"Et la lumiere fut": the meanings of David d'Angers's monument to Gutenberg - Johann Gensfleich Gutenberg

This is the first in-depth study of the social meanings of one of the major civic monuments of nineteenth-century France: Pierre-Jean David d'Angers's homage to Johann Gutenberg, erected at Strasbourg in 1840. How this work is related to the struggles around the issue of freedom of the press and to republican politics during the July Monarchy (1830-48), both in France as a whole and in the city of Strasbourg in particular, is examined in detail. The project was directly implicated in the major political battles of the day, and more important, it was also at the center of an intense religious conflict between ultramontane Catholics and Protestants in the city. The artist himself was in complete accord with the views of the radical republican and Protestant factions in divided Strasbourg

COPYRIGHT 1991 College Art Association
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group