Abstract: The subject of the study is the Western historiography of the history of art from the middle of the XIX century to the present, the patterns that determined the nature of its development, general cultural and general scientific factors that determined the paradigm shift in art criticism. The time frame of the study is determined, on the one hand, by the emergence of scientific art studies, on the other hand, by the assertion of a postmodern worldview that denies the possibility of scientific study of any texts, including artistic ones. The paper examines the characteristics of each of the highlighted stages, as well as their relationship with the general trends in the development of humanitarian knowledge at each stage. Thus, the history of art is placed in a broad context of general scientific and general cultural processes, which makes it possible to identify and study the driving forces that determine the course of its development. The main method of research is the method of periodization, the criterion for which is the predominance of a particular methodology at a particular historical stage of the development of art studies. The paper proposes the following periodization of the history of art studies: 1. Pre-scientific art criticism (before XIX century).
2. The cultural and historical stage (XIX century). 3. Formal and stylistic stage (XX century).
4. The iconological stage (XX century). 5. Post-scientific art criticism (beginning of the XXI century). This classification allows us to present the history of scientific art studies as a natural and consistent process of changing dominant methodologies, starting with the formation of a scientific approach to the study of art and up to the present time, when the very possibility of its application was questioned by the postmodern worldview. The main factor determining the change of stages in the development of art criticism is a change in the general cultural situation, as well as a change in the prevailing paradigms in art knowledge.

Abstract: The object of the study is the work of the French composer of the XIX century Giacomo Meyerbeer, the subject of the study is the informative and entertaining components of his work. The most famous works of the famous maestro are used for analysis: "Robert the Devil", "Huguenots", "The Prophet", "Dinora". The author examines the ratio of "meaningful" and "entertaining" components in the dramatic and musical construction of the opera from the viewpoint of the traditional art of the XIX century installation "Entertaining - to teach!". The aim of the study is to correct the thesis about entertainment as the main drawback of Meyerbeer's operas, since all works of stage art, including his contemporaries, cannot do without an entertainment component. The main conclusion of the study is that the meaningful, instructive side in Meyerbeer's works is formally preserved, which, at first glance, makes the reproaches of his critics meaningless. However, upon closer examination, it turns out that the content of the operas is emasculated, reduced to the level of platitudes and cliches, becomes contradictory and even ridiculous, while the entertainment side is strengthened and becomes the leading one. Thus, the reproach of entertainment against Meyerbeer should be corrected: their defect is not that they entertain, but that they lose a meaningful component. This model of the ratio of entertainment and content will later be used by modern mass art.