La Valeur de l’art: exposition, marché, critique et public au XVIIIe siècle (review)

This volume’s subtitle may set out an immense field of inquiry, but, as Jesper Rasmussen points out in his brief introduction, the eight chapters challenge the traditional account of eighteenth-century art, according to which individual genius is recognized by institutions, critics, and the wider public, thereby promoting the artist from the status of artisan. These contributions decentre that narrative of the single creative genius (itself an ideological reaction to and occlusion of the market’s financial realities) to insist on institutional and commercial practices. Indebted to Bourdieu’s work, this socio-economic approach is not entirely innovative; nonetheless, the contributors — from literary, philosophical, and art historical backgrounds — offer the reader some compelling insights into the exhibition, trade, and reception of art in the eighteenth century. Annie Becq examines how, from a complex dynamic between speculators, commissioners, and merchants, there emerges the figure of an artist harmoniously integrated in society, unsullied by purely financial concerns. Unlike Becq, Nicolas Vieillescazes downplays the history of aesthetics in his examination of the abbé Batteux and the ‘beaux-arts’. Nathalie Manceau’s account of Baillet de Saint-Julien’s art criticism may introduce the reader to an unfamiliar figure whose writing is inspired by literary works, but her conclusion that he ‘ne se distingue pas radicalement des autres auteurs’ and that ‘l’esthétique qu’il defend [...] est loin d’être isolée’ (p. 91) is unlikely to prompt much enthusiasm to explore further. Eva Kernbauer’s stimulating chapter analyses how critics attempted to legitimize their judgement by invoking (or rather creating) the ‘public’ as an arbiter of taste. Examining how private collections were displayed, Patrick Michel argues that, while there endured the model of princely galleries (and thus an emphasis on the collection and the collector), one may perceive an increasing turn towards pedagogy, which in turn sets the ground for the development of the museum. Guillaume Glorieux’s chapter on François-Albert Stiémart certainly demonstrates how a copyist might become fabulously wealthy through political as well as artistic skills, but further discussion of the practice, theory, and status of copying would have been welcome. Àngela Julibert Jiménez sheds light on the Académie de Saint-Luc, which intermittently held exhibitions in the second half of the century; displaying such eccentric works as painted ostrich eggs and miniature sculptures made of human hair, this Salon was quite unlike that of the Académie royale and reveals a more diverse art scene than one might expect. The volume closes with Céline Spector’s compelling chapter on aesthetic and economic theory in Rousseau and Adam Smith. There are some weak points to this volume: a single bibliography would have been helpful; several of the articles would have benefited from a clearer theoretical approach; and, with the exception of Spector’s contribution, the collection is very much focused on the French (indeed Parisian) experience, as if the art market was a rather parochial affair. Nonetheless, these essays offer useful insights into a fascinating subject and suggest paths of further investigation.