Classicism
and most skilful masters who gathered here. They accepted obediently the various changes in taste and fashion, but conferred upon everything a certain reserve and prudence. Æsthetics, in the sense of a theory of the beautiful, scarcely influenced them, as the plastic arts at that time had not yet become a subject of æsthetic theorising. It is natural that the Academies could not have a decisive influence on the course of æsthetic development. They exerted a salutary influence on art technique, for the educational institutions, supervised and directed by the academicians, were really excellent art schools.
The second half of the eighteenth century presents a different spectacle. For some time the Academies struggle against the new classical movement, but, later on, they accept it in toto and for a period of a hundred years become its main bulwark. The terms Academy and Classicism become synonymous. At the same time the centre of artistic taste and artistic opinion shifts from the court to the Academies. Rigid and elaborate artistic doctrines make their appearance, and find the firmest support in the Academies. The former court departments became something like oligarchical "parliaments," whose verdicts in the sphere of artistic problems are not subject to appeal.—Moreover, the artistic education, which remained in their hands, is entirely
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