Thomas Jefferson on What Makes a Fine Art Fine (1W, 5Q, #74) 

In a letter to granddaughter Ellen Wayles Randolph in 1804, President Jefferson tries to clear up confusion in his granddaughter about the exact number of the fine arts. Jefferson explains that the number is still contested by experts, but he settles on eight: criticism, poetry, oratory, architecture, gardening, music, painting, and sculpture. In this episode, Donna Vitek and Dr. H discuss what for Jefferson made a fine art fine. Dr. H, along the way, makes some comments on the faculty of taste, the natures of beauty and the sublime, and the individual fine arts.