Abstract

By focusing on how bourgeois and feminist discourses intersect in the moralistic paintings of Jean-Baptiste Greuze , I argue that Greuze's images manifest a thrust toward liberation from the ideological constraints of Father's Law and toward the advent of feminized ontology. Through the analysis of L'Accordee de village and La Malediction paternelle, I claim that the deconstruction of patriarchy and the return of the feminine are catalyzed in bourgeois economy by the monetary system. ;To support the significance of Greuze in the development of Realism, not only in art but also in literature, I posit Greuze as the precursor of Balzac. Informing my discussion by Jean-Joseph Goux's theory of the homology between the referential status of the sign, the Father, and the fiduciary system, I argue that Balzac's Realism, illustrating the milieu of commercial capitalism of the nineteenth century, exacerbate the loss of moral superiority of the paterfamilias. ;Although Greuze's work is profoundly embedded in the patriarchal ethic, the analysis of La Paresseuse italienne and La Mere bien-aimee provides evidence of the painters feminist vision