6 – Rococo to Revolution: French Art and its Geographical Contexts, 1700-1789
On campus
Course 6 – Summer School on campus
Monday 23 – Friday 27 June 2025
Harvey Shepherd
£645
Course description
This course will examine the ever-changing roles of French art during the turbulent eighteenth century, from the later years and death of Louis XIV to the Revolution of 1789. Students will consider the role that French art played in forming identities and tastes across the world; from shaping desirable aristocratic luxury to envisaging radical futures.
French art and taste of the eighteenth century will be encountered through a series of ever-widening geographical contexts. The opening classes will examine the political and economic centres of France, looking at the Château de Versailles, as well as the artistic culture of Paris and its society during the Enlightenment and the early years of the French Revolution. Alongside the court and the capital, we will consider France’s periphery and its neighbours, examining interactions with cities like Lyon and Marseille, and both peacetime connections and wartime rivalries with European states such as Great Britain, The Netherlands, and the Holy Roman Empire. Lastly, the course considers the wider global contexts of French art as it was both collected and sent abroad, examining the colonial and imperial interactions of France in an increasingly connected world, from the court of Qing China to Senegal, India, and the Caribbean.
How to book
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Lecturer's biography
Harvey Shepherd is Associate Lecturer at The Courtauld and has taught at The Art Academy London and the University of Mendrisio in Switzerland. His research examines Parisians’ interactions with the cultures and people of regional France during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV. Focussing on areas such as Alsace, Brittany, and Corsica, Harvey considers the role that visual representation played in shaping conceptions of regionality and wider notions of French identity. Harvey has also worked for the journal Immediations, and organised the Transporting Culture conference hosted by Historians of Eighteenth Century Art and Architecture.