Each volume of the Dictionary of World Biography contains 250 entries on the lives of the individuals who shaped their times and left their mark on world history. This is not a who's who. Instead, each entry provides an in-depth essay on the life and career of the individual concerned. Essays commence with a quick reference section that provides basic facts on the individual's life and achievements. The extended biography places the life and works of the individual within an historical context, and the summary at the end of each essay provides a synopsis of the individual's place in history. All entries conclude with a fully annotated bibliography.

The history of sexuality has been the subject of increased interest in recent years and more widely acknowledged importance in the interpretation of past mentalités. Yet historians have only recently begun to study sexual practices in any depth, establishing that sexuality is not a biological constant but an ever-changing phenomenon, continuously shaped by people themselves. The contributors to this inter-disciplinary collection bring their expertise in ancient as well as medieval history, anthropology, modern history, and psychology to bear upon the history of sexuality. They explore various aspects of sexuality in successive periods: pederasty and lesbian love in antiquity, incest in the Middle Ages, sexual education during the Dutch Republic, voyeurism in the rococo, prostitution in Vienna around 1900, and the invention of sexology. From Sappho to De Sade, first published in 1989, offers an informative and entertaining collection of essays for students of cultural anthropology, social history and gender studies.

"Fifteen international scholars present their latest research into the contexts and meanings of French genre painting of the eighteenth century, from Jean-Antoine Watteau to Louis-Leopold Boilly. The essays represent a wide range of critical and historical perspectives, from traditional archival research to postructuralist criticism."--Page 4 de la couverture

Here is the definitive study of the great painter Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), best known for his exquisite fetes galantes--scenes of the pastoral pleasures of elegant society. Until now, critical interpretations of this remarkable artist have been shaped by essentially Romantic views. Donald Posner provides a reassessment of the life and work of Watteau; his account is enriched with reproductions of all of Watteau's paintings and major studies.

This book recasts the import of Mme de Pompadour as a political and artistic patron at the court of Versailles in mid-eighteenth centery France. Pompadour's visual record is lush and the memoirs, diaries, correspondence, and political records are fecund examples of the weight she carried. In them she dazzles and impresses, offering both a passionate and intellectual view of the tumult that characterized pre-revolutionary France. This extensive body of evidence supports the argument that her place on the balance sheet has been overlooked. We find Pompadour simultaneously in multiple spheres of influence including the political arena, the Frence Academy of Painting and Sculpture and the larger art public, and, finally, within the Enlightenment, advocating the ideas expressed by its principal proponents. In 1745 Pompadour reigned as the new Favorite of Louis XV and kept company with him as a mistress for nearly five years. She was beset by physical infirmities and exhausted by the king's insatiable appetite. Pompadour instituted a striking transition in 1750 from mistress to friend, effecting and iconographical rehabilitation and positioning herself as an indispensable power broker within political and cultural spheres until her death in 1764. This book stimulates the audience to sit up and take notice of Pompadour's worth and measure. She is a fabulously engaging and magnetic individual whose particular influence contributed to the shifting landscape of France inching slowly toward revolution. This work overturns prevailing views of Pompadour's detractors who blind us to her import as an agent, not an object of change. Here we find a nuanced image of Pompadour through a careful examination og archival and printed sources and the art that she patronized, collectively revealing the charismatic breadth of her contributions. As she declared unapologetically, 'I am stubborn in the service of the King and I won't hold back in anything.' The historical timeline of France from 1745 to 1764 bears the unforgettable imprint and face of Pompadour.

Explores the way seven women writers of the eighteenth century responded to Rousseau, and traces his crucial influence on their literary careers.