Portret van Giovanni Paisiello 1816

François Joseph Etienne Beisson made this print of Giovanni Paisiello, most likely in France, sometime around the turn of the 19th century. It captures the composer in a moment of inspiration, gazing upwards from his desk. The image suggests the elevated status that composers attained in the late 1700s. No longer just servants of the court, composers were becoming public figures. Paisiello, though Neapolitan by birth, spent years in the service of Catherine the Great in Russia, as well as Napoleon in France. The print subtly signifies that he is a man of both intellect and fashion. What is the public role of art? Here it is to venerate a great figure of the time. The politics of imagery are such that composers are to be seen as divinely inspired. By studying biographies, letters, and other documents, we can learn more about the social conditions of artistic production. The meaning of art is contingent on its social and institutional context.