among the printmakers who parodied such representations of Academy crowds; for example, by creating a
caricature image of crowds attending a 1790s exhibition of caricature prints (Donald, 1996, 8) (Figure
3.6). In France, journals and newspapers reported freely on the fashions, social rank (from nobleman to
pickpocket, thief or the unemployed), overheard comments and even smells of visitors to the Salons
(Crow, 1985, 89–90; Wrigley, 1993, 78–91).
Figure 3.6 Richard Newton: Holland’s Caricature Exhibition, watercolor drawing on paper, 1794,
British Museum, London.
Source: © The Trustees of the British Museum.A Public for Art
One of the greatest claims to the “modernity” of eighteenthcentury artistic culture is the recognition that
in this period there was growing awareness of an art “public” that extended well beyond the oldregime
contexts of court and church. This public became more selfconsciously critical of the art it viewed and
more educated in matters of taste and aesthetics, which influenced, in turn, the kind of art artists produced.
As art was subjected to broader scrutiny and analysis, it embraced new styles, subjects and genres. Many
scholars have focused recently on these developments.
Thomas Crow has related developments in eighteenthcentury French art to the changing characteristics
of public life, in his seminal 1985 work Painters and Public Life in EighteenthCentury Paris . In this
work Crow states (1985, 31) that prior to 1747, and in relation to cultural events or products, the term
“public” meant merely the “habitual audience” (or actual group of people) experiencing them. With the