Casanova

By Thomas S. Michie, Frederick Ilchman, Dickerson, C. D. III, Esther Bell

Subjects: Art, European -- 18th century -- Exhibitions, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Travel, Art, exhibitions, Europe -- Social life and customs -- 18th century -- Exhibitions, Europe, social life and customs, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston -- 21st century -- Exhibitions, Casanova, Giacomo, 1725-1798 -- Travel -- Exhibitions, Social life and customs, Art, european, Exhibitions, Casanova, giacomo, 1725-1798, European Art

Description: In 18th-century Europe, while the old order reveled in the luxurious excesses of the Rococo style and the Enlightenment sowed the seeds of revolution, the shapeshifting libertine Giacomo Casanova seduced his way across the continent. Although notorious for the scores of amorous conquests he recorded in his remarkably frank memoirs, Casanova was just as practiced at charming his way into the most elite social circles, through an inimitable mix of literary ambition, improvisational genius and outright fraud. In his travels across Europe and through every level of society from the theatrical demimonde to royal courts, he was also seduced by the visual splendors he encountered. This volume accompanies the first major art exhibition outside Europe to lavishly recreate Casanova's visual world, from his birthplace of Venice, city of masquerades, to the cultural capitals of Paris and London and the outposts of Eastern Europe. It provides a survey of important works of 18th-century European art by masters such as Canaletto, Fragonard, Boucher, Houdon and Hogarth, along with exquisite decorative arts objects.