Edgar Degas, Dancers Resting (detail), 1881–85

Two new exhibits at the Museum of Fine Arts—Casanova’s Europe: Art, Pleasure and Power in the 18th Century and French Pastels: Treasures from the Vault—arrive just in time to delight summer museum-goers with dozens of gorgeous European masterpieces from the 18th and 19th centuries. The former exhibit uses the life of quintessential bon vivant and libertine Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798) as a jumping off point to chronicle the themes of power, sex, food, travel and more that characterize the spirit of Casanova’s sumptuous, refined world. The MFA’s own collection provides most of the fireworks in the latter display, which showcases the delicate drawings of such revered figures as Manet, Cassatt, Degas, Monet, Millet, Pissarro and Renoir.