ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book tries in a number of ways to break the link between stylistic change and progress in order to move away from a value-laden form of art history that replicates aesthetic preferences. It highlights the sleight of hand that underpinned the progressive discourse in the early years of the nineteenth century and which legitimised a continuing emphasis on the notion of improvement. The book stresses the crucial role of the watercolour as a commodity, since stylistic and technical innovations, as much as the production of new and variant subject types, encouraged the growth and development of the market and, by extension, helped improve the status of the profession. It presents manoeuvres as motivated by a combination of a desire to establish professional identity and status and the need to maximise and defend economic advantages.
