Research Catalog

Title

Becoming property : art, theory and law in early modern France / Katie Scott.

Author

Scott, Katie, 1958-

Publication

• New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, 2018.
• ©2018

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

384 pages, 112 plates : illustrations, portraits, facsimiles; 27 cm

Summary

This original and relevant book investigates the relationship between intellectual property and the visual arts in France from the 16th century to the French Revolution. It charts the early history of privilege legislation (today's copyright and patent) for books and inventions, and the translation of its legal terms by and for the image. Those terms are explored in their force of law and in relation to artistic discourse and creative practice in the early modern period. The consequences of commercially motivated law for art and its definitions, specifically its eventual separation from industry, are important aspects of the story. The artists who were caught up in disputes about intellectual property ranged from the officers of the Academy down to the lowest hacks of Grub Street. Lessons from this book may still apply in the 21st century; with the advent of inexpensive methods of reproduction, multiplication, and dissemination via digital channels, questions of intellectual property and the visual arts become important once more.

Subjects

• Copyright
• Intellectual property
• Law and art
• Art
• History
• Copyright > France > History
• Autorschaft
• Intellectual property > France > History
• Kunst
• Recht
• Geistiges Eigentum
• Urheberrecht
• France
• Law and art > France > History
• Frankreich
• Art > France > History
• Gesetzgebung
• Theorie

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 319-374) and index.

Contents

Introduction : artists, authorship and property -- 1. "Ut pictura poesis" : matters of privilege and property -- 2. Emulation : privilege and plagiarism -- 3. Imitation : crimes of likeness -- 4. Invention : the secrets of colour -- 5. Art and industry : intellectual property and the French Revolution -- Appendix: Académie privileges.

ISBN

• 9780300222791
• 0300222793

LCCN

99980040556

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries