Art criticism in the 18th century: Enlightenment theory At the beginning of the 18th century, the Englishman Jonathan Richardson became the first person to develop a system of art criticism.
In the 18th century it also became apparent that, if successful, criticism just might elevate a subjective preference into a canonical art. Artists have always been threatened by destructive criticism—major 18th-century artists, such as Boucher, Quentin de la Tour, and Jean-Baptiste Greuze, did not exhibit in 1767 out of fear of it.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the Englishman Jonathan Richardson became the first person to develop a system of art criticism.
Artists have always been threatened by destructive criticism—major 18th-century artists, such as Boucher, Quentin de la Tour, and Jean-Baptiste Greuze, did not exhibit in 1767 out of fear of it. But constructive criticism, showing how emotionally rich and intellectually meaningful his art was, could give an artist immortality.
Establishing a hierarchy of values from 1 to 20—“sublimity” being the height of creative perfection—that all of us ought to discover ways to use, he shows that complaint is simply a rely of ratings.
In his maximum essential work, Aesthetica (1750–58), he units forth the distinction among an ethical and solely aesthetic know-how of artwork, a manner of questioning that may be appeared because the principal distinction among a conventional and contemporary-day technique to artwork making and artwork complaint.