Abstract

The birth of aesthetics in the 18th century marks the passage from beauty to fine taste and the emergence of art as a separate sphere of culture. Indeed, before the Renaissance, art is not viewed separately from handcraft and the craftsman does not receive the distinctive status of a specialist of beautiful, an artist. This is due to two sets of reasons: first, the transformation of beauty, which becomes little by little a matter of taste and is subjective, and second, the emergence in the European culture of a special status for the artist, distinguishing him from the artisan. This slow evolution announced at the beginning of the Renaissance, will be completed only at the beginning of the 19th century