Wie der Titel zu den Bildern kam : Die livrets des Pariser Salons

Abstract

For a long time, works of art with traditional pictorial motifs were sufficiently comprehensible even without titles. Why, when and under what circumstances were titles nevertheless created? The livrets, the exhibition catalogues of the Paris Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, document the genesis of titles as a gradual transition from descriptions of the works to concise short titles – the emergence of new, previously unknown pictorial motifs, the development of the art market and the beginning of art criticism demanded and favoured short, easy-to-read titles that facilitated the rapid identification of the content of the work as well as the art-theoretical discourse on artist and work.