Antiek standbeeld van een vrouw 1678

Etienne Baudet created this print of an antique statue in the late 17th or early 18th century. Prints like this one played a crucial role in shaping European tastes for classical art. This image presents a female figure in flowing robes, an idealized form harkening back to ancient Greece and Rome. In France at this time, the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture dictated artistic standards, promoting classical ideals of beauty, balance, and harmony. Baudet, as an engraver, contributed to the dissemination of these ideals, reproducing celebrated sculptures for a wider audience. The statue itself, as indicated in the text on the print, was located in the Palais des Tuileries, a royal residence. Prints like this were not simply neutral records; they actively participated in constructing a vision of the past that legitimized the cultural authority of institutions like the Academy and the monarchy. By studying the prints, archival records, and the writings of period art critics, we can uncover the complex social and political forces at play in the art world of early modern Europe. Art, as we see, is always embedded in specific times and places.