Introduction

Abstract

Censorship of the image varied from one nation to another in nineteenthcentury Europe; therefore, no single case that makes up this collection will provide a complete picture of the nature and impact of censorial regimes. Nevertheless, a number of common characteristics emerge: visual culture was regulated by a variety of governments (monarchical, imperial, and republican), the church and state’s monopoly over artistic patronage increasingly waned during the course of the century, and the public’s demand for democratization of cultural and political life spurred increasing challenges to censorship. Modernization, in all its manifestations, and how each regime responded to the changes it wrought, is the most important factor that forced European political regimes to modify censorship regulations. Robert Justin Goldstein characterizes these changes: “Censorship of the press and arts above all reflects the fact that, in an age of urban industrialization, widespread literacy and rapid transportation and communications, what average citizens think matters to political leaders.”¹