During the greater part of the eighteenth century we find rather a general expansion and extension of taste and cultivation in the arts, than a concentration of effort or a more rich and earnest development of talent. The period gave more scope to the tendencies that had been originated and determined in a preceding age. Connoisseurs fed upon reminiscences of the past glories of art, and no new ideas were brought to the world’s notice till the first half of the century had rolled away. The Flemish and Italian schools were in vogue, slightly modified, but, on the whole, scarcely changed in any essential particular; or a blending of diverse styles produced some artists who hardly deserve notice for their individual merits. A spirit of eclecticism may, indeed, be traced in the productions of the best masters of this time. The sovereigns in the domain of art had then passed away, and with the influence they still exercised was mingled that of the French school. The brilliancy and glow of Titian and Paul Veronese, the deep poetic feeling of Giorgione, the purity and tenderness of Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci, the rugged grandeur of Michael Angelo, the soft, transparent loveliness of Correggio, the bright beauty of Guido and Albano, and the power and passion of the Caravaggio school, disputed the consideration of amateurs with the light and lively style, the graceful mannerism of a Watteau and a Bouché, and something of the reflective character of the German Raphael Mengs, or that of Carstens and of Dietrich. The finished and ornate manner of France especially became popular over all the countries of Europe, exercising the same influence, in a measure, upon art that it had upon literature. Hence originated the style that has been aptly termed the Rococo--wanting in depth and warmth, indeed, but having a certain completeness of technical detail productive of happy effects. The fresh life and earnest vigor that had marked the earlier schools were paralyzed in this, and we do not wonder that a better condition followed the reawakening of artistic feeling. It is not to be denied that the aggregate amount of woman’s labor in the domain of art was greater during the eighteenth century than in any preceding one; indeed, the number of female artists far surpassed the collected number of those known from earliest history. So vast an increase was not according to the proportion of other vocations. It is also true that, in their efforts, as in those of the men of this period, the extension was not accompanied by greater depth, and less individuality was discernible in the talent and skill which became more generally diffused; hence the well-grounded complaint that the time was deficient in great men. Nevertheless, the sum of ability and knowledge had not diminished, though, in its manifold branchings and divisions, such might appear to be the case.