Drawn to Art: French Artists and Art Lovers in 18th Century Rome

In the eighteenth century’s burgeoning culture of travel and “Grand Tours,” Rome was the essential destination. From all over Europe, artists jostled with art lovers and collectors of antiquities, each influencing the other in their respective ambitions. The cult of Rome was particularly strong in France, and this volume looks at more than 100 works by artists such as Hubert Robert, Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Jacques-Louis David, who made pilgrimages to the “Eternal City” and who were decisively influenced by their time there. The works are contextualized across five different sections: the first focuses on the tradition of academic training in Rome; the second explores the depiction of the city’s landscape and surrounding countryside; the third looks at Rome and Paris’ cultures of art lovers, patrons and artists; the fourth section examines the eighteenth-century conception of antiques; and the final section looks at Rome’s annual festivals, and their influence on French artists.