← Fame through time1700-1799
The 18th century
Whose working lives fell in the 18th century. Books are measured from 1800 and readers from 2015, so for this period we can say who lived then, not who was talked about then.
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 18th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Jacques-Louis David7 decades - 2
Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun1 decades - 3
Marie Tussaud0 decades - 4
Jean-Honoré Fragonard6 decades - 5
Philippe II, Duke of Orléansnot measured- - 6
François Boucher21 decades - 7
Louis-Alexandre Berthier1 decades - 8
Jean-Antoine Watteau18 decades - 9
Jean-Baptiste Greuze4 decades - 10
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin0 decades - 11
Vivant Denon22 decades - 12
Maurice Quentin de La Tournot measured- - 13
Adélaïde Labille-Guiard1 decades - 14
Hubert Robert18 decades - 15
Joseph Ducreux0 decades - 16
Jean-Antoine Houdon3 decades - 17
Jean-Marc Nattier2 decades - 18
Louis-Léopold Boilly2 decades - 19
Guillaume Thomas François Raynal3 decades - 20
Joseph-Siffred Duplessis0 decades - 21
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon3 decades - 22
Jean-Baptiste Pigalle3 decades - 23
Jean-Baptiste Oudry6 decades - 24
Françoise de Graffigny2 decades - 25
Étienne Maurice Falconet0 decades - 26
Louis-Michel van Loo0 decades - 27
Charles André van Loonot measured- - 28
Claudine Guérin de Tencin0 decades - 29
Sophie de Condorcet3 decades - 30
Nicolas-Jacques Conté0 decades - 31
Marguerite Gérard9 decades - 32
Carle Vernet22 decades - 33
Jean-Baptiste Regnault1 decades - 34
Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrinnot measured- - 35
Joseph-Marie Vien3 decades - 36
Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffandnot measured- - 37
François-André Vincent3 decades - 38
Anne Vallayer-Coster1 decades - 39
Sophie Arnould22 decades - 40
François Lemoyne3 decades - 41
Jean-Baptiste van Loo0 decades - 42
Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon2 decades - 43
Marie-Gabrielle Capet0 decades - 44
Jean-François de Troy9 decades - 45
Guillaume Guillon-Lethière0 decades - 46
Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée0 decades - 47
Charles-Joseph Natoire1 decades - 48
Philip James de Loutherbourg0 decades - 49
Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loonot measured- - 50
Augustin Pajou6 decades - 51
Louis Carrogis Carmontelle21 decades - 52François-Hubert Drouais1 decades
- 53
Antoine Pesne8 decades - 54
Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynesnot measured- - 55
Marie-Suzanne Giroustnot measured- - 56
Louise Marie Madeleine Fontainenot measured- - 57
Claude Gillot16 decades - 58
Adrien Manglard0 decades - 59
Joséphine of Lorraine0 decades - 60
Charles-Antoine Coypel0 decades - 61
Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes2 decades - 62
Edme Bouchardon17 decades - 63
Gabriel François Doyen0 decades - 64
Guillaume Coustou the Eldernot measured- - 65
Claude Michel22 decades - 66
Madame de Montesson12 decades - 67
Jean-Baptiste Pater1 decades - 68
Jean-Baptiste Perronneau0 decades - 69
Rosalie Filleulnot measured- - 70
Jean Denis Attiret0 decades - 71
Jeanne Agnès Berthelot de Pléneuf, marquise de Prienot measured- - 72
Antoine-Denis Chaudet0 decades - 73
Sophie d'Houdetot0 decades - 74
Henriette-Julie de Muratnot measured- - 75
Rose-Adélaïde Ducreuxnot measured- - 76
Charles-Nicolas Cochin14 decades - 77
Antoine-François Callet0 decades - 78
Pierre Le Gros the Youngernot measured- - 79
Anne-Catherine de Ligniville, Madame Helvétiusnot measured- - 80
Pierre Subleyras3 decades - 81
Marie-Victoire Lemoinenot measured- - 82
Jean-Pierre Norblin de La Gourdainenot measured- - 83
Madeleine Françoise Basseportenot measured- - 84
Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre0 decades - 85
Jean Ranc1 decades - 86
Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne0 decades - 87
Gerard van Spaendonck0 decades - 88
Jean François Carteaux0 decades - 89
Joseph-Benoît Suvée0 decades - 90
Louis Tocqué3 decades - 91
Marie-Anne Collot2 decades - 92
Robert Lefèvrenot measured- - 93
Jean-Baptiste Le Prince2 decades - 94
Jean-Baptiste Pillementnot measured- - 95
Nicolas Bernard Lépicié0 decades - 96
Alexis Simon Belle0 decades - 97
Louis de Silvestrenot measured- - 98
Charles Meynier1 decades - 99
Jean-Baptiste Huetnot measured- - 100
Jean-Michel Moreau2 decades
How to read these rankings
- Attention, not reputation. A place on these lists reflects the attention a person still draws in the public record. It is not a judgement on the life.
- Fame in print. The curves show how often a name appeared in the books of each decade from 1800 to 2019, drawn from the Google Books Ngram corpus.
- Gaps are left as gaps. Where the record is too thin to be fair, we would rather show nothing than guess.