Jean-Baptiste Boyer d’Argens critique d’art

This article discusses two books, the Réflexions historiques et critiques sur le goût and l’Examen critique des différentes écoles de peinture, in order to carve a place for the author in the history of art criticism. An educated amateur, d’Argens insisted on the value of taste, which he understood as a natural feeling that is enhanced by technical knowledge. He drew comparisons between several European artists, with the aim of demonstrating that eighteenth-century France was every bit as good as Italy.