"The idea for this exhibition grew out of the desire to present to the Atlanta public an old master exhibition that would complement the new High Museum designed by Richard Meier. . . This exhibition concentrates on the period from 1700 to 1792, when the Revolution toppled the 'ancien régime' and the neo-classical style nascent in Vien's work blossomed into the severe style of David, who, as the portrait shown here makes evident, was himself firmly rooted in the rococo tradition." -- Foreword.