Synopses & Reviews
With this widely acclaimed work, Fried revised the way in which eighteenth-century French painting and criticism were viewed and understood.
"A reinterpretation supported by immense learning and by a series of brilliantly perceptive readings of paintings and criticism alike. . . . An exhilarating book."and#8212;John Barrell, London Review of Books
Synopsis
With this widely acclaimed work, Michael Fried revised the way in which eighteenth-century French painting and criticism are viewed and understood. Analyzing paintings produced between 1753 and 1781 and the comments of a number of critics who wrote about them, especially Dennis Diderot, Fried discovers a new emphasis in the art of the time, based not on subject matter or style but on values and effects.
Table of Contents
Preface
List of Illustrations
1. The Primacy of Absorption
2. Toward a Supreme Fiction
3. Painting and Beholder
Appendix A: Grimm on Unity, Instantaneousness and Related Topics
Appendix B: Two Related Texts: The Lettre sur les spectacles and Die Wahlverwandtschaften
Appendix C: David's Homer Drawings of 1794
Notes
Index