Introduction: Concepts of Order in the Eighteenth Century — Their Scope and Their Frailties

Abstract

The arts of Western Europe in the eighteenth century exude a sense of order. Consider, for example, the characteristic cadences of English literature: the regularity and closure of rhyming couplets; the balancing of phrases and ideas in the orotund prose writing of the period; the preoccupation with correctness and ‘finish’, and the adaptation of style to subject and literary genre. All bespeak an approach which differentiates itself both from the passion and wilfulness of seventeenth-century writing and from the lyrical expressiveness of the Romantic era. In the visual arts of Britain, the symmetry and restraint of buildings in the Palladian or the Neoclassical manner appear to symbolize social order and good taste, making them a frequent model for the postmodern architects of today. Eighteenth-century portraits, with their poise and carefully subordinated grouping of figures, similarly project a confidence both in hierarchy and in family dynasty. The predominating aesthetics of high culture thus provide a counterpart to the rhetoric of politicians and their publicists, when picturing the values supposedly threatened by their antagonists. In the satirical prints of the period, the ‘Temple of Liberty’ and the unwritten ‘British Constitution’ were both symbolized by a perfect, circular, columned structure. Alternatively, the constitution was represented by a tripod: the three legs of King, Lords and Commons lean together, counterbalancing and at the same time reinforcing each other, producing a system of optimal stability and endurance.1KeywordsEighteenth CenturyNatural WorldFrench RevolutionFree EnquiryPoetical WorkThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.