and still lifes: a style or genre associated with a specific national identity was appropriated by a different
nation. One of Chardin’s works was completed as a pendant to a similar Flemish work (T.W. Gaetghens,
2003, 80). Seventeenthcentury works by Adriaen Brouwer (1606–1638) and Philips Wouwermans
(1619–1668) fetched high prices across Europe. At the same time, an early eighteenthcentury English
aristocratic disdain for Dutch art was based on the fact that it was seen as neither “polite” nor “great.”
English prejudices against French decorative painting, regarded as immoral, also influenced the market
(Solkin, 1993, 51). These negative perceptions of foreign art contributed to a growing dissatisfactio with
the lack of a national school of art in England, made all the more obvious since auctioneers knew little
about English art and buyers, and were more interested in copies of Italian paintings brought back from
the Grand Tour.
Hogarth is widely recognized as the first British artist to make a conscious attempt to develop a national
school of art, directly challenging the prior preeminence (especially at court) of foreign artists. In his
portraits, such as that he produced in 1740 of Captain Thomas Coram, he competed explicitly with
traditions established in Britain by Van Dyck, by using grand portraiture devices such as the classical
column and drapery included in the background. In an attempt to assert his own style, he combined these
with a more naturalistic pose, costume and expression. In spite of the founding in 1768 of the Royal
Academy, English art was slow to acquire a truly international reputation until the nineteenth century
(Pointon, 1993, 49), although the homegrown talent of its sculptors fared better from the 1760s (Craske,
1997, 262). Printmakers helped to raise the reputation of the British art works on which their prints were
based (Vaughan, 2008, 68).
This brief discussion of the significance of the national origins and associations of works of art should
however be set against the growing cosmopolitanism of much artistic culture, as many artists traveled
across Europe to secure work and learned from one another in major urban centers such as Rome.
Networking (local, national, international) was an essential skill in a profession that could lead equally to
poverty or affluence. It was common to work as a drawing tutor, illustrator or salesman of art supplies in
order to supplement income (Myrone, 2008, 190). Many artists turned to portraiture because it was more
lucrative than other genres – few buyers having the funds or the wall space required for grand history
paintings (Conisbee, 1981, 111–113). In many cases restorers, gilders, framemakers and copyists had a
more reliable income than artists, since these craftsmen were paid directly by artists, while artists
themselves were often dependent on clients who varied in their readiness to pay bills (Pointon, 1993, 50).
As previously mentioned in Chapter 2, sharp business practices were a key part of successful commercial
outcomes for portrait painters.
Artists such as the sculptors Francis Leggatt Chantrey (1781–1841) and Joseph Nollekens (1737–1823),
and Goya (at least in the early part of his career), courted patrons through their refined social manners.
Hogarth was a consummate artistbusinessman, and artists such as Reynolds moved graciously through
the highest echelons of society (Craske, 1997, 62–5; Hallett, 2014, 19, 45–48). As an alternative to social
conformity, artists might also adopt, particularly later in the century, the persona of the nonconformist,
radical or “genius,” in order to enhance their reputations and improve business. While artists in Stuttgart
and St Petersburg wore a type of civil service uniform emphasizing their service to the state, society
artists elsewhere courted patrons by appealing to an established sense of social hierarchy. There were
some dissidents rising above the need to conform to such behaviors. In Britain, Barry fought against the
conventions of the Royal Academy in an (ultimately unsuccessful) attempt to establish a career on the
basis of a unique creative vision (Craske, 1997, 46–59; Fenton, 2006, 162–163). In Rome, Grand Tour
portraits by Pompeo Girolano Batoni (1708–1787) were in great demand as status symbols produced by
an international celebrity (Figure 3.1), while other members of the growing circle of neoclassical artists
there, such as Mengs, also acquired superstar status.