Eighteenth-Century Resources -- Art

This page, edited by Jack Lynch, is part of the larger collection of Eighteenth-Century Resources on the Net.

Art, Architecture, Landscape Gardening

Eighteenth-century art is still sparse on the net, but have a look at the following:

General Art Resources:
- Art History Resources (Chris Witcombe, Sweet Briar College) -- Extensive archive of Web resources, including pages on Baroque and 18th-c. art.
- Art History Course (James M. Dennis, Wisconsin) -- Very small thumbnail reproductions of paintings; full-sized versions available only at Wisconsin. Includes a number of Baroque, Rococo, and Neoclassical artists (mostly Continental).
- WebMuseum (Nicolas Pioch, UNC) -- A very impressive general art resource, with pages on Baroque and 18th-c. art. Includes information on Claude Lorrain, Watteau, Boucher, Chardin, Fragonard, David, Ingres, Friedrich, Fuseli, Blake, Constable, Turner, West, and Copley, with an outline to cover many more. Thumbnails lead to adequate reproductions.
- The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts includes some 18th-c. works.
- Publications on Art and Architecture (Wolfgang and Bernadette Schöller) -- List of publications (in German) by the Schöllers, including a number on 18th-c. topics. Like all Geocities sites, irritatingly commercial.
- Collage Portal -- "An image database containing 20,000 works from the Guildhall Library and Guildhall Art Gallery London," from the 16th through the 20th centuries.
Eighteenth-Century Exhibitions and Galleries (Multiple Artists):
- National Portrait Gallery's 18th-c. Pages -- Guide to Room 9 of the National Portrait Gallery.
- Gallery of 18th Century Genre Paintings (Matthiesen Gallery) -- A few eighteenth-century paintings (mediocre reproductions) by Trinquesse, Foschini, and Pater with commentary.
- Venetian 18th-Century Exhibition -- Very short description of the exhibition, available in Italian, English, French, and German.
- Drawings Department, Printroom of Leiden University -- A few prints from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries, including prints by Evert van Drielst, Cornelis Troost, and Jacob de Wit. Thumbnails and mediocre larger reproductions.
- British Painters in the 18th and 19th Centuries (Japan) -- A large outline, but so far only Hogarth and Blake are filled in with links to other sites.
- The New Child: British Art and the Origins of Modern Childhood, 1730-1830 (Berkeley) -- The exhibition includes a timeline that covers the eighteenth century. Thumbnails lead to good GIF reproductions.
- The Image of France (Chicago) -- A catalogue of over ten thousand early nineteenth-century French engravings from the Bibliographie de la France from 1811 through 1826. Text only.
- Le siècle des lumières dans la peinture des musées de France (French Ministry of Culture) -- An extensive exhibition. Includes essays, brief biographies, and adequate reproductions (with thumbnails) for Boucher, Fragonard, Watteau, Prud'hon, Pajou, and many others. In French and English.
- Walking Tour of the Virtual Ackland -- 18th and 19th Centuries -- Includes works by Delacroix and Rodin.
- Splendors of Versailles (Mississippi State Univ.) -- Information on the extensive exhibition.
- Engraving from Pope's Rape of the Lock (Jeffrey Barr, Univ. of Florida) -- Images from two editions of The Rape, which can be compared in frames.
Individual Artists:
- Marcelo Bacciarelli:
  - Portraits of Polish Kings by Marcelo Bacciarelli (Poland) -- Brief biographical sketch and several adequate reproductions (JPEGs).
- Johannes Baur:
  - The engravings from Johannes Baur's 1703 edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses are part of the Ovid Project at UVM's Hope Hall for the Humanities.
- William Blake:
  - The William Blake Page -- Paintings -- Thumbnails lead to uneven JPEG reproductions.
  - Tyger of Wrath: William Blake at the National Gallery of Victoria -- High-quality scans of 176 of Blakes illuminations and paintings, from an exhibition at NGV.
- François Boucher:
  - Art of François Boucher (from Lesbian Images in Art) -- Four paintings (three in color) with homoerotic themes. Thumbnails lead to high-resolution scans and some detailed views.
- Cruikshank:
  - Cruikshank Artwork at Princeton University Library -- Extensive searchable database of prints and paintings. Thumbnails lead to very good reproductions. Requires frames.
- Goya:
  - InfoGoya -- Catalogue of Goya's paintings (University of Zaragoza and the Institución Fernando el Católico) -- Includes an extensive and well-designed virtual exhibition with biographical and critical essays. Most of the graphics, however, are only thumbnails. In English and Spanish.
  - In the Light of Goya/Bajo las luces de Goya (exhibition at Berkeley) -- Works inspired by Goya. Very cursory. In English and Spanish.
- Hogarth:
  - William Hogarth and 18th-Century Print Culture (Mary and Leigh Block Gallery, Northwestern Univ.) -- Impressive site on Hogarth's life and work, including discussions of his aesthetics, politics, and techniques. Scanned graphics are clear but small.
  - Hogarth and His Times: Serious Comedy (Berkeley) -- Essays accompanying the exhibition. Small, low-quality reproductions.
  - Selected Hogarth prints (Jack Lynch, Rutgers) -- Gin Lane, Beer Street, The Distrest Poet, The Idle 'Prentice, and The Enraged Musician. Reasonable scanning quality; taken from late nineteenth-century prints.
  - William Hogarth's Realm (Shaun Wourm) -- Extensive site on Hogarth, including scanned prints, Wourm's own M.A. thesis on Hogarth, bibliographies, and an extensive biographical chronology. Understandably graphics-heavy; some of the Java-powered animations are intrusive.
  - Art of William Hogarth -- A collection of engravings with a timeline.
- Tiepolo:
  - The Mask of Venice: Masking, Theater, and Identity in the Art of Tiepolo and His Time (Berkeley) -- Catalogue of the exhibition with several high-resolution JPEG reproductions.
  - Tiepolo -- The Outdoor Museum (Italy) -- Guide to the exhibition with only thumbnail graphics.

Architecture, Landscape Gardening, Historic Buildings

archéire -- Irish Architecture Online, including 18th-Century Dublin Architecture -- Very attractive archive on Irish architecture, including detailed essays and small photographs on Trinity College, Marshe's Library, Dublin Castle, the Bank of Ireland, the Rotunda, the Custom House, and the Kings Inns, among others.
S*P*I*R*O (Berkeley) -- Extensive architectural database which allows you to search by period. Only thumbnails available, but the database includes over 1,100 images from the 17th and 18th centuries.
CORBEL: The Catalogue and On-line Resource for Buildings in the English Landscape (Cameron Neham, Australia) -- Database of English buildings, including some 18th-c. architecture. The editor plans to visit hundreds of buildings and photograph them inside and out; the decades-long project will be published in CD-ROM. Only a few images are on-line now.
American Architecture -- Eighteenth Century -- 1700 to 1799 (Great Buildings Online) -- Information on a half-dozen 18th-c. American buildings.
Public Monuments and Sculpture Association -- Includes some 18th-c. public art.
Palladio Archive (Michigan) -- The Renaissance background to eighteenth-century architecture is covered.
Renaissance and Baroque Architecture (C. W. Westfall, Virginia) -- Supplementary material on a course on early modern architecture. Thumbnails lead to clear JPEG photographs.
Georgian Bath: John Wood the Elder and Younger (David Billson) -- Includes maps, biographies, plans, and photographs. Images vary widely in quality. The whole site is distractingly Java-heavy.
Pavilions of Splendour -- Collection of links to British architectural charities with information on preservation societies.
California Mission Studies Association -- Includes information on some 18th-c. missions.
Historic Buildings:
- Castle Howard -- Visitors' guide with information on the stately home in Yorkshire, built by Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor. Graphics quality varies.
- Mount Vernon -- Visitors' guide to Washington's house. Very small images.
- Monticello -- Visitors' guide to Jefferson's house in Virginia. Very small graphics.
- Hammerwood Park -- Visitors' guide. Conscientiously designed, with minimal frivolous graphics.
- Stratford Hall Plantation -- Birthplace of Robert E. Lee; includes many links on 18th-c. history, education, etc.
- 3D Model of Beckford's Fonthill Abbey (Mike Harrisson) -- A few simulated views of Beckford's house, rendered by Graphisoft's ArchiCad.
- Gaddesden Place -- Very brief introduction to Gaddesden Place, designed by James Wyatt, built 1768-1773. Includes a few photos and travel directions.
Landscape Architecture and Gardening:
- The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew -- Visitors' guide with little 18th-c. content.
- Botanists, plantsmen, designers, gardeners of note -- Includes brief biographical sketches of some eighteenth-century gardeners and landscape architects.
- Stowe Landscape Gardens, Buckinghamshire, England -- Impressive guide to the property, with interactive maps. A few small photographs and extensive text.

Costume

Costumer's Manifesto -- Extensive collection of links to information on 18th-c. clothing.
Costume Image Database (Columbia) -- Index of costume information at Columbia; images are available only in Columbia itself.
The History of Costume (SIUE) -- A Victorian illustrated text which includes 18th-c. costumes. Thumbnails lead to good, clear JPEG reproductions of the Victorian colored engravings.
The Museum of Costume (Marcus Dunning, Bath, UK) -- Impressive searchable databse of the museum's collection. Includes small photographs of many items, including close-ups of the fabric.
Regency Fashion Page (Cathy Decker, UCR) -- Extensive guide to Regency fachion, including bibliographies, photographs of clothing, chronologies, and portraits.
18th Century Women's Shoes Collection (Museum of the City of New York) -- Photographs of 18th-c. women's shoes, mostly from the end of the century.

Miscellaneous

18th Century: From Caslon to Bodoni (Melbert B. Cary, Jr., Graphic Arts Collection, Rochester Institute of Technology) -- Illustrated guide to typefaces and bookmaking arts. Thumbnails lead to good JPEGs of full pages.