| Popis: |
This thesis provides critical analysis and interpretation of meaning and context for a set of graphic satirical prints created in early eighteenth-century London by Egbert van Heemskerck Ill (c.I670s-1744). Public discourse occurring in the early eighteenth century around contemporary societal issues of class included debate of the definition of both an English theory of art and the idea of the connoisseur. One of the results of these debates was a noticeable decline in the London art market for Dutch genre painting, which had a significant effect on native and foreign artists working in England during this period. Through the process of developing a methodology for a visual analysis and interpretation of the prints within the context of these contemporary issues, this thesis will contribute to emerging perspectives in the methodology of print scholarship. It will identify why the study of a relatively unknown artist of cross-cultural heritage such as Heemskerck III is important in terms of these; it will provide an overview of some of the art theoretical ideas being discussed; it will document known information about Heemskerck III, and finally, through the actual process of a visual analysis of the prints, it will suggest how, through the depiction of considered comment on important societal tensions, these works are reflective of a contemporary artist's negotiation of the changing demands of the early eighteenth-century London art market. |
