As the eighteenth century progressed, the style of life shown in Rococo paintings and more popular prints generated from them persuaded many people in France that the king, court, and nobility were frivolous and decadent. In actuality, as seen in Chapter 15, many French and European nobles were diligent and disciplined, and Louis XVI, who succeeded Louis XV in 1774, was a well-meaning, devout, and moral ruler. Nonetheless, the cheerful carelessness of Rococo art fuelled hatred toward the Old Regime's political and social elites.

Furthermore, contemporary viewers did not have to wait for the upheaval of the French Revolution to see work that explicitly challenged the society depicted by Rococo art. The mid-eighteenth century saw a revival of interest in the

His publications, as well as the concurrent rediscovery and partial excavation of the ancient Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in southern Italy, aided the growth of Neoclassicism in art and architecture. This movement represented a return to antiquity's ideas, issues, and techniques, as well as the Renaissance's appeal to antiquity.

The attractiveness of Rome as a tourist destination for artists and aristocratic travelers aided the emergence of Neoclassicism.

European nobles who visited Italy in the mid-eighteenth century on what was known as "the Grand Tour" were more enamored with both the antique and Renaissance art on display as well as the Neoclassical masterpieces created by contemporary painters. These affluent and prominent tourists did not just buy paintings and statues to display in their homes.

The picture also depicts the notion of men and women having different realms. The brothers swear an oath to preserve the republic with their life. The ladies in the scenario look emotional and incapable of participating in the republic's manly civic life. David painted many comparable images from the old Roman Republic and subsequently became an artistic supporter of the French Revolution and Napoleon (who, paradoxically, elevated him to the rank of baron).

The philosophes became subjects for Neoclassical artists. The French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741–1828) created several stone portraits of famous philosophes such as Voltaire and Rousseau, as well as American Enlightenment supporters such as Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) and Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826). Such sculptures adorned a gallery of writers who had died.

Most philosophes did not support either Montesquieu's reformed and reborn aristocracy or Rousseau's democracy as a solution to modern political difficulties. They looked to the existing monarchs, as did other smart individuals of the time in different positions and vocations. Voltaire was a staunch monarchist due to his personal clashes with aristocracy as a young writer and his overall skepticism of democratic notions.

In 1759, he wrote a History of the Russian Empire During the Reign of Peter the Great, declaring, "Peter was born, and Russia was founded." 15 Voltaire and other philosophes, such as Diderot, who visited Catherine II of Russia, and the physiocrats, some of whom served as ministers to Louis XV and Louis XVI, did not want to limit monarchs' power.

Frederick the Great of Prussia represented enlightened absolutism more than any other monarch of the time. Using the achievements of his Hohenzollern forefathers, he constructed a state that commanded the devotion of the military, the junker aristocracy, the Lutheran church, and an expanding bureaucracy drawn from an educated middle class and university academics.

Because the Prussian monarchy and military had such strong authority, and because the nobles, bureaucracy, clergy, and professors were so loyal, Frederick had the confidence to allow a more open discussion of Enlightenment ideas and to put into practice more Enlightenment values, such as extensive religious toleration, than any other continental ruler.

As a result, in contrast to France, Prussians inclined to the Enlightenment tended to embrace the state rather than the individual.

Frederick regularly portrayed himself as "the first servant of the State," asserting that his own personal and dynastic interests should always be subjugated to the benefit of his citizens, reflecting a significant shift in European views of the ruler.

Like previous Hohenzollern monarchs, he maintained the Prussian nobility's local social and political interests, as well as their role in the army, but he also required nobles seeking posts in his well-paid bureaucracy to qualify for those jobs on merit.

By 1770, the education and tests necessary for all important government jobs were overseen by a Prussian Civil Service Commission. Thus, Frederick made it plain that merit, rather than birthright, would determine who served the Prussian state.

In addition, Frederick ordered a new formulation of Prussian law, which was finished after his death. His goal was to simplify and improve the current legal system by removing regional differences, minimizing aristocratic influence, outlawing torture, and limiting the number of capital offences. This desire for legal reform was shared by the other enlightened monarchs, who regarded it as a way to extend and enhance royal authority.

Prussia has suffered significant economic damage as a result of the mid-century conflicts. Following that, Frederick exploited the state's power to promote economic growth. He pursued the Hohenzollern strategy of importing workers from outside Prussia. He aimed to improve Prussian agriculture. Swamps were drained, new crops were introduced, and peasants were encouraged, and sometimes forced, to go where they wanted.