genre

genre , in art-history terminology, a type of painting dealing with unidealized scenes and subjects of everyday life. Although practiced in ancient art, as shown by Pompeiian frescoes, and in the Middle Ages, genre was not recognized as worthy and independent subject matter until the 16th cent. in Flanders. There it was popularized by Pieter Bruegel, the elder. It flourished in Holland in the 17th cent. in the works of Ter Borch, Brouwer, Metsu, De Hooch, Vermeer, and many others, and extended to France and England, where in the 18th and 19th cent., its major practitioners were Watteau, Chardin, Greuze, Morland, and Wilkie. In Italy genre elements were present in Carpaccio's and Caravaggio's paintings, but not until the 18th cent. did genre become the specialty of an Italian artist, Pietro Longhi. The French impressionists often painted genre subjects as did members of the American ashcan school.

genre This French noun (e.g. le genre comique = comedy) is used for categories of literature, and by biblical critics to differentiate the various kinds of narrative in OT and NT. It is important for exegesis not to confuse, say, history with myth or poetry, though the form of a particular writing may not be a correct indication of its genre; for example, the fact that Rev. opens with letters to seven Churches belies its true genre, which is a piece of apocalyptic writing. Thus, in biblical studies, the identification of the genre of a major unit of material (such as a book of the Pentateuch or a NT epistle) will precede the analysis of smaller sections, or pericopae, within the whole.