Painting of scenes from everyday life, of ordinary people at work or play, depicted in a realistic manner.
In the 18th century, the term was used derogatorily to describe painters specializing in one type of picture, such as flowers, animals, or middle-class life. By the mid-19th century it was being used more approvingly, and it is still popularly used to describe works by 17th-century Dutch and Flemish painters such as Jan Steen , Gerard Terborch , Adriaen van Ostade , and Johannes Vermeer , and later masters such as J.-B.-S. Chardin in France, Pietro Longhi in Italy, and George Caleb Bingham in the U.S.