 cm.</span></span> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <span class="link-blue">(more)</span> </button> </span> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </div><div class="topic-header"> <div class="d-flex align-items-top justify-content-between"> <div class="d-flex flex-column"> <div> <div> <h1>genre painting</h1></div> </div> <div class="topic-identifier font-16 font-md-20">visual arts</div> </div> </div> <div class="d-none d-sm-flex flex-row"> <div class="mr-10 mb-15"> <button class="ai-ask-button btn btn-sm border-2 btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 btn-sm btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 px-sm-5 px-md-10 js-inline-ai-ask-button"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="d-block md-topic-tools qa-action-buttons mb-15" data-topic-id="229297"> <button class="js-tooltip btn btn-sm btn-outline-blue border pr-10 border-2 text-nowrap" > <em class="material-icons md-icon ml-n10 my-n5 mr-5" data-icon="more_vert"></em> More Actions </button> <div class="md-more-popover popover popover-sm p-0 font-14 z-1"> <div> <a class="js-modal btn btn-sm btn-link gtm-topic-tool font-weight-bold btn-link" href="/print/article/229297" target="_blank" > <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="print"></em> Print </a> </div> <div> <button class="js-modal qa-cite-modal-button btn btn-sm btn-link gtm-topic-tool font-weight-bold btn-link" data-modal="[data-topic-id=229297] .md-cite-modal"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="verified"></em> Cite </button> <div class="md-cite-modal size-lg d-none"> <div class="md-modal-body"> <div class="h2 font-serif d-flex align-items-center pb-15 border-bottom mb-15"> <em class="material-icons text-blue mr-10">verified</em>Cite </div> <div class="font-serif"> While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 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Edmonds, 1855–56; in the Brooklyn Museum, New York. 61.1 × 50.3 cm.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div></div><button disabled="true" class="prev-button js-prev-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-lg btn-blue-dark m-20"><span class="material-icons" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_left"></span></button><button disabled="true" class="next-button js-next-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-lg btn-blue-dark m-20"><span class="material-icons" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></span></button></div><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref23430"></span>genre painting</strong>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/painting" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">painting</a> of scenes from everyday life, of ordinary people in work or recreation, depicted in a generally realistic manner. <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="Genre" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Genre" data-type="MW">Genre</a> art contrasts with that of landscape, portraiture, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/still-life-painting" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">still life</a>, religious themes, historic events, or any kind of traditionally idealized subject matter. <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="Intimate" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Intimate" data-type="MW">Intimate</a> scenes from daily life are almost invariably the subject of genre painting. The elimination of imaginative content and of idealization focuses attention upon the shrewd observation of types, costumes, and settings.</p><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies multiple medialist slider js-slider position-relative d-inline-flex align-items-center mw-100" data-type="other"><div class="slider-container js-slider-container overflow-hidden d-flex"><div class="rw-track d-flex align-items-center"><div class="position-relative rw-slide col-100 px-20 "><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="32211" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/40/39640-050-DD02BF52/Carousing-Peasants-Interior-oil-painting-Adriaen-van-1638.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/229297/32211"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/40/39640-050-DD02BF52/Carousing-Peasants-Interior-oil-painting-Adriaen-van-1638.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/40/39640-050-DD02BF52/Carousing-Peasants-Interior-oil-painting-Adriaen-van-1638.jpg?w=300" alt="Carousing Peasants in an Interior, oil painting by Adriaen van Ostade, c. 1638; in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich." data-width="912" data-height="727" loading="eager"></picture><div class="position-absolute top-10 left-10 assembly-slide-tag rounded-lg">1 of 2</div><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/40/39640-050-DD02BF52/Carousing-Peasants-Interior-oil-painting-Adriaen-van-1638.jpg" data-href="/media/1/229297/32211"><em>Carousing Peasants in an Interior</em>, oil painting by Adriaen van Ostade, <em>c.</em> 1638; in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich.</a><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div><div class="position-relative rw-slide col-100 px-20 "><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="136920" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/07/132907-050-1DFF4979/Lifes-Day-canvas-oil-Three-Times-Across-1861.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/229297/136920"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/07/132907-050-1DFF4979/Lifes-Day-canvas-oil-Three-Times-Across-1861.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/07/132907-050-1DFF4979/Lifes-Day-canvas-oil-Three-Times-Across-1861.jpg?w=300" alt="Bellows, Albert Fitch: Life's Day" data-width="1600" data-height="955" loading="eager"></picture><div class="position-absolute top-10 left-10 assembly-slide-tag rounded-lg">2 of 2</div><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/07/132907-050-1DFF4979/Lifes-Day-canvas-oil-Three-Times-Across-1861.jpg" data-href="/media/1/229297/136920">Bellows, Albert Fitch: <em>Life's Day</em></a><span><em>Life's Day or Three Times Across the River: Noon (The Wedding Party)</em>, oil on canvas by Albert Fitch Bellows, 1861; in the Brooklyn Museum, New York. 73.7 × 119.4 cm.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div></div><button disabled="true" class="prev-button js-prev-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-lg btn-blue-dark m-20"><span class="material-icons" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_left"></span></button><button disabled="true" class="next-button js-next-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-lg btn-blue-dark m-20"><span class="material-icons" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></span></button></div><p class="topic-paragraph">The term arose in 18th-century France to describe painters specializing in one kind (<em>genre</em>) of picture, such as flowers or animals or middle-class life, and was originally used derogatively by advocates of the ideal or grand manner in art. By the late 19th century, when the Swiss critic <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacob-Burckhardt" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jacob Burckhardt</a> wrote <em>Netherland Genre Painting</em> (1874), the term was more approving and also was restricted to its current sense. The term is still most popularly used to describe the works of such 17th-century Dutch and Flemish painters as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jan-Havickszoon-Steen" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jan Steen</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gerard-Terborch" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Gerard Terborch</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Adriaen-van-Ostade" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Adriaen van Ostade</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Teniers-the-Younger" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">David Teniers the Younger</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pieter-de-Hooch" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Pieter de Hooch</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johannes-Vermeer" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Johannes Vermeer</a>. Later masters of genre art have included such various artists as Cornelis Troost in the Netherlands, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Wilkie" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">David Wilkie</a> in Britain, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Baptiste-Simeon-Chardin" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin</a> in France, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pietro-Longhi" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Pietro Longhi</a> in Italy, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Caleb-Bingham" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">George Caleb Bingham</a> in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">United States</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="md-signature font-12">This article was most recently revised and updated by <a href="/editor/Virginia-Gorlinski/6739">Virginia Gorlinski</a>.</span><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-simplify-root"></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":1,"pageId":229297,"pageLength":215,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.133.48"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.133.48' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"A","adLeg":"A","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"SMALL","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":true,"hasAiTopQuestions":false,"hasSimplifyButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Genre painting | Rural Scenes, Everyday Life, Domestic Interiors | Britannica