The Enlightenment and the Age of Revolution

This inaugural volume takes us from the ancien regime - the world of Handel, Tiepolo, Beaumarchais and Haydn - where the artist was the servant of court-based patronage, via the catalysts of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, to a new world - the world of Byron, Beethoven, Goya and Turner - where artists were increasingly autonomous and entrepreneurial, finding their own inspirations and searching out new audiences for their output.