In the Tradition

In September 1925, the Petit Palais in Paris unveiled a major work by the painter Maurice Denis, a decorated cupola illustrating the history of French art from the Middle Ages to the present. This chapter explores the disputed status of tradition, broadly understood, across the long nineteenth century. By evaluating the substantial changes that occurred in ways of thinking about contemporary artists' relationship with the past, artists can better understand why tradition, conceived as a universal value transcending local particularities, was gradually eclipsed by a national genealogy rooted in ethnically inflected conceptions of French culture. The Le Nains in particular became emblems of a newly valued localism, with their peasant scenes highlighted over their more conventional production. A Catholic poet and theorist, Mithouard argued that French art and literature represented a unique synthesis that united the antinomies of naturalism and idealism, the Gothic and the Classical, northern and southern cultures.