Enfilade

Francesco Guardi, Venice: The Rialto Bridge with the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi, ca.1764, oil on canvas, 120 × 204 cm
(Private collection)

◊     ◊     ◊     ◊     ◊

The long 18th century in the June issue of The Burlington:

The Burlington Magazine 167 (June 2025)

e d i t o r i a l

• “American Gothic,” p. 531.
There are many excoriating ways in which the current administration in Washington might be described; a number of them are perhaps too impolite to appear in a decorous journal such as this. The necessity of restraint does not, however, mean we should refrain from expressing a view on the provocative actions of the new United States government. They are not merely a matter of political theatre that feeds the news cycles, but also a corrosive force that is undermining many valued cultural institutions and having a direct and negative impact on the lives of tens of millions of people.

l e t t e r

• David Wilson, “More on Lorenzo Bartolini’s The Campbell Sisters Dancing a Waltz,” pp. 532–34.
Response to the article in the February issue by Lucy Wood and Timothy Stevens, “The Elder Sisters of The Campbell Sisters: William Gordon Cumming’s Patronage of Lorenzo Bartolini.”

a r t i c l e s

Joshua Reynolds, Elizabeth Percy, Countess (later Duchess) of Northumberland, 1757, oil on canvas, 240 × 148.6 cm. (Collection of the Duke of Northumberland, Syon House, London).

• Justus Lange and Martin Spies, “Two Royal Portraits by Reynolds Rediscovered in Kassel,” pp. 564–71.
Two paintings in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Kassel, are here identified as portraits by Joshua Reynolds of Princess Amelia, second daughter of George II, and her brother William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland. Both were gifts from the sitters to their sister Mary, Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel, a provenance that sheds new light on the cultural links between England and the landgraviate in the mid-eighteenth century.

• Giovanna Perini Folesani, “An Unpublished Letter by Sir Joshua Reynolds,” pp. 575–78.
in the historical archive of the Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence, there is an autograph letter by Sir Joshua Reynolds dated 20th May 1785 that was sent from London. . . . The text is in impeccable Italian, suggesting that Reynolds copied a translation made by a native speaker. . . .

• Francis Russell, “Guardi and the English Tourist: A Postscript,” pp. 578–83.
Some three decades ago this writer sought to demonstrate in this Magazine that the early evolution of Francesco Guardi (1712–93) as a vedutista could be followed in a number of pictures supplied to English patrons who were in Venice from the late 1750s. Other pieces of the jigsaw now fall into place. . . .

r e v i e w s

• Christoph Martin Vogtherr, Review of Schönbrunn: Die Kaiserliche Sommerresidenz, edited by Elfriede Iby and Anna Mader-Kratky (Kral Verlag, 2023), pp. 614–16.

• Steven Brindle, Review of Christopher Tadgell, Architecture in the Indian Subcontinent: From the Mauryas to the Mughals (Routledge, 2024), pp. 620–21.

• Stephen Lloyd, Review of ‘What Would You Like?’ Collecting Art for the Nation: An Account by a Director of Collections, edited by Magnus Olausson and Eva-Lena Karlsson (Nationalmuseum Stockholm, 2024), pp. 627–28.

George Cuitt, Gateway at Denbigh Castle, 1813, etching, 252 × 315 mm
(London, British Museum), reproduced on p. 200.

◊    ◊    ◊    ◊    ◊

The long eighteenth century in the latest issue of Print Quarterly:

Print Quarterly 42.2 (June 2025)

a r t i c l e s

• Jane Eade, “A Mezzotint by Jacob Christoff Le Blon (1667–1741) at Oxburgh Hall,” pp. 143–53. This article examines a newly discovered impression of Jacob Christoff Le Blon’s colour mezzotint after Sir Anthony van Dyck’s (1599–1641) portrait of The Three Eldest Children of Charles I at Windsor Castle. The author discusses Le Blon’s invention of his revolutionary printing technique, the print’s distribution history, the operations of Le Blon’s workshop known as the ‘Picture Office’, as well as the circumstances surrounding the Oxburgh Hall impression, including its recent conservation treatment.

• Stephen Bann, “Abraham Raimbach and the Reception of Prints after Sir David Wilkie in France,” pp. 154–67. This article establishes the premise that Sir David Wilkie (1785–1841) introduced a new style of narrative painting in England that would prove influential for painting throughout Europe. It was previously thought that Paul Delaroche (1797–1856) popularized this new narrative style a couple of decades later in France. Since the French public had no local access to Wilkie’s paintings, it is here shown that it was the reproductive engravings of Abraham Raimbach that brought Wilkie to their attention. In doing so, this idea challenges the centrality of Delaroche’s sole influence on European painting.

• Paul Joannides, “John Linnell, Leonardo Cungi and the Vault of the Sistine Chapel,” pp. 168–84. This article discusses John Linnell’s (1792–1882) mezzotints after the Sistine Chapel ceiling and the recently discovered drawings on which the prints were based. The drawings, once a single sheet, are here attributed to Leonardo Cungi (1500/25–69); in its entirety, it is the earliest known copy to show the complete ceiling in full detail.

n o t e s  a n d  r e v i e w s

William Blake, Joseph of Arimathea among the Rocks of Albion, ca. 1773, engraving, 254 × 138 mm (Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum), reproduced on p. 192.

• Ulrike Eydinger, Review of Jürgen Müller, Lea Hagedorn, Giuseppe Peterlini and Frank Schmidt, eds., Gegenbilder. Bildparodistische Verfahren in der Frühen Neuzeit (Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2021), pp. 185–87.
• Nigel Ip, Review of Owen Davies, Art of the Grimoire (Yale University Press, 2023), pp. 187–89.
• Antony Griffiths, Review of Mario Bevilacqua, ed., Edizione Nazionale dei Testi delle Opere di Giovanni Battista Piranesi. I. Opere giovanili, ‘Vedute di Roma’, ‘Pianta di Roma e Campo marzo’ (De Luca Editori d’Arte, 2023), pp. 191–92.
• Mark Crosby, John Barrett and Adam Lowe, Note on William Blake as an apprentice engraver, pp. 192–93.
• Ersy Contogouris, Review of Pascal Dupuy, ed. De la création à la confrontation. Diffusion et politique des images (1750–1848) (Presses Universitaires de Rouen et du Havre, 2023), pp. 194–95.
• Cynthia Roman, Review of David Atkinson and Steve Roud, Cheap Print and Street Literature of the Long Eighteenth Century (Open Book Publishers, 2023), pp. 197–98.
• Sarah Grant, Review of Peter Boughton and Ian Dunn, George Cuitt (1779–1854), ‘England’s Piranesi’: His Life and Work and a Catalogue Raisonné of His Etchings (University of Chester Press, 2022), pp. 199–201.
• Timon Screech, Review of Akiko Yano, ed., Salon Culture in Japan: Making Art, 1750–1900 (British Museum Press, 2024), pp. 201–03.
• Bethan Stevens, Review of Evanghelia Stead, Goethe’s Faust I Outlined: Moritz Retzsch’s Prints in Circulation (Brill, 2023), pp. 240–43.

The long 18th century in the May issue of The Burlington:

The Burlington Magazine 167 (May 2025) | French Art

e d i t o r i a l

• “Fashionistas,” p. 427.
The costume institute and its annual gala in May at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (the Met), have become fixtures on the museum world’s map and calendar. Whether you delight in them or are bemused by the spectacle they provide, or indeed try and take no notice at all, they are hard to ignore. The alignment they represent between fashion history, contemporary celebrity and the gravitas of a major museum is immensely beneficial in terms of fundraising and profile.

l e t t e r

• “A Sleeping Apostolado at Wentworth Woodhouse,” pp. 428–29.
We are launching an appeal for the conservation, reframing, and rehanging of an important set of seventeenth-century paintings. We are making this appeal in honour of the art historian Alastair Laing, who died aged seventy-nine in 2024. It was he who identified the artist of this series as the Flemish painter Gérard Seghers (1591–1651). . . . By 1870 the thirteen paintings were framed in groups and fixed against the walls, as they are now, probably to give a more church-like feel to the simple prayer-book chapel of 1736, with its panelling and gallery of craved, unstained oak.

a r t i c l e s

• Yuriko Jackall, John Delaney, and Michael Swicklik, “Friendship Tokens: Jean-Baptiste Greuze’s Paintings for Madame de Pompadour,” pp. 438–49.
Greuze’s paintings, known for their sentimentality and charm, were lauded by the artist’s contemporaries. Two early compositions, Simplicity and Young Shepherd Holding a Flower, were part of the collection of Madame de Pompadour; stylistic and technical analysis of them, in conjunction with another version of Simplicity, expands their early provenance.

• Humphrey Wine, “Napoleon Crossing the Alps: British Press Reaction to the London Exhibitions of David, Lefèvre, Wicar, and Lethière,” pp. 450–59.
Paintings by notable French artists were exhibited in Britain during the first third of the nineteenth century. Reactions to these works published in British newspapers and journals between 1814 and 1830 were often negative in tone and politically motivated. Despite this criticism, these accounts provide a valuable perspective on the art of the period that was shipped across the Channel.

• Daniëlle Kisluk-Grosheide, “Bravery, Ingenuity, and Aerial Post: An Enamelled Bowl by Joséphine-Arthurine Blot,” pp. 470–77.
During the height of the Franco-Prussian War, Gaston Tissandier made a perilous balloon journey from Paris to deliver correspondence from the besieged city. The flight is commemorated in a small bowl by Joséphine-Arthurine Blot, a technically accomplished yet little-known enamellist. Her bold design celebrates Tissandier’s bravery as well as French resistance and resourcefulness.

r e v i e w s

• Alice Minter, Review of Christophe Huchet de Quénetain, Nicolas Besnier (1686–1754): Architecte, orfèvre du roi et échevin de la Ville de Paris (Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2024), pp. 516–17.

• Céline Cachaud, Review of La Tabatière Choiseul: Un monument du XVIIIe siècle, edited by Michèle Bimbenet-Privat (Éditions Faton, 2025), pp. 519–20.

• Mark Evans, Review of Ulrike Müller, Private Collectors in Brussels, Antwerp, and Ghent, ca.1780–1914: Between Public Relevance and Personal Pleasure (Brepols, 2024), pp. 521–22.

o b i t u a r y

• Christopher Baker and Stephen Duffy, Obituary for Rosalind Joy Savill (1951–2024), pp. 526–28.
An immensely successful director of the Wallace Collection, London, and a pre-eminent scholar of eighteenth-century Sèvres porcelain, Rosalind (‘Ros’) Savill had a profound and enduring impact both on the museum and the research she cared passionately about.

The 18th century in the latest issue of Art History:

Art History 48 (February 2025)

a r t i c l e s

• Oliver Wunsch, “The Aesthetic Redemption of the Black Body in Eighteenth-Century France,” pp. 14–44.
Audiences in eighteenth-century France felt little compunction about admiring African people in art while denigrating them in life. They reconciled this apparent contradiction through a belief in the ameliorative effects of art, yielding what is described here as a theory of aesthetic redemption. This essay argues that the theory of aesthetic redemption that developed in eighteenth-century France gave art a unique position in the construction of race. Because those who believed in the possibility of aesthetic redemption distinguished between art’s content and its manner of representation, they created the conditions for artists to depict people of colour using materials, techniques, and formal structures whose qualities would otherwise be considered at odds with the subject. The resulting art often strikes audiences today as progressive, yet it did little to challenge the biases of the original viewers, who admired aesthetic departures from stereotypes precisely because they took those stereotypes for granted.

• Diarmuid Costello, “Die Schönheit des Mittelmenschen: Stephan Balkenhol’s ‘Everyday Beauty’,” pp. 132–61.
This essay considers Stephan Balkenhol’s ‘everyman and woman’ sculptures through the optic of Kant’s ‘ideal of beauty’ (§17, Critique of Aesthetic Judgement, 1790). I take a pair of miniature figures as my test case. Despite minor variations, all these sculptures depict the same generic man and woman, a man or woman who average or middling in every way. What could make depictions of average everydayness so compelling? For a clue, I turn to Kant’s ‘ideal of beauty’. This comprises a ‘standard aesthetic idea’ and an ‘idea of reason’: the former is a (culturally specific) ‘model image’ of the human being; the latter implicates Kant’s (universal) conception of ‘humanity in the person’, where the latter manifests itself through the former. I ask whether this illuminates Balkenhol’s work, suggesting that although the relevance of the former is clear, and the latter less so, there is reason not to rule it out.

• Viccy Coltman, “Travelling Knick-Knacks and Picturesque Points of View: Reverend James Plumptre’s Narrative of a Pedestrian Journey … to the Highlands of Scotland … in the Summer of the Year 1799,” pp. 162–84.
This essay revisits later eighteenth-century picturesque aesthetics in Britain as they were articulated in theory, applied in practice, and reproduced in travel literature and art. It considers the sometimes congruent, at other times contested, relationship between the natural landscape, written descriptions of that landscape, and its pictorial representation. Focusing on unpublished extracts from Reverend James Plumptre’s manuscript travel journal, Narrative of a Pedestrian Journey […] to the Highlands of Scotland […] in the Summer of the Year 1799, it argues for an original interpretation of the pedestrian picturesque as a suite of practices which entailed travelling by foot, viewing the landscape with a range of hand-held implements or ‘knick-knacks’, and representing nature ‘as seen’ without remedial artistic correction or improvement. According to this account, ‘people, places, and things’ becomes a useful rubric for conceptualising Plumptre’s 1799 pedestrian tour of Scotland which included visits to the Edinburgh studios of artists Alexander Nasmyth, Henry Raeburn, and Hugh William Williams.

r e v i e w s

• Brigid von Preussen, “A Woman’s Work,” Review of Paris Spies-Gans, A Revolution on Canvas: The Rise of Women Artists in Britain and France, 1760–1830 (Yale UP, 2022) and Rosalind Blakesley, Women Artists in the Reign of Catherine the Great (Lund Humphries, 2023), pp. 186–92.