The Evolution of Population Distribution on the Iberian Peninsula: A Transnational Approach (1877–2001)

Surpassing the national perspective usually adopted, the authors confirmed the existence of a pattern of population distribution common to the whole Iberian Peninsula in the long run. This pattern is clearly associated with geographical factors. These variables seem to have more weight in explaining changes between 1877/78 and 1940 than in the period from 1940 to 2001. The observation of the cross-border region has shown that proximity to the frontier has not generated any distinct pattern of population density on either side of the boundary line. The spatial coherence of the observed phenomena throughout the Peninsula and of its evolution, independent of the border between states, reinforces the importance of geographic factors in their explanation. At the same time, this verification opens up new issues related to the effect of national political and economic policies.

The names of things: terminology and the practice of art history

This paper aims to explore the ways in which standard art history terminology shapes the practice of art history by conditioning the interpretation of specific works of art and, in certain cases, the definition of a research subject (especially where questions of genre and periodization are concerned). Taking as a case study a painting by Georges de La Tour, the Peasant Couple Eating, I will argue that terms such as realism, realistic, naturalistic etc. used for its description and/or interpretation, far from constituting objective stylistic characterizations, shape our perception of the work in question. Bringing the question of social class to the center of the discourse on realism, I propose to show how the social divide between the painter and his subject matter (in this case, the peasants) is internalized in the painting’s style and meaning, and how it is fundamental for the understanding of its intentionality and function.