Exoticism in 18th-Century French Art

In the 18th century, France looked beyond its borders. Toward the Orient, Africa, the Americas, and distant lands that were imagined as much as they were discovered. This fascination with foreign cultures deeply influenced the arts, royal collections, gardens, decorative interiors, and even the way people understood the world.

But this attraction to elsewhere was not driven by curiosity alone. It also reflected a society defining itself through the way it perceived other peoples. Exoticism became both an opening to the world and a mirror of European identity.

The word comes from the Greek exôtikos, meaning “foreign” or “external.” It refers to an attraction to what is different, distant, and unfamiliar. During the Enlightenment, this exotic imagination was fueled by missionaries’ accounts, trade with Asia, diplomatic embassies from the East, and precious objects imported into Europe.

China fascinated Europe through its porcelain and lacquerware. Turkish ambassadors became artistic subjects. Indigenous peoples of the Americas intrigued European elites. French artists drew inspiration from these influences to create works blending admiration, fantasy, and at times caricature or domination.

Through several major works of the 18th century, this series explores the French vision of elsewhere, between artistic fascination and critical perspective.

Carle Van Loo’s Dreamed Exotic Hunt

Carle Van Loo, The Ostrich Hunt, oil on canvas, 1738, Amiens, Musée de Picardie.

King LouisXV was passionate about hunting. To decorate a gallery at the Palace of Versailles, he commissioned painter Carle Van Loo to create a scene inspired by an imagined Orient: The Ostrich Hunt.

The exotic animal stands at the center of the composition, surrounded by hunters whose weapons converge toward it. The vast setting depicts an idealized desert crossed by an oasis. More than a realistic scene, the painting creates a fantasy of distant lands in which the king’s greatness is compared to that of the world’s greatest hunters.

The “Indians” of Marly: Humanity Confronting Nature

In the gardens of the Château de Marly, Louis XV’s more intimate residence, sculptor Guillaume Coustou created the famous Horses Restrained by Grooms.

The two muscular, nearly nude figures wear feathers and carry arrows. They embody the Indigenous American figures that fascinated 18th-century Europe. Through them, artists projected an idealized image of humanity living in direct contact with nature.

These sculptures also symbolize humanity’s desire to master natural forces, represented here by the powerful horses.

(Guillaume Ier Coustou, Chevaux retenus par des palefreniers, marble, 1745, Paris, Louvre Museum.)

The Monkeys of Chantilly: Exoticism as Social Satire

Exoticism also served as a subtle way to criticize French aristocratic society.

At the Château de Chantilly, inside a small boudoir known as La Petite Singerie, painter Christophe Huet depicted monkeys dressed as 18th-century nobles. Some groom themselves, others pick cherries or imitate courtly behavior.

Behind the playful appearance lies a social satire. The patron of the decoration, the Duke of Bourbon, exiled from Versailles, used these animal figures to mock aristocratic vanity and the idle occupations of court society.

Elsewhere thus became a disguise through which artists could speak about their own time.

The Taste for Objects from Asia

The fascination with foreign cultures was not limited to painting or sculpture. Royal families also collected imported objects from China and Japan.

The vase commissioned for Louis XV’s sisters is a remarkable example. Made of Chinese celadon and later enhanced with gilt bronze mounts by Pierre Gouthière, it combines Asian refinement with French craftsmanship.

The finely carved details, decorative figures, and vegetal motifs reflect the immense prestige associated with Eastern art.

(Pierre Gouthière, Vase from the Bellevue Collection, Chinese celadon, gilt and chased bronze, c. 1775, Paris, Louvre Museum.)

Jean-Baptiste Belley: A New Perspective at the End of the Century

By the late 18th century, political upheavals also transformed the way foreign and colonized peoples were represented.

Jean-Baptiste Belley, deputy of Saint-Domingue, 1797, Château de Versailles.

Anne Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson, Jean-Baptiste Belley, Deputy of Saint-Domingue, oil on canvas, 1797, Palace of Versailles.

After the abolition of slavery in 1794, Jean-Baptiste Belley, a formerly enslaved man from Saint-Domingue who became a deputy, was portrayed by Girodet.

The painting marked an important turning point in French art history. Belley appears dignified, leaning against a bust of Abbé Raynal, a philosopher who opposed slavery. His pose recalls those of Europe’s great intellectual figures, giving him unprecedented political and intellectual stature.

This work reflects a moment when exoticism partially shifted from merely observing the “other” to acknowledging political humanity and recognition.

The Pagoda of Chanteloup: China Reimagined in France

The fascination with Asia also influenced French garden architecture.

The Pagoda of Chanteloup, built near Amboise for the Duke of Choiseul, was directly inspired by Chinese architecture. Constructed within an Anglo-Chinese garden, it became a symbol of friendship and elegance after the duke’s political exile.

With its seven superimposed levels and vertical silhouette overlooking water and landscape, the pagoda perfectly illustrates how 18th-century Europe reinvented foreign forms according to its own imagination.

(Louis-Denis Le Camus, Pagoda of Chanteloup, 1775, Amboise.)

Exoticism Between Fascination and Domination

18th-century exoticism reveals both a sincere curiosity toward foreign cultures and a gaze that could also be idealized, distorted, or dominant.

French artists admired distant worlds while reinventing them through their own fantasies, political concerns, and social perspectives.

Today, when observing these works, we discover not only the cultures represented, but also the way Enlightenment France sought to understand its own identity in relation to the rest of the world.

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Nicolas Thomas

Cultural journalist specializing in art history and philosophy