Larger	Art and Money in the Writings of Tobias Smollett (Bucknell Studies in Eighteenth-Century Literature and Culture) Author: William Gibson
	Book Information Publisher: Bucknell University Press Book Type: Hardcover Members Wishing: 0 Rating: ? ISBN-13: 9780838756379 - ISBN-10: 0838756379 Publication Date: 1/30/2007 Pages: 227

Offering a fresh perspective on a misunderstood eighteenth-century novelist, this study situates Tobias Smollett (1721-71) as the chief witness to the birth of the modern commercial art market. By examining the critical remarks and characters in Smollett's journalism and histories, the novels "Peregrine Pickle" and "Humphry Clinker", and "Travels Through France and Italy", the novelist is portrayed as fully involved with the commercial art market even while he offered perceptive criticism of it. Smollett's complete reviews of fine art from "The Critical Review" are published for the first time in an annotated appendix, while his involvement with the lavish illustration of his massive "Complete History of England" is analyzed in a second appendix. The approach to fine art that emerges from his writing modifies our understanding of the public art market of today, making this study of interest not only to Smollett scholars and students of eighteenth-century fiction but also to those interested in the history of art and aesthetic appreciation. William L. Gibson is an independent scholar.