ABSTRACT
As notions concerning appearance and the body change over time, it is not surprising that figurative artists' preference for some types of bodies over others also changes. Indeed, it is the model's job to represent and to pose the body for the artist, and, through the exhibition of art works, the public at large. How models' bodies are distinguished, how they are described, judged, lauded or rejected, is a useful indicator of how the dominant sectors of society pose some bodies as representable and others as unrepresentable. It is also a sign, therefore, of how bodies are used to effect power. The case explored here is that of changing ethnic preferences in the French art world during the 19th century, in particular the shift from a preference for the Jewish female model to a preference for the Italian female model.
