Diderot, Denis

Diderot, Denis (b Langres, 5 Oct. 1713; d Paris, 31 July 1784). French philosopher and writer, perhaps best known as the chief editor of the Encyclopédie (1751–72), a work of fundamental importance in shaping the rationalist and humanitarian ideals of the Age of Enlightenment. He was a highly versatile author, his vast output including novels, plays, scientific writings, and criticism. His views on art appear in various places, notably in articles in the Encyclopédie and in his reviews of the Salons from 1759 to 1781, which appeared in the journal Correspondance littéraire. They are written in a lively conversational style and formed the model for the criticism of Baudelaire. His aesthetic views, which are sometimes inconsistent, reflect both his common-sense approach and the 18th-century taste for sentiment. He was enthusiastic about Greuze because of what seemed his moral seriousness, but he berated Boucher, whom he regarded as frivolous. Some of his best writing is on Chardin, whose close scrutiny of the real world set him apart from the prevailing Rococo artificiality.