Charles Dickens was by far the most well-known and widely read novelist of the Victorian period in Great Britain, to the point that he was a celebrity on par with any other figure of the time. His work was not just popular among the masses, but also largely about them, as his work featured intriguing characters, descriptions of familiar themes and people, the city of London, and a serialized format of each chapter being published separately in installments. One trend from previous writers that Dickens did not continue was a reliance on complicated classical references.

The Renaissance represented a revival of Greco-Roman culture, and therefore its art began to reflect classical art and themes, including myths. Nevertheless, religious themes continued to be popular in art. During the Renaissance, the status of the artist increased greatly: individuals such as Michelangelo were widely revered for their artistic genius. Additionally, individual patrons more frequently began to commission art (most famously, the Medici family in Florence); the portrait became a more common genre; and even religious paintings often portrayed the patron and his family. Note that during the Renaissance, the human body began to be depicted in a more naturalistic manner, and was typically glorified. Consider, for example, Michelangelo’s David.

Romanticism flourished in the first half of the nineteenth century throughout Europe as a literary movement that reacted against the Englightenment, valued emotion, and lauded both medieval literature and regional identities. This last point was also a huge factor in the burgeoning nationalism of the era, which sought to overthrow traditional autocratic governments and replace them with democratically elected governments that were meant to more accurately reflect their constituencies.

Impressionism as an artistic movement emerged in the nineteenth century and was particularly influential in France. All of these individuals were notable impressionists, and Monet is often referred to as the original impressionist. Impressionism focuses on ordinary subject matter, and the use of light. It was initially widely criticized by artistic experts in French and European society for being unrealistic and crude, but it soon gained overwhelming popularity as it spread around the world.

Persian Letters was published in 1721 by the Enlightenment philosopher Charles de Montesquieu. It employs the perspective of two travellers from the Near East who are visiting France and observing French society. It critiques the nature of French society and Christianity.

Voltaire was an Enlightenment-era philosopher most famous for his ardent defense of freedom of religion and freedom of speech. He clashed frequently with the authorities in France, but was widely influential across Europe. His most famous work, Candide, was published in 1759. It is a satirical attack on religion in Europe and mocks the established political order of the time period.

Charles Dickens is probably the most famous writer of the Victorian period of British history. His writings coincided with the Industrial Revolution and often focused on portraying social injustices and the arduous lives of the British working class. Famous works by Charles Dickens include Oliver Twist and Hard Times.

Members of a French exploratory voyage to South America in the sixteenth century encountered cannibalistic people living in the Amazon, and a few of them were even brought back to Europe by the expedition. The group was widely sensationalized, but Montaigne’s first-hand experience led him to believe that these people were far less savage and barbaric than the European people around him. In Of Cannibals, he reverses the Eurocentric view of social progress and compares the lives of the cannibals with the barbaric conditions of European society to suggest that the Europeans were the real savages.

The Rococo artistic movement was widely popular in eighteenth century and is characterized by sentimentality and deviations from realism. The Neoclassical movement, which emerged in the late eighteenth century around the time of the French Revolution, is widely understood as a backlash against this movement. Neoclassicism focused on recreating the styles of classical Greece and Rome and valued realism and the accurate representation of the human form.

The Book of the Courtier was published in 1528 by the Italian Renaissance writer Baldassare Castiglione. The book outlines the ideal qualities of a Renaissance man and was widely influential in European society. It was particularly influential in British society, where it came to define the correct behavior of a wealthy British gentleman.