{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/21739"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/21739","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Johnathan Richardson's art theory: The canon of history painting and its preeminent realization in Raphael's cartoons","abstract":"In 1715, when Richardson published An Essay on The Theory of Painting, he established English leadership in the writing of theoretical treatises on art. Prior to this time, no Englishman had produced a distinctive and comprehensive explanation of art theory or an essay that was of equal stature to those long produced on the continent, particularly in Italy and France, during the previous three centuries. With the publication of his succeeding essays, The Art of Criticism and The Science of a Connoisseur, which were published in one volume as The Two Discourses, 1719, and in An Account of Some of the Statues, Bas Reliefs, Drawings and Pictures in Italy, 1722, Richardson's prominence in the field was fixed.","abstract_html":"In 1715, when Richardson published An Essay on The Theory of Painting, he established English leadership in the writing of theoretical treatises on art. Prior to this time, no Englishman had produced a distinctive and comprehensive explanation of art theory or an essay that was of equal stature to those long produced on the continent, particularly in Italy and France, during the previous three centuries. With the publication of his succeeding essays, The Art of Criticism and The Science of a Connoisseur, which were published in one volume as The Two Discourses, 1719, and in An Account of Some of the Statues, Bas Reliefs, Drawings and Pictures in Italy, 1722, Richardson's prominence in the field was fixed.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Mora, Stephanie"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Art History","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Manthorne, Katherine"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-05-07T13:17:40Z","date_published":"2011-05-07T13:17:40Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:18Z","subjects":["Biography","Art History"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["Copyright 1996 Mora, Stephanie"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["9780591089158","AAI9702614","(UMI)AAI9702614"],"render_values":[{"text":"9780591089158","href":null,"code":true},{"text":"AAI9702614","href":null,"code":true},{"text":"(UMI)AAI9702614","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/21739","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Manthorne, Katherine"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Mora, Stephanie"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2011-05-07T13:17:40Z","10000-01-01","1996"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Art History"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Biography","Art History"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 1996 Mora, Stephanie"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["9780591089158","AAI9702614","(UMI)AAI9702614","http://hdl.handle.net/2142/21739"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["In 1715, when Richardson published An Essay on The Theory of Painting, he established English leadership in the writing of theoretical treatises on art. Prior to this time, no Englishman had produced a distinctive and comprehensive explanation of art theory or an essay that was of equal stature to those long produced on the continent, particularly in Italy and France, during the previous three centuries. With the publication of his succeeding essays, The Art of Criticism and The Science of a Connoisseur, which were published in one volume as The Two Discourses, 1719, and in An Account of Some of the Statues, Bas Reliefs, Drawings and Pictures in Italy, 1722, Richardson's prominence in the field was fixed.","The first chapter identifies the historic conditions, concerning the state of art in England, that prompted Richardson to write and caused him to believe that the fine arts were in desperate need of a spokesman. In the second chapter, a historical overview is continued. Early English writings on art, prior to Richardson, are reviewed and analyzed. The third chapter turns directly to a review and analysis of Richardson's four essays and includes a summary of the tradition which formed the basis of Richardson's schooling, shaped his thinking and inspired his love of art. The fourth chapter focuses on Richardson's interpretation of Raphael as the exemplary artist and specifically on the application of Richardson's theory to Raphael's Cartoons. The ongoing relevance and usefulness of traditional art theory, as expressed by Richardson, and the tendency toward its neglect in twentieth century scholarship, are the topics of the fifth and final chapter.","Throughout, it will be apparent that Richardson's importance is not as a major innovator of ideas. Rather, his authority is derived from the manner in which he restated principles of art that had been in circulation for centuries. Richardson's accomplishment is found in his ability to communicate, to a general audience, the rational basis of often-repeated precepts of art theory, to systematically demonstrate how abstract precepts operate in actual works of art, to provide a logical argument for the justification of history painting as a liberal art and to identify specific processes of criticism and analysis. Richardson was the representative of a long-standing tradition to which he made unique contributions by formulating a methodology that established a clear, comprehensive and rational explanation of history painting and the body of concepts that gave rise to this particular genre of art.","Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-07T13:17:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license.txt: 4922 bytes, checksum: 910b249b4beec47e7ab768910c8f966f (MD5) 9702614.pdf: 12924142 bytes, checksum: b25ef1fbd7200ca8ae0447881717fb00 (MD5) Previous issue date: 1996","Item marked as restricted to the 'UIUC Users [automated]' Group (id=2) by Howard Ding (hding2@illinois.edu) on 2011-05-07T14:52:52Z Item is restricted indefinitely.","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:24:23-05:00 Original Data Group with Access UIUC Users [automated] Release Date: none Reason: ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","U of I Only"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Johnathan Richardson's art theory: The canon of history painting and its preeminent realization in Raphael's cartoons"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Manthorne, Katherine"],"dc:creator":["Mora, Stephanie"],"dc:date":["2011-05-07T13:17:40Z","10000-01-01","1996"],"dc:description":["In 1715, when Richardson published An Essay on The Theory of Painting, he established English leadership in the writing of theoretical treatises on art. Prior to this time, no Englishman had produced a distinctive and comprehensive explanation of art theory or an essay that was of equal stature to those long produced on the continent, particularly in Italy and France, during the previous three centuries. With the publication of his succeeding essays, The Art of Criticism and The Science of a Connoisseur, which were published in one volume as The Two Discourses, 1719, and in An Account of Some of the Statues, Bas Reliefs, Drawings and Pictures in Italy, 1722, Richardson's prominence in the field was fixed.","The first chapter identifies the historic conditions, concerning the state of art in England, that prompted Richardson to write and caused him to believe that the fine arts were in desperate need of a spokesman. In the second chapter, a historical overview is continued. Early English writings on art, prior to Richardson, are reviewed and analyzed. The third chapter turns directly to a review and analysis of Richardson's four essays and includes a summary of the tradition which formed the basis of Richardson's schooling, shaped his thinking and inspired his love of art. The fourth chapter focuses on Richardson's interpretation of Raphael as the exemplary artist and specifically on the application of Richardson's theory to Raphael's Cartoons. The ongoing relevance and usefulness of traditional art theory, as expressed by Richardson, and the tendency toward its neglect in twentieth century scholarship, are the topics of the fifth and final chapter.","Throughout, it will be apparent that Richardson's importance is not as a major innovator of ideas. Rather, his authority is derived from the manner in which he restated principles of art that had been in circulation for centuries. Richardson's accomplishment is found in his ability to communicate, to a general audience, the rational basis of often-repeated precepts of art theory, to systematically demonstrate how abstract precepts operate in actual works of art, to provide a logical argument for the justification of history painting as a liberal art and to identify specific processes of criticism and analysis. Richardson was the representative of a long-standing tradition to which he made unique contributions by formulating a methodology that established a clear, comprehensive and rational explanation of history painting and the body of concepts that gave rise to this particular genre of art.","Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-07T13:17:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license.txt: 4922 bytes, checksum: 910b249b4beec47e7ab768910c8f966f (MD5) 9702614.pdf: 12924142 bytes, checksum: b25ef1fbd7200ca8ae0447881717fb00 (MD5) Previous issue date: 1996","Item marked as restricted to the 'UIUC Users [automated]' Group (id=2) by Howard Ding (hding2@illinois.edu) on 2011-05-07T14:52:52Z Item is restricted indefinitely.","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:24:23-05:00 Original Data Group with Access UIUC Users [automated] Release Date: none Reason: ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","U of I Only"],"dc:identifier":["9780591089158","AAI9702614","(UMI)AAI9702614","http://hdl.handle.net/2142/21739"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 1996 Mora, Stephanie"],"dc:subject":["Biography","Art History"],"dc:title":["Johnathan Richardson's art theory: The canon of history painting and its preeminent realization in Raphael's cartoons"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Art History"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:18Z"}