undermine the emphasis on a wellordered composition or clearly defined lines central to the ethos of
disegno, thus undermining any desired clarity of meaning or interpretation. A painterly style became more
acceptable in practice, however, if not in theory, as the eighteenth century progressed. Artists such as
Watteau, JeanHonoré Fragonard (1732–1806) and Gainsborough became well known for their looser,
expressive brushwork. When Reynolds spoke of Gainsborough he expressed somewhat begrudgingly his
admiration of the latter’s painterly approach:
...it is certain, that all those odd scratches and marks, which, on close examination, are so observable
in Gainsborough’s pictures, and which even to experienced painters appear rather the effect of
accident than design; this chaos, this uncouth and shapeless appearance, by a kind of magick, at a
certain distance assumes form, and all parts seem to drop into their proper places; so that we can
hardly refuse acknowledging the full effect of diligence, under the appearance of chance and hasty
negligence.
(Reynolds, 1975 [1797], 257–258)The Art–Craft Divide: Unifying and Divisive Developments
There was a growing realization that in order to meet the needs of industry and trade, there should be
some interaction between academic training and craft skills. In 1767 the Royal Free School of Drawing
(École royale gratuite de dessin, later the National School of Decorative Arts or École nationale
supérieure des arts décoratifs) was set up in Paris to improve the drawing skills of craftsmen, thus
extending to the “lower” sphere of artistic practice the teaching of a skill highly valued in academies. Led
initially by the flower painter JeanJacques Bachelier (1724–1806), pupils copied drawings and prints
of figures, animals, flowers and ornaments as well as learning geometry and architecture. Many
academicians set up or ran free drawing schools for artisans, or taught at these (SchoneveldVan Stoltz,
1989, 223). Drawing schools opened across Europe (Guillomet, 1989, 255; SchoneveldVan Stoltz,
1989, 223; Kaufman, 1995, 395). These included, in London, Shipley’s Drawing School (established
c.1750) attached to the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (Brewer,
1997, 296); in Vienna, the Craft School (Manufakturschule) (1758); and, in Edinburgh, the Trustees’
Academy of Design (1760). Drawing manuals were widely available. By the middle of the century they
covered not just figure drawing but also landscape and still life, and were useful to those engaged in a
wide range of crafts and manufacture (Hsieh, 2013, 402–406). Academy sculptors such as Claude Michel
(also known as Clodion; 1738–1814) and ÉtienneMaurice Falconet (1716–1791), shared their skills in
drawing and modeling by helping to train those who designed ceramic objects at the established royal
Sèvres porcelain factory. In Britain, Flaxman contributed designs for Wedgwood pottery. The state
sponsored Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory in Munich employed the sculptor Franz Anton Bustelli
(1723–1763) as model master. He specialized in rococo designs for ornamental figurines; for example, of
stock Commedia dell’Arte (Italian travelling theatre) characters, made familiar early in the century
through Watteau’s paintings, validated by the Académie royale (Figure 1.4) and generally at the Venice
Carnival.