English: Lady Reading the Letters of Heloise and Abélard, a painting by Bernard d’Agesci (formerly ascribed to J-B Greuze). Oil on canvas, 81 x 65 cm, Art Institute, Chicago
Date
circa 1780
date QS:P571,+1780-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902
to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
to remix – to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
share alike – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same or compatible license as the original.
This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it.
If the file has been modified from its original state, some details may not fully reflect the modified file.
User comments
D'AGESCI
(b. 1756, Niort, d. 1829, Paris)
Lady Reading the Letters of Heloise and Abélard
c.1780
Oil on canvas, 81 x 65 cm
Art Institute, Chicago
For most eighteenth-century critics (e.g. Jean-Jacques Rousseau), novel reading by proper young women was to be discouraged. The dangers of reading are explicit in Bernard d'Agesci's painting: it is a stark testament to the erotic wantonness brought on by the novel, which in this case is slipping from her fingers in her distraction.
Until 2001 the painting was attributed to Greuze.
Inscribed: HELOISE, ABEL (on the leaves of the open book); LART / DAIME / DE / BERNA (on the spine of the closed book).
--- Keywords: --------------
Author: BERNARD D'AGESCI
Title: Lady Reading the Letters of Heloise and Abélard
Time-line: 1751-1800
School: French
Form: painting