... of portraiture and history painting. At the beginning of the sixteenth century certain structures were beginning to form that recognised particular standards of artistic practices. Strict rules were developing over how the genres were to be practised (following, King notes, ('What Women can Make, Book 3,pp.60-85) the fifteenth century publication of Alberti's Della Pittura). This coming together of definite aesthetic principles really materialised in the development of the academies in the seventeenth century. The academies had helped to develop a liberalisation of art and provided a standard of art that remained dominant throughout the period concerned (Walsh, 'Charles Le Brun, 'art dictator of France'', Book 1, pp. 86-120). Art became a learned occupation (as opposed to manual craft). By the end of the seventeenth century, the academies had established a solid hierarchical codification of the genres (Ibid. p. 93). History painting and portraiture were the most high-esteemed with their figurative (human), ...

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