ABSTRACT
This essay focuses on the circle of international artists involved in the publishing project of the Galeriewerk of the Königliche Bildergalerie in Dresden. It discusses how the study of and discussions surrounding artistic schools and Old Masters strongly influenced the ways in which these artists constructed their own artistic and social positions at the Saxon court, as well as the ways in which their work was framed in the writings and collections of contemporaneous connoisseurs. I argue that the traditional hierarchies and ties based on kinship and nationality (Venetian, Roman, or French) and the artistic profession (sculptor, portrait painter, or veduta painter) were reinforced by how artists framed themselves as both successors and representatives of a given artistic school.
