Adulterous Alliances
Home, State and History in Early Modern European Drama and Painting

This work focuses on English, Spanish and French drama from the 1590s through the late 18th century, and on 17th-century Dutch painting. It shows that the home and the marriage on which it is based are disrupted by a sexually predatory intruder - one who comes from the sphere of the state.

Shakespeare, Vermeer, Lope de Vega, Moliere, and Diderot dont usually keep company with one another. But in this acclaimed book, Richard Helgerson shows that each contributed to a common project of great significance: the artistic promotion of the middle-class home. In a study that stretches over two centuries, Helgerson looks beneath European drama and painting to reveal an unexpected prehistory of modern domesticity.