Chapter 20
The Changing Life
of the People
A quack doctor uses a snake
and a dog to sell a miraculous
cure-all in an Italian village
market,
A quack doctor uses a snake and a
dog to sell a miraculous cure-all in an
Italian village market, in a painting
(detail) by Michele Graneri
(1736–1778).
Dagli Orti/Private Collection/The Art Archive
Boucher: The Pretty Cook
Increased migration to urban areas in
the eighteenth century contributed to
a loosening of traditional morals and
soaring illegitimacy rates. Young
women who worked as servants or
shop girls could not be supervised as
closely as those who lived at home.
The themes of seduction, fallen
virtue, and familial conflict were
popular in eighteenth-century art,
such as this painting by François
Boucher (1703–1770), master of the
rococo.
Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY
Arrival of the Wet Nurses
Wet-nursing was big business in eighteenth-century France, particularly in Paris and
the north. Here, rural wet nurses bring their charges back to the city to be reunited
with their families after around two years of care. These children were lucky survivors
of a system that produced high mortality rates.
Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY
Cultivating the Joy of Discovery
This English painting by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797) reflects new attitudes
toward child development and education, which advocated greater freedom and direct
experience. The children rapturously watch a planetarium, which illustrates the
movements and positions of the planets in the solar system. Wise teachers stand by,
letting the children learn at their own pace.
Derby Museum & Art Gallery/The Bridgeman Art Library
Literacy in France on the Eve
of the French Revolution
Literacy rates increased but still
varied widely between and within
states in eighteenth century
Europe.•1 What trends in French
literacy rates does this map reveal?
Which regions seem to be ahead?
How would you account for the
regional variations?•2 The map is
based on the percentage of
bridegrooms able to sign their names
at marriage. Who is missing from the
map? How do you think literacy rates
may have varied for people not
covered by this source?•3 Note the
areas marked “unknown." Why do
you think historians do not know the
literacy rates for those areas? What
alternate methods might they use to
find this information?
Raoux: Young Woman Reading
a Letter
Literacy rates for men and women
rose substantially during the
eighteenth century. The novel also
emerged as a new literary genre in
this period. With its focus on
emotions, love, and family
melodrama, the novel was seen as a
particularly feminine genre, and it
allowed women writers more access
to publication. Writing and reading
letters were also associated with
women. Some contemporaries
worried that women’s growing access
to reading and writing would excite
their imagination and desires, leading
to moral dissolution.
Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY
Royal Interest in the Potato
Frederick the Great of Prussia, shown here supervising cultivation of the potato, used
his influence and position to promote the new food on his estates and throughout
Prussia. Peasants could grow potatoes with the simplest hand tools, but it was
backbreaking labor, as this painting by R. Warthmüller suggests.
Private Collection, Hamburg/akg-images
The Fashion Merchant’s Shop
Shopping in fancy boutiques became a favorite leisure pastime of the rich in the
eighteenth century. Whereas shops had previously been dark, cramped spaces, now
they were filled with light from large plate-glass windows, staffed by finely dressed
attendants, and equipped with chairs and large mirrors for a comfortable shopping
experience. Fashion merchants (or milliners) sold hats, shawls, parasols, and an
infinite variety of accessories and decorations.
Courtesy, University of Illinois Library
An Eighteenth-Century Pharmacy
In this lively painting a woman consults an apothecary (in the elegant red suit) while
his assistants assemble drugs for new prescriptions. By 1700 apothecaries had
emerged as a separate group of state licensed medical professionals. They drew on
published lists and books describing the properties and dosages of their concoctions,
but there were many different “recipes” |and trade secrets.
Civico Museo Bibliograco Musicale, Bologna, Italy/ The Bridgeman Art Library
Hospital Life
Patients crowded into hospitals like this one in Hamburg in 1746 had little chance of
recovery. A priest by the window administers last rites, while in the center a surgeon
coolly saws off the leg of a man who has received no anesthesia.
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
Hogarth’s Satirical View of the
Church
William Hogarth (1697–1764) was
one of the foremost satirical artists of
his day. This image mocks a London
Methodist meeting, where the
congregation swoons in enthusiasm
over the preacher’s sermon. The
woman in the foreground giving birth
to rabbits refers to a hoax
perpetrated in 1726 by a servant
named Mary Tofts; the credulousness
of those who believed Tofts is likened
to that of the Methodist congregation.
HIP/Art Resource, NY
Procession of Nuns at Port-Royal des Champs
The convent of Port-Royal, located twenty miles southwest of Paris, was a center of Jansenist
activity throughout the seventeenth century. Angered by the nuns’ defiance, Louis XIV ordered
them forcibly relocated in 1709. To generate support, the artist Magdelaine Horthemels painted a
series of images depicting the pious and placid religious life at the convent. The convent was
nonetheless destroyed by Louis’s forces in 1710. This image is one of many copies of Horthemels’
work made by Jansenists in the eighteenth century.
Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY
Cockfighting in England
This engraving by William Hogarth (see also the illustration on page 673) satirizes the
popular taste for blood sports, which Hogarth despised and lampooned in his famous
Four Stages of Cruelty. The central figure in the wildly excited gathering is a blind
nobleman who actually existed and seldom missed a fight. Note the steel spurs on
the birds’ legs.
Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum