In eighteenth-century England, "variety" became a prized aesthetic in musical culture. Not only was variety--of counterpoint, harmony, melody, and orchestration--expected for good composition, but it also manifested in cultural mediums such as songbook anthologies, which compiled miscellaneous songs ...
Michael Levey, former Director of the National Gallery in London, traces the major trends of European painting in the eighteenth century, taking as his theme the exciting evolution--and revolution--that took place in art from Watteau's birth to the death of Goya. 154 illus., 22 in color.
It fills the persistent need to document women's poetic expression during the long eighteenth century and to rewrite the literary history of the period, a history from which women have largely been excluded.
