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Diderot 's Critique On Art And Public Of The Eighteenth Century

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Diderot’s critique stands out among other artistic critiques of the eighteenth century in the way he manages to engage not only what is on the canvas, but also in the way he is able to instill each composition’s elements with significance in a greater context. Diderot’s critic of Hubert Robert’s work, among others, in The Salon of 1767 serves as a lesson for both artists and observers. His writing engages both groups through exploration of the role antiquity, imagination, and temporality play in the creation and viewership of art. In doing so, Diderot defines what made the art and public of the eighteenth century unique.
The new archaeological discoveries of the eighteenth century reinvigorated public interest in antiquity, and Diderot was no exception to this trend. Diderot observes, “One rarely becomes a great writer, a great man of letters, or a man of remarkable taste without having made a close study of the ancients.” Both the observer and artist must pay close attention to lessons from antiquity to properly understand concepts of beauty and the ideal. However, this is does not mean Diderot condones artists’ imitation of ancient art. To Diderot, copying the ancients will never bring contemporary artists to the level of beauty of antiquity . Instead, artists and viewers should use the ancient mode to engage the contemporary .
Painters of ruins should be sure to paint ruins with accuracy, so that the viewer cannot mistake the period and civilization of the ruin’s

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