Patterns of reception

The early nineteenth-century German reception of British genre painting in its European context

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In the early nineteenth century, British painting was seen as the epitome of modernity. In this work, it is shown that British influences played a key role in the nineteenth-century emergence of the German genre piece, as evidenced by numerous examples from the art-theoretical discourse, art criticism, the trade in paintings and prints, as well as German painting. By studying this phenomenon with phylogenetic methods, it is possible to systematically analyse, reveal, and explain the patterns and mechanisms behind a process of artistic exchange during a time when national boundaries were being crossed increasingly easily and frequently.