Locus genii

Abstract Over the course of the early modern period, genius was transformed in criticism from a commonplace of ‘inclination’ into a powerful tool of aesthetic classification, signalling heightened creativity in a person or work of art. This chapter argues that genius as a concept emerges with particular strength in the writings of the Roger de Piles, specifically in his accounts of Peter Paul Rubens. Investigating the language, conceptual, and formal properties that de Piles associates with esprit and génie, it concludes that in his hands early modern ‘ingenuity’ was transformed into ‘genius’.