ABSTRACT
The period when the visual arts and music came to be treated with parity in the public sphere during the later eighteenth century coincides with the emergence of a new kind of cultural reputation. Distinguishable from earlier brands of celebrity by reaching out and affecting many more people from the outset for a prolonged period, this new kind of reputation had the potential for becoming a worldwide phenomenon. The development of Western commercial interests in the eighteenth century, increasingly inter-continental in outlook, encouraged many involved in the arts to address themselves to what might appeal to the greatest possible audience, not necessarily restricted to a particular class or nationality, but which might aspire to a universal popularity.
