ABSTRACT

Offering an examination of the paragone, meaning artistic rivalry, in nineteenth-century France and England, this book considers how artists were impacted by prevailing aesthetic theories, or institutional and cultural paradigms, to compete in the art world. The paragone has been considered primarily in the context of Renaissance art history, but in this book readers will see how the legacy of this humanistic competitive model survived into the late nineteenth century.

chapter 1|24 pages

An Introduction to the Paragone

chapter 2|58 pages

The Archetype of Beauty

Narcissus and the Birth of the beau idéal

chapter 3|72 pages

Pygmalion and Galatea

The Battle between Iconophobes and Iconodules

chapter 4|62 pages

Salomé versus Medusa

chapter |3 pages

The Place of Memory in the Paragone

A Conclusion