Alongside the beginnings of modern journalism, the use of illustration
in the press developed gradually in the course of the 16th and 17th
centuries, during the Wars of Religion and the Age of Enlightenment.
It was a genuinely democratic art form, and also developed as a complement
to the academic styles of high art. As such its place was not
in the sacred temple of the Muses or the salons of the elite, but in
the public space, the domain of the res publica. However, before the
works of graphic artists could appear in news kiosks or on billboards,
the restrictions of taxation and censorship had first to be overcome,
as well as obstacles to distribution, and these struggles would last
several
decades.
