 This gradual rejection of the idea of music as an imitative art is perhaps best manifested in France. This might seem puzzling, as the eighteenth century view of imitation as the hallmark of fine arts found its most famous expression in The Fine Arts Reduced to a Single Principle (1746), by Charles Batteux (1713–1780). In this work, Batteux defines art as the imitation of beautiful nature (belle nature). Different arts imitate different parts of nature. Music imitates the human expression of emotions. It is interesting to note that Batteux repeatedly states that music expresses the emotions, as opposed to imitating them, although the discrepancy seems to be merely terminological. Batteux can conceive of music that fails to be imitative, but does not consider it valuable: