This paper develops a reflection on the elements that concurred in the late nineteenth century in Bogota to form the notion of aesthetic canon. For the analysis of documentary sources we will refer to two illustrated publications: El Papel Periodico ilustrado (Illustrated Newspaper), managed by Alberto Urdaneta, and the Revista ilustrada (Illustrated Magazine), managed by Pedro Carlos Manrique. Such publications define themselves as platforms for the formation of taste and, within a set of political, religious and cultural conditions, allow us to see new processes in the formalisation of specialised culture through institutions such as the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes (National School of Fine Arts). The contribution of these illustrated publications becomes a reference to what will be the relation between art critique and the public, formulating notions of aesthetic appreciation and taste that we understand as programmatic in a project of civilisation.