neoclassical) in France, Italy and elsewhere (Kaufman, 1995, 307–330, 368–438). Frederick the Great
acquired many French works, including genre paintings and works by Watteau and his followers, that
would suit the monarch’s decorative schemes. As the century progressed, it became more common,
however, particularly outside Prussia, for native German, Swiss and Austrian artists to receive
commissions and for their works to be collected.
Louis XV of France commissioned many genre paintings for the wooden panels at Versailles, as well as
hunt and outdoor feast scenes for his private apartments. Catherine the Great of Russia acquired a
significant collection from all over Europe, including the collection at Houghton Hall of Sir Robert
Walpole (in office 1721–1742), Britain’s first Prime Minister, in office from 1721 to 1742. Walpole’s
family sold this collection after his death, when they met a debt crisis. The collection comprised mainly
European sixteenth and seventeenthcentury old master works in a range of genres. These paintings
went eventually to the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, which by 1770 contained 2080 paintings.
Catherine also collected old master drawings, and commissioned porcelain and furniture from the finest
manufacturers in Europe. She wanted her collections to be the best in Europe.
There were lavish courtly collections in Munich and Vienna. The collection at the latter of the Habsburg
ruler Charles VI (Holy Roman Emperor 1711–1740) was particularly grand, and was “opened up” to a
wide public through the creation of an illustrated catalogue which presented a canonical set of
“masterpieces” tracing a traditional narrative of the progress of western art (Link, 2013, 101–116). In the
1780s the gallery at the Belvedere Palace of Joseph II of Austria (Holy Roman Emperor 1765–1790) was
opened free of charge to the public (Kaufman, 1995, 444). German courtly artists such as Johann Heinrich
Tischbein the elder (1722–1789) created at court (in his case at Kassel) art that united the cultural
interests of the court with those of a broader social elite. His Masquerade with Personalities from
Kassel Playing Cards (Maskenszene mit Kasseler Persoenlichkeit , c.1780–1785) included references
to Watteauinspired masquerade (Tite, 2013b, 36–45). The Fridericianum Museum in Kassel, built in
1779, became the first freestanding museum in Germany. Courts across Europe, including those at
Stockholm, Düsseldorf, Florence and Dresden, hired curators to organize their collections or opened
these up to viewing by an increasingly broad range of the public.
The provision of catalogues and guidebooks became much more common throughout the century and
encouraged wider public engagement both with public and with privately owned art. In 1781 the first
guidebook to the Mays of the Cathedral of NotreDame de Paris was issued. The “mays” were large
history paintings offered to the cathedral on the first of May every year between 1630 and 1707 by the
guild of goldsmiths and silversmiths. The paintings were on the theme of Acts of the Apostles and were
displayed on pillars in the nave. They included works by seventeenthcentury French artists still much
revered in the eighteenth; for example, Le Brun, Le Sueur and Sébastien Bourdon (1616–1671). The
Grand Tour also encouraged the production of pocketsized guidebooks, to the Italian monuments, cities
and works of art popular with visitors.
The Paris Salons, which exhibited work by full and associate members of the Académie royale, provided
for much of the eighteenth century the most consistent opportunity for artists to exhibit their work to an
informed audience (Figure 3.4). Their name derives from the salon carré at the Louvre, where they were
held from 1737. They displayed many kinds of works, including paintings, sculptures, drawings and
prints. In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries the Salons had been sporadic and often
mounted in response to special royal occasions; for example, the marriage in 1725 between Louis XV and
Maria Leszczyńska (Queen Consort 1725–1768). Initiated in 1667, the Salons took place every few years
until 1704 when they stopped for a while due to concerns over the expense of mounting them, followed by
another in 1725. After a further break, the exhibitions were revived in 1737 in order to counter what was