The term economy was already part of the vocabulary of the Greeks and Romans, but it was not until a few centuries later that it once again played a significant role in theoretical thinking and usage. As its etymology indicates, economy meant ‘managing one's household well’. Then this reference to the household opened up to the world and the term economy gradually took on the more general meaning of a way of administering goods and material wealth. Over the years, a domestic definition has given rise to a wide variety of uses, including political economy, social economy, and even the economy of culture, nature and even images.

It was perhaps the collapse of Law's system that gave rise to the first illustration of a financial crisis, as shown by the selection of engravings that will be shown in the exhibition. Although material goods and wealth gave rise to a wealth of diverse works, particularly in painting, artists, despite the appearance of theoretical treatises on the subject, did not immediately engage in any real thinking about the workings of economic systems and their consequences. The status of the artist also had to evolve. From simple craftsmen, artists had to acquire a status that would allow them to gain autonomy and gradually become active players in the community.

—Extract from a text by Françoise Paviot