Few artists have had such a rapid fall from superstar status to whipping boy as Carl Bloch (1834–90). After his death, he was written out of art history and his pictures placed in storage. But outside the museums, Bloch’s virtuoso technique and seductive narratives continued to win new followers. Carl Bloch – Seduced offers new perspectives on how Bloch has continued to attract a wide audience by speaking directly to the great human emotions. What shaped the phenomenon that is Carl Bloch and how do we perceive him today? In this book, scholars and contemporary audiences reassess Carl Bloch’s complex life’s work, right from his religious images, comic genre scenes and edifying fateful tales to his Rembrandt-inspired etchings and superb portraits of the women of modern life.