A Guide to Eighteenth-Century Art offers an introductory overview of the art, artists, and artistic movements of this exuberant period in European art, and the social, economic, philosophical, and political debates that helped shape them.

Covers both artistic developments and critical approaches to the period by leading contemporary scholarsUses an innovative framework to emphasize the roles of tradition, modernity, and hierarchy in the production of artistic works of the periodReveals the practical issues connected with the production, sale, public and private display of art of the periodAssesses eighteenth-century arts contribution to what we now refer to as modernityIncludes numerous illustrations, and is accompanied by online resources examining art produced outside Europe and its relationship with the West, along with other useful resources

Linda Walsh is a former Senior Lecturer in Art History at the Open University. An established scholar of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century art, Walsh is the author of numerous articles and chapters on topics that include Canova and neoclassical theory; paintings by David, Watteau, and Chardin; eighteenth-century academies; art criticism; and British landscape art.

List of Figures vi

Acknowledgments x

Companion Website xi

Introduction: Style, Society, Modernity 1

1 Institutional Hierarchies: Art and Craft 19

2 Genres and Contested Hierarchies 56

3 Markets, Publics, Expert Opinions 122

4 Taste, Criticism and Journalism 189

5 Seeking a Moral Order: The Choice between Virtue and Pleasure 205

Conclusion 239

References 240

Index 260