Die Bilder der Aufklärung

Enlightenment is more than the use of reason and written culture. This is the starting thesis of the volume, which examines the contribution of visual media to the programmatic formation and effective dissemination of Enlightenment ideas. Understanding how the ideas and practices of the Enlightenment were able to gain traction in the 18th-century society, which was largely shaped by image-based communication, can only be achieved by considering the use of visual media. These can include book illustrations or pamphlets, paintings and sculptures, diagrams, maps, or caricatures, with formats ranging from miniatures to entire room installations. In the long text-focused research on Enlightenment, new perspectives emerge: How does our perception of the Enlightenment change when we increasingly examine its images?.