Art History I / Themes, Genres and the Hierarchy
Practice question · Fill in the blanks

Complete the account of the hierarchy.

The ranking of genres was set out by ______ in 1667 for the French Academy. The genre ranked first was ______ painting, and the genre ranked last was ______ life. Academic training was built around the ______ class, from which women were excluded in most academies.

Word bank: Félibien · history · still · life · portrait · drawing

Hints
  1. The first blank is the theorist who wrote the Academy's preface.
  2. The last blank names the class that taught the nude figure.
Show the answer

The ranking of genres was set out by Félibien in 1667 for the French Academy. The genre ranked first was history painting, and the genre ranked last was still life. Academic training was built around the life class, from which women were excluded in most academies.

Why

The last blank is where the hierarchy stops being an opinion and becomes a mechanism. The life class taught the nude in action, history painting required it, and closing the class closed the genre, which is a structural exclusion rather than a stated one.

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