From the book
The Gods Are Athirst
Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
Lemma.
A painting of everyday, rustic or socially humble life. Brotteaux imagines the hungry queue as such a picture; Gamelin accepts the Flemish genre’s superiority to rococo frivolity while still reserving beauty for the antique. “Low-life” in the English names a class of subject matter, not a judgement that the people are morally low.
Places to read
- Chapter VI, paragraph 13Frenchune bambochade: A low-life genre picture. Brotteaux proposes a modern Teniers as the scene’s painter.
- Chapter VI, paragraph 16Frenchles bambochades: The genre scenes. Gamelin distinguishes making humanity ugly from debasing it.