In her study of the “artful body” and aristocratic identity in the visual arts from Louis XIV to the Regency, Sarah Cohen investigates the role played by personal artifice and dance in the performance of status, power, and social interaction. Drawing on a wealth of historical, visual, and documentary material, an intimate familiarity with dance and art history, and methodologies on performance and identity in African and contemporary art, Cohen explores the significance and meaning of outward appearances, bodily movement, and cultural practice in art ranging from Versailles to the last paintings of Watteau. In chapter one, “The Court Ballet,” Cohen presents the intertwined cultural and political dimensions of social performance and dance under Louis XIV. Examining Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier and texts by the Chevalier de Méré, La Rochefoucauld, Descartes, and Bossuet, Cohen discusses the evolution of the idea of the “artful body,” with its fusion of aristocratic comportment and cultivated mystique of personal charm and grace. Aristocratic status was claimed to be marked by outward appearances, but the signifiers defied easy definition, as in the oft-cited phrase je ne sais quoi. This stance was characterized by Bouhours as a “charm and a quality which blend into all...