During the last years of France's ancien regime, an outpouring of creative activity and patronage resulted in the production of many works of painting and sculpture. In this book, Michael Levey discusses the major painters and sculptors of this period that opened with Watteau and the fete galante and closed with the revolutionary history paintings of David. Levey discusses famous sculptors such as Falconet, Pigalle and Houdon as well as the lesser-known Coustou, Michel-Ange Lsodtz and Caffieri. Levey then analyzes the paintings of Restout, Vernet, Oudry and others who were talented painters of portraits, genre scenes and still lifes.