Gods and Heroes: Masterpieces from the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris examines the pivotal role of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in influencing so much of the history, content and style of late- 17th-, 18th- and 19th-century European art. Not only did the École train generations of artists, but it also served as a repository for work by the most renowned artists in Europe. In three essays, as well as in over 200 catalogue entries and colour plates, the volume tells a fascinating, multi-layered story. On one level it is a study of the role of the epic deeds of classical and biblical gods and heroes in the work of generations of artists in France and beyond. On another level, it explores the impact of the École des Beaux-Arts' curriculum on western visual culture, and the persistence of the classical tradition.
From the late 17th through to the mid-19th century, the École was a highly competitive, government school that rigorously trained artists to fulfill the needs of royal, state, and church patrons. In so doing, the École created a particular "way of seeing" that created the established aesthetic and ideological norms in French artistic production right through to the First World War, and provided the backdrop against which the modernist "revolution" from the mid-19th century emerged and developed.
Gods and Heroes features 208 extraordinary art works from the collection of the École, dating from the 17th to the 19th century, including important works by such masters as Antoine- Louis Barye, François Boucher, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Jacques-Louis David, Leonardo da Vinci, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Jean-Auguste- Dominique Ingres, Charles Le Brun, Charles Natoire, Nicolas Poussin, Carle Van Loo, and Jean-Antoine Watteau
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