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Fancy in the eighteenth centurywas part of a rich semantic network, connecting wit, whimsicality, eroticdesire, spontaneity, deviation from norms and triviality. It was also a contentious term, signifying excess,oddness and irrationality, liable to offend taste, reason and morals. Thiscollection of essays foregrounds fancy - and its close synonym, caprice - as adistinct strand of the imagination in the period. As a prevalent, coherent and enduring concept in aestheticsand visual culture, it deserves a moreprominent place in scholarly understanding than it has hitherto occupied. Fancy is here understood as a type of creative outputthat deviated from rules and relished artistic freedom. It was also a mode ofaudience response, entailing a high degree of imaginative engagement withplayful, quirky artworks, generating pleasure, desire or anxiety. Emphasizingcommonalities between visual productions in different media from diverselocations, the authors interrogate and celebrate the expressive freedom offancy in European visual culture. Topicsinclude: the seductive fictions of the fancy picture, Fragonard and galanterie, fancy in drawing manuals,pattern books and popular prints, fans and fancy goods, chinoiserie, excess and virtuality in garden design, Canaletto'sBritish 'capricci', urban design in Madrid, and Goya's 'Caprichos'.

Fantasy in art. --- Fancy pictures --- Fancy work --- Figure painting --- Portrait painting, European --- Face in art. --- Human figure in art. --- Europe --- Social life and customs --- imagination --- visual culture --- capriccio --- phantasia --- fancy

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Fancy in the eighteenth century was part of a rich semantic network, connecting wit, whimsicality, erotic desire, spontaneity, deviation from norms and triviality. It was also a contentious term, signifying excess, oddness and irrationality, liable to offend taste, reason and morals. This collection of essays foregrounds fancy – and its close synonym, caprice – as a distinct strand of the imagination in the period. As a prevalent, coherent and enduring concept in aesthetics and visual culture, it deserves a more prominent place in scholarly understanding than it has hitherto occupied. Fancy is here understood as a type of creative output that deviated from rules and relished artistic freedom. It was also a mode of audience response, entailing a high degree of imaginative engagement with playful, quirky artworks, generating pleasure, desire or anxiety. Emphasizing commonalities between visual productions in different media from diverse locations, the authors interrogate and celebrate the expressive freedom of fancy in European visual culture. Topics include: the seductive fictions of the fancy picture, Fragonard and galanterie, fancy in drawing manuals, pattern books and popular prints, fans and fancy goods, chinoiserie, excess and virtuality in garden design, Canaletto's British 'capricci', urban design in Madrid, and Goya's 'Caprichos'.