Gender and the Formation of Taste in Eighteenth-Century Britain: The Analysis of Beauty

by Robert W. Jones

Overview

Beauty is one of the most important and intriguing ideas in eighteenth-century culture. The concept of beauty was central to debates about art, culture and taste, and was invoked, in various and contradictory ways, to determine acceptable behavior for women. Robert W. Jones traces changing concepts of beauty in the eighteenth century through a wide range of material, including philosophical texts by William Hogarth and Edmund Burke, novels by Charlotte Lennox and Sarah Scott, and representations of the celebrated beauty Elizabeth Gunning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521593267
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/02/1998
Pages:	282
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction: the empire of beauty and the cultural politics of taste; 1. 'A wanton kind of chase': gender, commerce and the definition of taste in eighteenth-century Britain; 2. 'The art of being pretty': polite taste and the judgement of women; 3. 'Such strange unwonted softness': Sir Joshua Reynolds and the painting of beauty; 4. 'Her whole power of charming': the moral politics of beauty in the works of Charlotte Lennox and Sarah Scott; 5. 'The accomplishment of your long and ardent wishes': beauty, taste and the formation of culture in eighteenth-century Britain.

Editorial Reviews

"...an essential work on 18th-century culture. Strongly recommended for upper-division undergraduates through faculty." Choice

"...Robert W. JOnes offers new and important insights into the eighteenth century's shifting and multivalent isage of the concepts of beauty and taste...an important book for all scholars of the period." Modern Philology

From the Publisher