French Art of the Eighteenth Century at the Huntington

The book is notable as a study of the art from one culture as represented in a variety of media. Arranged in sections by media, it presents essays delineating the social, cultural, and artistic settings of the period and introducing the detailed studies of individual art works. These interconnected studies provided the basis for an examination of a broad range of issues concerning production and consumption and the use of these objects in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. The themes that emerge from the study of The Huntington collection contribute to a nuanced understanding of French eighteenth-century domestic and cultural life and of the changing interpretations and continued popularity of French art among later collectors in America.