Italian Culture in Northern Europe in the Eighteenth Century

A large number of Italian artists, singers, musicians and other performers travelled throughout Europe during the eighteenth century and made an important impact on taste and fashion. This multi-disciplinary 1999 book examines the importance of their influence outside Italy in locations as diverse as London, St Petersburg, Dresden, Stockholm and Vienna.

This was the first multi-disciplinary study of the dissemination of Italian culture in northern Europe during the long eighteenth century (1689–1815). The book covers a diverse range of artists, actors and musicians who left Italy during the eighteenth century to seek work beyond the Alps in locations such as London, St Petersburg, Dresden, Stockholm and Vienna. First published in 1999, the book investigates the careers of important artists such as Amigoni, Canaletto and Rosalba Carriera, as well as opera singers, commedia dell''arte performers and librettists. However, it also considers key themes such as social and friendship networks, itinerancy, the relationships between court and market cultures, the importance of religion and politics to the reception of culture, the evolution of taste, the role of gender in the reception of art, the diversity of modes and genres, and the reception of Italian artists and performers outside Italy.