Figure 4.1 Johan Zoffany: Charles Townley and Friends in His Library at Park Street, Westminster, oil
on canvas, 127 × 99.1 cm, 1781–1790 and 1798. Towneley Hall Art Gallery and Museum, Burnley.
Source: DeAgostini/Getty Images.British artists were often wary of connoisseurs’ approaches to assessing their work, seeing them as too
concerned with correctness in matters of attribution and the identification of the “hand” of a specific
artist, and too much immersed in the fine detail and finish of Dutch works in particular (Mount, 2006,
176–177). Connoisseurs were seen as preserving through such erudition the elitism and professional
“mystique” of their work (Mount, 2006, 180) (Figure 4.1). In visual representations of connoisseurs at
work scrutinizing paintings, use of a magnifying glass signifies their close attention to detail. There
remained, however, a distinction between the expert and the educated public (Wrigley, 1998, 232–233).
The precise blend of critical methods deployed varied according to whether an author was addressing the
public at large, more educated or specialist readers, or adopting a kind of literary (“man of letters”
littérateur or amateur) focus on the story, history, costumes and emotional experiences represented in
the paintings seen. Practitioners of this latter genre of art writing included, in Britain, Shaftesbury and
Richardson (who, as we have seen, combined it with more technical and specialist approaches) and, in
France, Laugier, JeanBaptiste de La Curne de Sainte Palaye (1697–1781), Caylus and Louis Petit de
Bachaumont (1690–1771).
Journalism
After the resumption in 1737 of more regular Salons in Paris, there emerged a proliferation of brochures
(pamphlets) and periodicals bearing critical accounts of the exhibitions (McWilliam et al., 1991). These
were sold at bookshops, by street hawkers or at the foot of the stairs leading to the Salon exhibitions
themselves. The popular press in France had grown since the preceding century. Most people from the
artisan class upwards could afford its publications, many of which appeared in the regions as well as in
the capital. The most resilient new journals were the Literary Year (the Année littéraire, 1754–1791),
The Encyclopaedic Journal (Le Journal encyclopédique, 1756–1794), The Herald ( L’AvantCoureur ,
1760–1773) the Paris Journal (Le Journal de Paris, 1777–1840), the Journal of Literature, Sciences
and the Arts (Journal de litérature, des sciences et des arts, 1779–1782) and Notices, Announcements
and Opinions on Various Matters (Affiches, annonces et avis divers, 1783–1814) (Wrigley, 1993, 158;
Berger, 1999, 91–124). Publications such as the French Gazette (Gazette de France) and the Scholars’
Journal (Journal des savants), both founded in the seventeenth century, survived until 1792, the Journal
des Savants being relaunched in 1816. The Gallant Mercury (Mercure Galant), also established in the
seventeenth century, lasted until 1791. By this time the court and aristocratic bias of these publications
failed to serve a newly politicized public (Berger, 1999, 91–100). The academic Jesuit publication, the
Journal de Trévoux (also known as Memoires of Trévoux, 1701–1777), predecessor of the Journal de
litérature, des sciences et des arts, did much to educate the public, but struggled to survive from 1762
when members of this Catholic sect were expelled from France.
Many French journal and newspaper critiques of art were written in a way that offered little challenge to
authority, political or cultural, in order to avoid censorship. They often had smaller print runs than the
brochures, which took greater risks and were less deferential. Journals were often collaborative affairs
and sometimes covered the arts in general. Very few writers could earn a living from criticism itself, so
had to write for a range of publications. It was common to plagiarize other writers’ work, hence the close
similarities of many Salon reviews. Those brochures that had to be printed illicitly, such as the libelles
(lampoons) often written by authors unsupported by patrons, were very popular with readers of all