Painting in the 19th century: Introduction, by Henri Focillon (1927)

Abstract

In 1927, Henri Focillon (1881-1943), French art historian, published in Paris the book La peinture au XIXe siècle: le retour à l'antique, le Romantisme, followed the following year by La peinture au XIXe et XXe siècles: du Reálisme à nos jours. The volumes, edited by H. Laurens, were part of the series Manuels d'Histoire de l'Art, under the direction of Henry Marcel, former director of the National Museums of France. The collection aimed to "retrace, in a series of distinct works, the history and evolution of each art form", from the "origins" to the 20th century. The Portuguese translation below presents the reader with the introduction to Focillon's first volume, in which he defines the keys to understanding nineteenth-century art.