Seeing Art History : Pietro Antonio Martini’s Engravings on the Exhibitions of Paris and London in 1787

Pietro Antonio Martini is the author of two ambitious prints which represent the exhibitions held in 1787 in the Salon of the Louvre and in the Royal Academy of London. The aim of this study is the analysis of the prints in relation to the happening which they represent, for which we will consider their graphic image in the light of which the written sources inform about such important events. The comparison between visual and written documents permit us to reflect on the relationship between images and texts, and as well to pose until which point the Martini prints can be considered a visual equivalent to what happened. On the other hand, the fact of having such a detailed representation of the most important exhibitions held in the same year and in the two capitals of the artistic world at the end of the xviiith century, also permits a comparative study of both contexts.