The article considers the writings of the sculptor Andreas Schweigl (1735-1812) and the painters Ignaz Chambrez (1758-1842) and Josef Heřman Agapit Gallaš (1756-1840). Around the year 1800, these three Moravian artists recorded their thoughts and insights in a number of texts that variously combined the traditional literary genre of artist’s biography with artistic topography, art criticism and a historical interpretation of early Moravian art and culture. Since all three were in some way connected with the new system of art education, the aim of this study is to examine whether and in what way standardized education affected not only their professional careers, but also their thinking. For all three, that thinking was rooted in a historical interpretation of the early art and culture of Moravia. All three discuss the function of art, artistic ideals, and to some extent the concept of the creative genius, as well as reflecting, directly or indirectly, on the theme of decadence as one stage in the cyclical view of history, in line with the paradigm of the age. The author sets out to compare their texts and in general terms show 1) how artists themselves viewed the importance of art education at the end of the 18 century; 2) how they responded to the changing role of the artist in society; and 3) how they defined artistic ideals and the artist’s social purpose. It is the wider implications of these changes in the artist’s social status, and in the function of art in Moravia and Central Europe generally, that form the primary focus of this study., Pavel Suchánek., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy