Genre

The Ninth Wave by Ivan Aivazovsky, 1850. Seascape

A Genre is a well defined type or category of music, art, or writing; artworks often fit into two or more genres.

"Genre" also refers to a hierarchy of types of paintings instituted under the Academy system. "Genre Painting" is one of the types.

Back in the heyday of the Academy system, artists used to have an official list detailing which types of paintings were more important than others. [1]

Hierarchy of the genres in painting according to European academies of fine art.

1.- Historical Painting was ranked number one in the old academic tradition; represents significant events of history, religion or literature.
2.- Portraiture is the artistic representation of persons or sitters.
3.- Genre also called genre scene or petit genre, depicts aspects of everyday life.
4.- Landscape, a term in painting used for a representation of a natural scenery of land or sea (Seascape), towns (Townscape) or cities (Cityscape).
5.- Still life, inanimate painting of subjects like: flowers (bouquet), vases, jars, fruits, etc.

The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill by John Trumbull, 1786. Historical Painting.
Claude Monet Reading by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1872. Portraiture
Diego Velázquez, Las Hilanderas 1657. Genre Painting
Niagara Falls from the American Side by Frederic Edwin Church, 1867. Landscape
Peonies by Emil Carlsen. Still life
Marriage of the Virgin (ca. 1620-35) by Luis Juárez
Anthony van Dyck, Charles I King of England at the Hunt, 1635.
The Feast of the Gods by Giovanni Bellini, ca. 1514.
Jacob Isaaksz van Ruisdael, Stormy Sea with Sailing Vessels, 1668.
Still Life with Coffee Pot by Fernando Botero.
La liberte guidant le peuple by Eugene Delacroix, 1830.
José María Velasco, Self-Portrait, 1894,
Barge Haulers on the Volga by Ilya Repin, 1870-1873.
Frederic Edwin Church, Cotopaxi, 1855.
William Merritt Chase, Still Life - Flowers.