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David Hume [ Philosophy ]

… and his fellow select men were especially concerned with the improvement of Scotland in economics, politics, manners and taste, he also belonged to several convivial clubs such as the Poker Club (1762) in Edinburgh, 3   which counted among … also claimed that the civilizing effects of trade and commerce provided the ideal conditions for the development of taste and the arts: ‘The more these refined arts advance, the more sociable men become; nor is it possible, that, when … the greatest punishment we can suffer’. (Hume,  Treatise , 234) In that ‘positive cycle of sophistication of our tastes and learning’, 6 the sociable interactions enhanced by urban social life were therefore highly valued by Hume in …

Auction houses [ Trade ]

… ‘sociable co-operation in the field of commerce’ that saw politeness be renegotiated as a cultural practice of both taste and valuation. 1   As the century unfolded, the auctions sales relocated from the Royal Exchange and its networks … ethos and a burgeoning discourse of art and connoisseurship were instrumental in the creation of both ‘new canons of taste, and styles of sociability’ that Roy Porter identifies not just in epistemological breakthrough but in the very … relied on frenzy and suspense which made them frequent targets of satire and censure, but they ‘spread a pretty general taste for pictures […] a taste which they not only excite but form’. 14  This choregraphed spectacle of bidding wars …

Mary Delany [ Art and Literature / Reading & Writing ]

… propriety  throughout her life, it was perhaps not in keeping with the most formal sociable activities which she still tasted more often than not. Irish sociability From 1731, the widow Pendarves, desirous to take her distance from England … Elizabeth Foley to her place; she spent entire days with Elizabeth Montagu and Elizabeth Carter in 1769, sharing their taste for conversation, 12  good meals, gardens and domestic qualities; 13  and her views on marriage, card games and … the Court. Thus she was one of the ladies at the King’s levee in 1773 (Llanover, vol. 4, 521). Gradually, Mary Delany’s taste, talent and rigor for 'flower collages' in particular got her the attention of the Royal couple in a more personal …

Portraitists' studios [ Sports & Leisure / Institutions ]

… hybrid space where private, even intimate relationships intersected with economic transactions and the development of a taste for the arts among a large public. It was often supplemented with a ‘showroom’ serving as both an ante-chamber to … of Painting in England , a concert was organised in Thomas Beach’s showroom in Bath, 9   with portraits of local figures tastefully hung to serve as a bait for prospective clients and feed their aspirations to momentary celebrity in paint. 9 … had, for instance, to be coaxed into meeting his visitors there (see his 1767 letter to William Jackson for a taste of how reluctant he was to be interrupted) and John Hoppner (1758-1810) even had a special front door for sitters. …

Wallpapers [ Furniture & Interior decoration ]

… were often at pains to highlight in their promotional texts in oppositional terms such as ‘mock’ and ‘original’. Here, taste is not defined as good and bad, rather the positive effects of being able to exercise taste are conveyed in terms such as ‘genteel’ and ‘elegant’. 1 En effet, un jeu de reconnaissance mutuelle se met en … . Clark, Kenneth, The Gothic Revival: an Essay in the History of Taste (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1964). de Bruijn, Emile, Chinese wallpapers in Britain and Ireland (London: Philip Wilson …

Buckles [ Clothing & Fashion ]

… the mid-century, one commentator noted that ‘they began to increase in size, their designs displayed a greater degree of taste, and their workmanship a greater degree of elegance’. 3  The metal ring could be adorned with jewels and decorative … buckles’ size and extravagance. The ‘Artois’ buckles were named after the Comte D’Artois, who was known for his lavish tastes. These huge buckles could be wider than the shoe they were fastening, so were heavy and impractical, but certainly … eighteenth-century sociability lies in their visibility at social occasions, where they served to project the wealth and taste of their wearer. The fact that the wearer might in fact be less wealthy than they appeared from their buckles only …