Pompadour's Medium: Luxury and Reproduction in Eighteenth-Century France

Pompadour's Medium challenges our understanding of eighteenth-century media culture by examining not only the top-down transmission of paintings through prints, but also the multi-directional and often materially assertive translation of images into luxury media, such as engraved gems, porcelain, and tapestry. It recovers the centrality of these reproductive media to the artist-patron relationship between Madame de Pompadour and François Boucher, revealing the cultural significance of their collaborations.