The exclusive right of the artist to the benefits that accrue from his or her intellectual property is a characteristic of modern culture. Borrowing is a common phenomenon, and exists in three types: (1) self-borrowing, or use of themes from one piece in another; (2) borrowing which is done as an obvious tribute or burlesque of the original, and (3) unacknowledged borrowing. Modern sensitivities consider this latter type of borrowing to be outright theft. The eighteenth century acknowledged but did not condemn this type of borrowing.

Index Classifications: General, 1700s, 1800s, 1900s

Contributed by: Felix Cox