1st Edition

Funerary Arts and Tomb Cult Living with the Dead in France, 1750-1870

By Suzanne Glover Lindsay Copyright 2012
276 Pages
by Routledge

276 Pages
by Routledge

Even before the upheaval of the Revolution, France sought a new formal language for a regenerated nation. Nowhere is this clearer than in its tombs, some among its most famous modern sculpture-rarely discussed as funerary projects. Unlike other art-historical studies of tombs, this one frames sculptural examples within the full spectrum of the material funerary arts of the period, along with... Read more
Contents: Introduction: revisiting 18th- and 19th-century French tombs; Reforming funerary cult in France 1750-1870; 18th-century France: rethinking sculpture and the body; The Bonchamps project: reinventing the effigy tomb; Louis-Philippe's tombs: burying a modern royal family; The poetics of the exhumed corpse I: a tomb for Napoléon; The poetics of the exhumed corpse II: the Cavaignac tomb; Bibliography; Index.

Biography

Suzanne Glover Lindsay is Adjunct Associate Professor of the History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania, USA.

'This is a meticulously researched, consistently insightful book that makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the life of the dead, and the objects that accompanied them, in nineteenth-century France.' French History

'... this well-researched, thoughtful book contributes to our understanding of the gisant figure’s intriguing if limited revival, and to ongoing reflections about commemorative practices, sculpture in particular, the workings of historical memory, and the place of the dead in modern France.' French Studies

'Funerary Arts and Tomb Cult is superbly researched and clearly articulated, providing a synthesis of perspectives concerning funerary arts, tomb cult, and the mentalities that shaped them in France. Moreover, the importance of the body as it relates to funerary arts and tomb cult is brought to the forefront for the first time through Lindsay’s thematic investigation of the recumbent effigy. Important and thought-provoking, the book is a very welcomed addition to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century art-historical studies.' CAA Reviews

'... a well-researched, rewarding and ultimately fasinating work.' Church Monument