ABSTRACT
Empirical investigation into the operations of the mind gave increasing emphasis to subjectivity in the eighteenth century, transforming the visual arts, its objects, authors and viewers. In Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1690, John Locke argues that ideas are dependent on experience. 1 In 1757, David Hume adds that 'Beauty is no quality in things themselves: it exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.' 2 Although Hume still maintained that educated taste is universal and superior, empiricism led to relativism and the recognition that perception is subjective and changeable. Any change in the weather, the time of the day or the position or mood of the viewer can affect perception, so that even an object seemingly as solid as a building may not appear the same from one moment to the next.
