1. Bacino di San Marco, Venice
Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal), Bacino di San Marco, Venice, about 1738. Oil on canvas. Abbott Lawrence Fund, Seth K. Sweetser Fund, and Charles Edward French Fund.
2. Thalia, Muse of Comedy
Jean Marc Nattier, Thalia, Muse of Comedy, 1739. Oil on canvas. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Museum purchase, Mildred Anna Williams Collection.
3. Venice Vignette
Console table, Italian (Venetian), about 1725–50. Gilded wood. Collection of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the State Museum of Florida, Florida State University, Sarasota, Florida.
Armchair, Italian (Venetian), about 1750. Gilded wood. Lent by the Toledo Museum of Art; purchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott, 1977.32.
4. The Useless Resistance
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Useless Resistance, 1770–73. Oil on canvas. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.
5. The Parlatorio
Francesco Guardi, The Parlatorio, 1746. Oil on canvas. Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Ca’Rezzonico, Museo del Settecento Veneziano.
6. The Fortune Teller
Pietro Longhi, The Fortune Teller, 1752. Oil on canvas. Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Ca’Rezzonico, Museo del Settecento Veneziano.
7. The Well
Giovanni Battista Piranesi, The Well (Plate XIII of the Second Edition, Second Issue, of the Carceri), 1761. Etching, engraving, scratching, burnishing, lavis. Gift of Miss Ellen T. Bullard.
8. Manon Balletti
Jean Marc Nattier, Manon Balletti, 1757. Oil on canvas. National Gallery, London. Bequeathed by Emilie Yznaga, 1945, NG5586. Image © National Gallery, London/Art Resource, NY.
Jean Marc Nattier, Silvia Balletti, 1750. Oil on canvas. Private collection.
9. Paris Vignette
François-Thomas Germain, wall lights, 1750–60. Gilt bronze, iron. Museum purchase with funds donated anonymously and the John H. and Ernestine A. Payne Fund, Mary S. and Edward J. Holmes Fund, Frank B. Bemis Fund, Arthur Tracy Cabot Fund, Helen and Alice Colburn Fund, Edwin E. Jack Fund, Elizabeth M. and John F. Paramino Fund in memory of John F. Paramino, Boston Sculptor, Harriet Otis Cruft Fund, Frederick Brown Fund, Seth K. Sweetser Fund, Helen B. Sweeney Fund, Susan Cornelia Warren Fund, Samuel Putnam Avery Fund, Jane Marsland and Judith A. Marsland Fund, Alice M. Bartlett Fund, and Mary E. Moore Gift.
Antoine Cronier, Cartel Clock, mid-18th century. Gilt bronze, enameled metal, glass. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Paine.
10. Kitty Fisher
Nathaniel Hone, Kitty Fisher, 1765. Oil on canvas. National Portrait Gallery, London.
11. The Lady’s Last Stake
William Hogarth, The Lady’s Last Stake, 1759. Oil on canvas. Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery Buffalo, New York. Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1945. Photograph courtesy of the Albright-Knox Gallery.
12. Travelers in a Storm
Francesco Casanova, Travelers in a Storm, about 1770. Oil on canvas. Musée des beaux-arts, Rennes. Photo © MBA, Rennes, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrick Merret.
13. Catherine the Great
Pierre-Etienne Falconet, Catherine the Great, 1773. Oil on canvas. Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens, Washington, DC. Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973 (51.60).
François Boucher, Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Madame de Pompadour, 1750 with later additions. Oil on canvas. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum. Bequest of Charles E. Dunlap.
14. Voltaire
Jean-Antoine Houdon, Voltaire, 1778. Marble. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.240.