The thesis sets Rousseau's philosophy of music and aesthetic of opera against the wider philosophical backcloth of eighteenth-centuryF rance and in contraposition to the more scopic music-theoredcabl ackdrop,o f which Rameau'sw ritings are takena s a paradigm. The first half of the thesis contends that the philosophy of music is fashioned upon a trinary model which mirrors the philosophy of nature and history. The first sector is an ideal, hypothetical state; the second (the 'fall) is the moment when the ideal state is ruptured, when societal and cultural institutions - and history - commence; the third, is the 'actual state', the culmination of the process of history. It is argued that relativism is at work between the second and third sectorsa nd Rousseaua ssignsa rigorous systemo f value to the processo f history and all points alongi t, the processi tself, taken as a whole, is seena s a degeneratives lide awayf rom nearperfection to imperfection. 7111sce condh alf of the thesis explores the ramifications of the trinary model and the effect the degenerativep rocessh as upon the voice, music and opera. The voice is consideredt he unique phenomenon that connects all sectors of the trinary structure: though objectified and endowed with an ontology, it is not immune to the degenerativep rocess. At the fall-state,t he voice begins to rupture and two entities - melody and language - gradually emerge. Over time, melody and speech are forced further apart until neither bears much resemblance to the other. With the invention of harmony, melody degeneratesh: armony begins to overshadowm elody, until in the eighteenthc entury- consummatedin the music and theoreticalp ostulationso f Rameau- melody is subjugated and subsumed entirely within the harmonic domain of musical production. The impact upon opera is more complex and the concluding chapters explore the radical and largely reform-driven aesthetico f opera. Roussea&sf inal dramaticw ork Py gmalion(1 762)i s considered not simply as an outcome of this aesthetic, but as an embodiment of the philosophy of music itself; the animateds tatuee nunciatesR ousseau'sv ision of the origin of human expression.

The thesis investigates and analyses the hitherto neglected phenomenon of political reaction within the judiciary of south-eastern France during the period between the Thermidorian Reaction and the advent of the Consulate. The character, objectives and effects of the 'reaction judiciaire1 are studied through a series of different perspectives. The first task is to highlight the discrepancy between the concepts of the social and political effects of a revamped judicial system formulated during the Year III and the corrupt abuse of judicial power by reactionary provincial judges. Indeed, the study constantly seeks to explore the conceptual as well as the practical damage inflicted on the Directorial regime by the supposed trustees of the post-Terrorist republican settlement. Emphasis is placed upon the collaboration between the southern judges and the counter-revolutionary elements within the local community, especially in the discussion of the origins of the judicial reaction. The changes of technique and of objective which the judiciary experienced are explored in full. It is described from its beginnings as a weapon of retribution for the aggrieved local community against the former agents of the Terror to its role in the subversion of regional jacobinism to its support for the period of unchecked counter-revolution during the Year V and finally to its function as a 'rearguard' defender of arrested counter- revolutionaries during the period of the Second Directory. In addition, due consideration is given to the motivation of individual judges who operated the reaction. It is hoped that the thesis has provided a model for the study of the causes, techniques and aims of political reaction from within an independent state power. Furthermore, it is hoped that the work is seminal in its suggestion that judicial reaction and its many ramifications had both a direct and indirect bearing upon the fall of the Directory.

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This thesis examines the roles of the sublime and the beautiful in the works of eighteenth-century French landscape painter Claude-Joseph Vernet. An introduction to the study, a history of the sublime and beautiful, and an overview of the way these ideas are portrayed in Vernet's calm and storm pendants are provided. How commissions for these pendants relate to theoretical developments of the sublime and beautiful and how Vernet became aware of the these ideas are addressed. The thesis shows Vernet was not dependent on British patrons or on the century's most influential aesthetic treatise on the sublime and the beautiful by Edmund Burke, because Vernet started painting such themes well before Burke's treatise (1757) and did so in response to French patrons.

This thesis examines the portraiture and patronage of Marie Thérèse Louise de Savoie-Carignan, the princesse de Lamballe (1749-1792). It is the first comprehensive and detailed study to be undertaken of the princess's activities as patron. Lamballe was Marie-Antoinette's longest-serving confidante and Superintendent of the Queen's Household. Through close formal analysis of the portraits combined with careful consideration of the sitter's personal circumstances and the wider cultural and historical context, the thesis challenges scholarly assumptions that the princess had only negligible influence as a sitter and patron. As a case study of an independent, professionally ambitious and childless widow, it identifies a wider range of motives and cultural meanings than has previously been ascribed to female court patronage of this period. The first chapter demonstrates that the early depictions of Lamballe as a docile and grieving princess were largely dictated by her father-in-law, an identity the princess subsequently discarded when she assumed a professional role at court. Chapter two examines portraits executed during the princess's rise to political and social prominence and shows that her attachment to the queen and the length of time she spent in her company and service, together with her publicly visible roles as freemason and salonnière, made her a figure of considerable renown and influence and thereby a highly significant patron at the French court. This was enhanced by the princess's international reputation as a talented amateur artist in her own right and by her financial and social support of aspiring artists and art institutions. The princess's engagement with the cult of sentiment and advocacy of women artists is allied to the sorority encouraged by Marie-Antoinette within the women of her select circle. Complementary chapters on the princess's previously unknown anglophile inclinations (discussed in Chapter three) and her private collections, library, and musical and literary patronage (considered in Chapter four) further reveal that Lamballe was an informed and cultivated female patron who operated at the very centre of Marie-Antoinette's circle.

I will build an argument utilizing the Hôtel de Soubise as a case study for the way in which the division between exteriors and interiors depicts the shifting cultural fabric of 18th-century French society.

This thesis examines the portraiture of Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun and Adélaide Labille-Guiard within the context of their time. Analysis of specific portraits in American collections is provided, along with an examination of their careers: early education, Academic Royale membership, Salon exhibitions, and the French Revolution. Discussion includes the artists' opposing stylistic heritages, as well as the influences of their patronage, the French art academy and art criticism. This study finds that Salon critics compared their paintings, but not with the intention of creating a bitter personal and professional rivalry between them as presumed by some twentieth-century art historians. This thesis concludes those critics simply addressed their opposing artistic styles and that no such rivalry existed.

Based upon a servey of the Université libre de Bruxelles medecine museum anatomical waxes collection, my Phd aims to study in an historical context the anatomical waxes fron the 18th Century to the 20th Century. We demonstrated who the didactical items created by sculpture ways appeared throw their successif uses from medical teaching to the prevention of the diseases of the time in the anatomical fairground attractions.<p><p>Sur base d'une étude de la collection des cires anatomiques du musée de la médecine d'Erasme, ma thèse de doctorat vise à l'étude contextuelle de la production de cires anatomiques depuis la fin du 18e siècle jusqu'au 20e siècle. Nous avons montré comment ses objets didactiques, produits par des moyens sculpturaux, ont été perçu à travers leurs usages successifs depuis l'enseignement médicale jusqu'à la prévention sociale des maladies d'époque, au sein des musées anatomiques forains.<p> / Doctorat en philosophie et lettres, Orientation histoire de l'art et archéologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished