Lecture | Katie Scott: Drawing and the Early Modern City

What kinds of drawing practices did the early modern city inspire, and how, in turn, did those practices help shape the city itself? In this lecture, Katie Scott explores the emergence of a distinctly urban mode of drawing in Paris through the work of Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724–1780) and Pierre-Louis Dumesnil (1698–1781).

Neither artist was an Academician; both operated within the dynamic frameworks of the city as municipality and market. Dumesnil designed royal and civic festivals that temporarily transformed the Parisian cityscape, while Saint-Aubin, in a more informal and often unofficial capacity, also contributed to these urban spectacles. He is best known, however, for his vivid and idiosyncratic responses to everyday urban life, captured in his sketches, drawings, and prints.

The lecture considers not only how the city was visually characterized, but also the diverse modes and formats used to capture it—from sketchbooks and single-sheet prints to chalk, pencil, and pen and ink—revealing how drawing became an essential tool for observing, recording, and reimagining the early modern city.

Katie Scott, FBA, is Professor Emeritus in the History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art. She is the 2025–26 Thaw Senior Fellow at the Morgan Drawing Institute.

This lecture takes place in Gilder Lehrman Hall on the Ground Floor. Doors to the Hall will open 30 minutes before the lecture begins.