Transcript
NARRATION:
how was the taste of the court challenged by a new public?
As early as 1699, the Royal Academy organised a public exhibition in the Louvre and this was the origin of the regular public exhibitions which came to be known as the Salon.
From 1737, regular exhibitions of work in the Salon Carré were reintroduced, and it was the public admission to these exhibitions which allowed for the circulation of criticisms of royal painters.
Serious critics began to accuse the royal painters of debasing the classical tradition, and producing erotic, frivolous art for the courtiers. Artists like Boucher pandered successfully to these tastes and became extremely wealthy.
This criticism took on strong political overtones. Many of the kings political opponents supported those critics who argued, that art was too important to be left to court patronage.
It was in this atmosphere that the young Jacques Louis David carved out a reputation for himself. His large severe paintings took subjects from antique pre-imperial Rome, proclaiming republican virtues.
With their imposing scale and dramatic compositions, they were designed to dominate the competition in the Salon. As the imagination of the public was caught by this spectacle of artistic conflict, and as the profession of art critic grew in importance, the Salon came to play a significant and potentially de-stabilising role in Parisian society. But before the Crown could take action to meet its critics, the events of 1789 changed everything.