Painters and Sculptors ``sans qualite''. An Invisible Population in the Paris of Enlightenment?

The police archives of 18th century Paris reveal a preponderance of workers who were active outside of institutions, and have thus remained obscure. Amongst them, painters and sculptors ``sans qualite'' (''without qualification'') constituted a large, heterogeneous, and mobile population. A quantitative evaluation indicates that artisans, artists and merchants ``sans qualite'' active in the areas of the fine and decorative arts, the art market, and construction, represented hundreds of people. At once juridically marginalized and economically integrated, these painters and sculptors ``sans qualite'' participated de facto in the institutional deregulations of the second half of the 18th century that drove the undermining of the guild system and the liberalisation of the status of the artist. More specifically, in the domain of social art history, police archives can fill in biographical lacunae and shed light on artistic practice, production, and workshops. This study will also show how at the beginning of their careers, young artists constituted a major subject of rivalry between Academie royale de peinture et de sculpture and the Parisian guild of painters and sculptors, and investigates the possibility of pursuing an artistic vocation outside of institutional confines.