Effect van gevoeligheid op de vier verschillende temperamenten c. 1767

Johann Heinrich Lips created this print, "Effect of Sensibility on the Four Different Temperaments," sometime between 1758 and 1817 using etching. The artwork plays with ideas about aesthetic experience and the institutions that shape taste. Here, we see a group of men gathered around an easel, closely examining a painting. To the side, a lone figure sits, seemingly overcome with emotion. In the late 18th century, art academies played a significant role in defining artistic standards and dictating what was considered "good" art. This print slyly critiques the notion that art should elicit a uniform emotional response. Lips, working in the era of Enlightenment, questions whether true appreciation is a matter of following prescribed conventions or of individual, "sensible" experience. Art historians might look at period writings on aesthetics, such as those by Immanuel Kant, to further understand the context of this image. This print reminds us that art's meaning is always tied to the cultural and intellectual currents of its time.