Short courses The long 18th century The 18th century was a dynamic, complex century. Learn why. Antoine Watteau, Pilgrimage to Cythera By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker With its fantastical setting and lovers’ dance, this painting introduced a new genre: the “fête galante.” Learn more Vigée Le Brun, Self-Portrait with her Daughter By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker A self-portrait demonstrates the artist's skills in achieving a likeness but it can also convey messages about the artist’s identity and inner life. Learn more Architecture in 18th-century Germany By Marlise Brown German architecture in the 18th century refashioned the imported French Rococo and Italian Baroque styles to create something distinct. Learn more Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker In style and story, this rigorously organized canvas looked back to antiquity; it soon became an icon of Revolution. Learn more Anne-Louis Girodet, The Sleep of Endymion By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker Girodet references ancient Greek sculpture but his softness anticipates Romanticism. The entire painting glows! Learn more Wren, Saint Paul’s Cathedral By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker Like a phoenix, this church rose from the ashes. Wren’s enormous dome was the first of its kind in England. Learn more William Hogarth, Marriage A-la-Mode By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker Smooth talkers, vain aristocrats, disreputable doctors, unfaithful lovers—Hogarth’s moralizing takes no prisoners. Learn more Charles Willson Peale, Staircase Group (Portrait of Raphaelle Peale and Titian Ramsay Peale I) By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker Peale’s sons beckon us up the stairs, but be careful—it might hurt! Learn more Global trade and an 18th-century Anishinaabe outfit By Dr. David W. Penney, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Steven Zucker This outfit was likely made for a British lieutenant and gifted to him in a ritual exchange to show mutual respect. Learn more A Jewish Family in Early New York By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art A Jewish family in New York and London during the French Indian Wars Learn more The triangle trade By Brandy Culp, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Dr. Steven Zucker Global trade in a cup of tea: Colonial America, sugar and slavery. Learn more Casta painting in the Spanish Americas By Dr. Beth Harris, Julie Wilson Frick, Denver Art Museum, Sabena Kull These challenging paintings visually separate Indigenous Americans from the Spanish elite; most were exported. Learn more Tipu’s Tiger By Dr. Jocelyn Anderson Made for a sultan, this unusual automaton emblematizes the fierce hostility between British and Indian rulers. Learn more Marie-Guillemine Benoist, Portrait of Madeleine By Dr. Susan Waller This portrait of an unnamed woman speaks volumes about slavery, politics, and gender in revolutionary France. Learn more Fourteen portraits of the Inka Kings By Carla Colon Genealogical Inka portraits like these were banned by the Spanish who feared they would inspire uprisings. Learn more Thomas Jefferson, Rotunda, University of Virginia By Dr. Bryan Zygmont Jefferson’s “academical village” for living and learning is crowned by a building inspired by the Pantheon. Learn more
Antoine Watteau, Pilgrimage to Cythera By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker With its fantastical setting and lovers’ dance, this painting introduced a new genre: the “fête galante.” Learn more
Vigée Le Brun, Self-Portrait with her Daughter By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker A self-portrait demonstrates the artist's skills in achieving a likeness but it can also convey messages about the artist’s identity and inner life. Learn more
Architecture in 18th-century Germany By Marlise Brown German architecture in the 18th century refashioned the imported French Rococo and Italian Baroque styles to create something distinct. Learn more
Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker In style and story, this rigorously organized canvas looked back to antiquity; it soon became an icon of Revolution. Learn more
Anne-Louis Girodet, The Sleep of Endymion By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker Girodet references ancient Greek sculpture but his softness anticipates Romanticism. The entire painting glows! Learn more
Wren, Saint Paul’s Cathedral By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker Like a phoenix, this church rose from the ashes. Wren’s enormous dome was the first of its kind in England. Learn more
William Hogarth, Marriage A-la-Mode By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker Smooth talkers, vain aristocrats, disreputable doctors, unfaithful lovers—Hogarth’s moralizing takes no prisoners. Learn more
Charles Willson Peale, Staircase Group (Portrait of Raphaelle Peale and Titian Ramsay Peale I) By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker Peale’s sons beckon us up the stairs, but be careful—it might hurt! Learn more
Global trade and an 18th-century Anishinaabe outfit By Dr. David W. Penney, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Steven Zucker This outfit was likely made for a British lieutenant and gifted to him in a ritual exchange to show mutual respect. Learn more
A Jewish Family in Early New York By Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art A Jewish family in New York and London during the French Indian Wars Learn more
The triangle trade By Brandy Culp, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Dr. Steven Zucker Global trade in a cup of tea: Colonial America, sugar and slavery. Learn more
Casta painting in the Spanish Americas By Dr. Beth Harris, Julie Wilson Frick, Denver Art Museum, Sabena Kull These challenging paintings visually separate Indigenous Americans from the Spanish elite; most were exported. Learn more
Tipu’s Tiger By Dr. Jocelyn Anderson Made for a sultan, this unusual automaton emblematizes the fierce hostility between British and Indian rulers. Learn more
Marie-Guillemine Benoist, Portrait of Madeleine By Dr. Susan Waller This portrait of an unnamed woman speaks volumes about slavery, politics, and gender in revolutionary France. Learn more
Fourteen portraits of the Inka Kings By Carla Colon Genealogical Inka portraits like these were banned by the Spanish who feared they would inspire uprisings. Learn more
Thomas Jefferson, Rotunda, University of Virginia By Dr. Bryan Zygmont Jefferson’s “academical village” for living and learning is crowned by a building inspired by the Pantheon. Learn more