Source Texts
Text
The Village Politicians, painted in the realist style by Wilhelm Leibl, depicts a group of peasants clustered together in conversation and emphasizes accuracy in its portrayal of the experiences of ordinary working people. This style largely the conventions of the romantic style evident in many paintings by Thomas Couture, which instead accentuated their subjects' positive traits by, for example, placing them in staged settings with expensive looking decorations and presenting them with smooth, unblemished skin.