18th Century Post

The Enlightenment

Joseph Wright, The Orrery, 1766

The Scientific Revolution• The development of Royal Societies in the 16th

century – the sharing of knowledge, public demonstrations (Rembrandt, Thomas Wright)

• The move away from Ptolemaic astronomy and a heliocentric view of the universe

• Understanding Nature from Observation, not from authoritative texts or governing bodies

• The Idea that Human Reason can provide for the betterment of human life on earth (as opposed to Faith and Ceremony)

• The profound questioning of authority in any guise

The Modern magician

Blind Love

Questioning Gesture

Candle for Light and Skull

Fascinated Observer

Birdcage – if it lives (or dies)

Moonlight and the Enlightenment (reference to the Lunar Society)

2 sisters, torn between curiosity and distress

The Philosopher

The Bird in a glass Bowl which is about to be sealed and air pumped out

The Experiment With An Air Pump

Our Invitation

philosophes

philosophes• Thomas Hobbes 1588 - 1679 “social contract” • Rene Descartes 1596 - 1650 “methodological

skepticism”• John Locke 1632 - 1704 “tabula rasa”• Gottfried Liebniz 1646-1716 “rationalism, logic &

analysis” - also note Baruch Spinoza “biblical criticism”

• Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet ) 1694 - 1778 “civil liberties, individual freedom”

• Jean Jacques Rousseau 1712 - 1778 “nature”• Diderot 1713 - 1784 “Encyclopédie”

• Thomas Jefferson 1743 - 1826 “bill of rights”

The Principia• Isaac Newton (1642-1727)• Offered irrefutable proof – mathematical proof –

that Nature had order and meaning that was not based on Faith but on human Reason

• The notion of progress in the human mind toward an ultimate end

• If definable laws can be discerned to govern Nature, they can be discerned to govern men and society

• The notion that bodies at a distance are governed in their motion by a specific force that can be measured (gravity).

Italy

The Martyrdom of Saint Agatha c. 1755

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo 1696 -1770

37Tiepolo_-_Allegory of the Planets and Continents, 1752

Rococo in Italy

Tiepolo, Apotheosis of the Pisani Family, 1761-62

• Sense of limitless space• Sunlit brilliance• Dazzling light• Venetian pageantry• Silvery precious colors• Impressive scale• Spiraling forms• Ancient and distinguished

Pisani family rise to heaven• Allegory and personification

accompany the family• Legs hang freely over the frame,

overlapping sides of painting

detail

Egid Quirin Asam, Assumption of the Virgin

1717-25• Mary ascends to heaven from her

tomb weightlessly carried aloft by angels; those visiting the tomb are aghast in theatrical amazement

• Hard solid forms of the tomb contrast dramatically with the flexible nature of the figures

• Painting, sculpture and architecture combined

• Use of window light and rays above to indicate God’s glory

Giovanni Antonio Canaletto (1697 –1768)

Francesco Guardi c. 1712-1793

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Austria and Germany

Rococo in Germany

De Cuvillies, Amalienburg, Munich

• Flowing curving lines of decoration that inch like ivy up the walls, the ceilings and around the mirrors

• Ornate frames with silver gilding bordering and entering mirror surfaces

• Pale blue and silver color scheme

• Ornamental, decorative, sophisticated

Neumann, Church of Fourteen Saints, Staffelstein

• 3 longitudinal ovals joined by two transverse ovals

• Altar of Mercy in the center• Open galleries around, some in half-

columns, engaged to piers• Light, airy: this is Heaven• Pastel shades abound• Complex façade inspired by

Borromini• Concave and convex shapes,

intricate bell towers

The baroque style of architecture flourished in Germany in the 18th century. One of the most outstanding German baroque architects was Balthasar Neumann, who favored circular and oval forms and used undulating lines to lend dynamism

to his buildings. The Residenz in Würzburg, designed by Neumann, is considered to be one of the finest examples of the German baroque style. The richly decorated Kaisersaal, or Emperor’s Hall, of the Residenz, shown here, is an oval reception room with a domed ceiling and frescoes painted by Italian master Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.

Balthasar Neumann

(1687 – 1753)

Kaisersaal, the Residenz.  Weisburg, Germany.  1719-1744

One major design element was

rocaille: fanciful stucco ornaments in the shapes of ribbons, leaves, stems, flowers, arabesques, and elongated curving lines applied to walls and ceilings.  The effect was to blur the boundary between walls and ceiling and to make solid surfaces look like fleeting illusions.  Mirrors further deceived the senses and chandeliers provided jewel-like lighting.  All elements worked together to create a glittering, luxurious setting for an

ultra-refined society.

Rococo• Aristocratic, playful, delicate, and often

provocative• Considered by subsequent artists as

superficial and escapist• Made up of sensuous objects, lavish

decoration and intimate interiors

France

The Ancien Regime

Louis XIV dies in 1715 after a 72 year reign

29Journey to (embarkation from) Cythea

Rococo in France

Watteau, Return from Cythera, 1717

• Right: lady listens to a proposition from a pilgrim to Cythera (island of Venus) who is carrying a handbook on love

• Cupid tugs at a woman to stay• Cavalier helps a lady to rise• A woman turns her back in hesitation• Country ladies lead the way to the gilded

boat• Herm of Venus overlooks the island• Panther hide is an allusion to Bacchus• Clouds are light, dream-like• Slender women in delicate iridescent

colors• Water reflects hazy colors• Relationship of figures to landscape• Women turn their backs to the viewer

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Watteau, L’Indifferent, 1717• The Indifferent One• Small, intimate scale and subject

matter• Dancing pose• Delicate, a bit tired, or touched with

ennui• Fancifully dressed in rich satins• Background awash in atmospheric

perspective

Signboard of Gersaint (1721)

Antoine Watteau, (1684-1721)

Pierrot, 1718

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Commedia dell'arte

• masked “types” and recurrent “characters”• improvisation• inclusion of actresses• an Italian comedy

27

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Ancien Regime in 18th Century• Largely a rural population with tenant and serf

conditions• Divine right of rule vs. right of the governed• 2 Major classes – wealthy and poor (aristocracy

and peasants)• 3 Estates – 1.The Clergy 2. The Royalty 3. The

peasants (c. 95 – 97%)• King stood outside Estates – He was the State • Liberality promoted by certain members of the

nobility and rising merchant classes• Commerce gaining as a provider of wealth vs. land

ownership

The 2nd Estate in the Ancien Regime

• The Nobility or Noble Class (aristocracy, wealthy landowners, government workers)

• Approximately 1% of the population• Exempt from most forms of taxation• Received certain privileges (showing Court of

Arms, etc.) to demonstrate superiority and collected taxes from the 3rd estate (with promise of protection)

• Time for Leisure (Play, Music, Thinking)

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Francois Boucher(1703 – 1770)The Toilet of Venus, 1758

Fragonard

Rococo in France

Fragonard, The Swing, 1767

• An intrigue painting• Bishop swings a woman

whose lover hides below• Kicks her shoe at the little

statue of Discretion and toward the lover

• Glowing color• Delicate femininity in tiny

hands and feet and layers of petticoats

Jean Honore Fragonard“The Meeting”1771-73

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Boy Blowing a Bubble, 1739

Jean Baptiste Grueze,

1725 - 1805

The Village Bride 1761

Jean Honore Fragonard1732 -1806A Young Girl Reading, 1776

Women Artists of the Rococo

• Emphasize Enlightenment opinions on Domestic Harmony

• Excelled in formal portraits of aristocratic women

• Accepted with Male Counterparts into the Royal Academie

Adelaide Labille-Guiard

1749 – 1803

Self-Portrait w/ Pupils, 1785

He that loves a rosy cheek,Or a coral lip admires,

Or from star-like eyes doth seek

Fuel to maintain his fires:As old Time makes these

decay,So his flames must waste

away. But a smooth and steadfast

mind,Gentle thoughts, and calm

desires,Hearts with equal love

combined,Kindle never-dying fires:

Where these are not, I despiseLovely cheeks or lips or eyes.

Thomas Carew Elizabeth Vigée-Le Brun

1755 - 1842

Vigée-Lebrun, Self-Portrait, 1782

• 40 exist, all highly idealized• Traditional concept of femininity• Sensuous paint handling and

color harmonies• Elegantly attired working artist• Paints her favorite patron, Marie

Antoinette

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Elizabeth Vigée-Le Brun1755-1842Marie Antoinette and her children, 1787

England

Angelica Kauffman1741-1807

“Cornelia Pointing to her Children as Treasures”1785

Neoclassicism in England

Kauffmann, Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi• Exemplum virtutis• Ancient Roman setting• Good mother painting• Visitor shows Cornelia her jewels, asks to see her own

jewels• Cornelia responds that her children are her jewels• Austere life of a family with children• Jewels momentarily distract one child• Severely simplified costumes

William Hogarth 1697 - 1764

The Marriage Contract 1743-45

Grueze

Hogarth

The Marriage Contract

• Gout ridden Earl Squander marries his son to the daughter of a wealthy London Merchant

• Earl points to Family Tree• Provides money for for the Earl’s crumbling

Palladian House• Buys an aristocratic title for the merchant’s

daughter• Curvilinear Style parodies the fashionable Rococo

style• Garish Interior design betrays lack of taste

Marriage a la Mode 1743 - 45

• Paintings in a narrative series from the Marriage Contract to the Lady’s Death

• Meant to be read sequentially like a play• “Novelistic Structure” which focuses on

Dress, Décor, and Visual Parody to indict characters and satirize their decadence and pretension

The Breakfast Scene or Tete a Tete

18th Century Art in EnglandHogarth, Breakfast Scene from Marriage a

la Mode, 1745• Satire in painting a British specialty• Second scene in a series of six, based on a play• The loveless marriage of a bride and groom shortly

after their wedding• Groom has been out all night with other women (the

dog sniffs at an unfamiliar bonnet)• Broken sword may symbolize a fight, or sexual

inadequacy• Bride has been losing at cards, been playing until noon,

and seems not to care• Accountant holds a ledger and a stack of unpaid bills

and indicates that they have already spent a fortune• Items on mantelpiece illustrate their questionable taste• This is a “Marriage in the Style”• Narrative art

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The disharmony in the union of two separate classes is revealed by the clash of 'high art' (in the form of a Roman bust) and 'low art' (in the form of various cheap trinkets on the mantelpiece.) Likewise, in the adjacent room, paintings of saints are placed in blasphemous proximity to another painting so lascivious it must be concealed by a curtain. (The prints were made by Thomas Cook after William Hogarth from 1796 to 1797)

William Hogarth

1697 – 1764

Creates the “Modern Moral Painting”

Worked with French Engravers to ensure technical virtuosity

Satirizes arranged marriages and fashionable taste, decadence, impiotency of the aristocracy, and crass social striving of the wealthy merchant class

Sir Thomas Lawrence 1769 - 1830Queen Charlotte1789-90

Lady Peel, 1827

•3 Massive Bracelets

•Many rings

•Oversized hat with cascading scarlet feathers

•Fashion Victim?

•Surface Brilliance – the paint

•Painting Influence of Rubens and Rembrandt

Pope Pius VII1819

•Presented as a scholar and patron of the Arts

•Omits the triple papal tiara in deference of English Protestantism

•Transitions of careful detailing to luscious areas of loose paint

Thomas Gainsborough 1727 - 1788

• Associated with Hogarth• One of the King’s favorite painters• One of the Founding members of the Royal

Academy

Mr. and Mrs. Andrews, 1748

18th Century Art in EnglandGainsborough, Mrs. Richard Brinsley

Sheridan• She married the great playwright, Richard

Sheridan, and became manager of his theatre• Serious, but relaxed pose• Dressed informally• Seated in a Watteau landscape• Feathery brushstroke• Hair blows freely• Unspoiled beauty of natural landscape and

the sitter• Gracious forms bend to the curve of the trees• A hint of melancholy in the expression of the

face• Circular pattern of the painting

Mr and Mrs William Hallett ('The Morning Walk')

Sir Joshua Reynolds 1723 - 1792

• First President of the English Royal Academy

• Large Proponent of “Correct” Art and formula

• Incurs the wrath of William Blake

Sir Joshua Reynolds, Lord Heathfield

1787• Commander of the fortress at

Gibraltar• Huge key to fortress in his hands, he

holds it thoughtfully• One cannon points down and another

barrel lies on its back• Heroic figure• Painted using bravura brushwork• Rich colors and atmospheric detail

Sir Joshua Reynolds

Lady Sunderlin

Neoclassicism in EnglandBoyle and Kent, Chiswick House, London• Modeled on the Villa Rotonda• Squat round Palladio-like dome, but octagonal

in shape, with semi-circular windows• Four chimney stacks flank each side, shaped

like obelisks• Palladian decorative balls decorate projecting

wings• Palladio’s statue is on the left• 2 grand staircases• Corinthian columns• Main living quarters on second floor• Rusticated first floor• Pedimented windows• Symmetrical ground plan

Neoclassicism in EnglandWood the Younger, Royal

Crescent, Bath• Single continuous Palladian façade• 30 residences in a semi-circle,

resembles the Colosseum inside-out• March of Ionic columns• English: roofline punctured by chimney

pots• English: excessive length• Main residences on second floor for a

better view• Columns extend between second and

third floors, uniting them• Windows interspersed between columns

The Enlightenment in France

Jacques Louis David

Jaques Louis-David 1748 - 1825, “The Oath of the Horatti” 1784-85

Oath of the Horatti

• Taken from Livy• War between Rome and Alba in 669 BC• One Curatii sister is married to a Horatti

and vice versa (betrothed)• Patriotism and Stoicism• Rigid poses unlike the swirling

compositions of Rococco

Jaques Louis-David 1748 - 1825“Death of Marat”1793

The Terror

• Robespierre proposes and carries out Law of 22 Prairial – tribunal court of condemnation

• Between June 12 and July 28 (when Robespierre is killed) 1, 285 victims are guillotined

French Revolution

• July 14, 1789 – Storming of the Bastille• Jan. 21, 1793 – Louis XVI executed• War declared on France by Austria and most

European Powers• July 13, 1793 – Marat Executed• July 27, 1794 – The Thermidorian Reaction& Robespierre Executed1794 – David Arrested

The Enlightenment in FranceNeoClassicism

Jaques Louis David1748 - 1825

• 4 times tried for Prix de Rome (received it in 1774)

• Studied under Boucher

• Official artist of the revoltution

• Designed all Public Pageants, costumes, celebrations, funerals, etc.

• Decreed the removal of wigs, used woolen jackets and linen shirts

Neoclassicism• 1748 – Excavation begins at Pompeii renewing interest in

classical forms• Publication of The History of Ancient Art by J.J.

Winkelmann in 1764• Distinct turn from Rococo toward clarity of line and color• Sharp transitions of area• Retreat from ambiguity and playfulness• Noble Simplicity and grandeur• Classical costume elevated subjects to universal

significance (generally)

Timeline of the French Revolution

• 1774 – Louis XVI coronation• 1778 – France enters into the

American revolution agianst Canada/England

• 1789 – Estates General Convoked for first time since 1614

• 1789 –Third Estate declares itself the National Assembly

• The Oath of the Tennis Court• First and Second estates join the

Third Estate• Storming of the Bastille

• Paris Mob and Women’s march to Versailles to bring Louis and company back to Paris

• 1790 – Pope Pius condemns the Rights of Man

• Nobility abolished by the National Assembly

• 1791 - Royal family tries to flee and is arrested

• 1792 – Guillotine becomes official execution tool

• Invasion of France by coalition troops

Timeline cont.• 1792 – September massacre of

bishops and priests• Louis brought to trial,

Robespierre declares he must die

• 1793 – Louis executed• Committee of Public safety

established• Assassination of MaratMarie

Antoinette executed• Anti-clerical law passed• 1794 – Revolutionary Tribunal -

The Terror• Robespierre guillotined

• 1795 – Executive Directory takes power

• Rise of Napoleon• 1798 Nelson defeats French

Navy at Egypt, stranding Napoleon

• 1799 – The Consulate is established under the leadership of Napoleon

Lictors Bring To Brutus the Bodies of His Sons

• Had attempted to overthrow the gov’t and restore monarchy

• Father orders their death – Heroic defender of the Republic

• Mother, women in anguish• Brutus brooding, but right• Shown during Voltaire’s play Brutus (1790)

Death of Socrates

• Discussing the immortality of the Soul• Teaching and Philosophizing to the end• Wide dismissed for her weakness• Plato (not actually present when Socrates

dies) is present in the painting

Intervention of the Sabine Women (1794-99)

• Love Prevailing Over Conflict• Brings Him to the Attention of Napoleon• Story – Romans abduct duaghters of the sabines.

Sabines attack Rome. Hersilia (duahgter of Sabine leader Tatius) married to Romulus. Here is Hersilia between Tatius and Romulus.

Napolean

• 1769 Born in Corsica• 1793 Quickly rises to General (24 yrs old)• 1796 Campaigns into Italy against Austrians• 1798 Campaigns into Egypt – Fleet is destroyed

by the English • 1799 Returns, there is a coup, and is elected one of

the Triumverate Consulate• 1800 Gains dictatorial powers (first consul)• 1804 Crowns himself emperor

• 1812 – war with Russia• 1814 – surrenders to Allied Armies, exiled

to Island of Elba• 1815 – returns to France• 1815 – June, Waterloo & second abdication• 1815 – Exiled to St. Helena• 1821 – Dies at age 51

Coronation of Napoleon I and the Empress Josephine on Dec 2. 1804, 1806-1807

David had originally intended to portray the event faithfully, showing Napoleon crowning himself. The Emperor, remembering the quarrels between the Pope and the Holy Roman Empire, placed the crown on his own head to avoid giving a pledge of obedience of the temporal power to the Pontiff. But he evidently felt that it would not be desirable to perpetuate this somewhat disrespectful action in paint; so David painted the coronation of Josephine by Napoleon, with the Pope blessing the Empress.

Grouped round the altar, near Napoleon, are the chief dignitaries — Cambécères, the Lord Chancellor, Marshal Berthier, Grand Veneur, Talleyrand, the Lord Chamberlain, and Lebrun, the Chief Treasurer. Madame de la Rochefoucauld carries the Empress's train; behind her are the Emperor's sisters, and his brothers Louis and Joseph. In front of the central stand are some of the marshals, and in it is Marie Laetitia, Madame Mère (the Emperor's mother), who was in fact not

present at the ceremony.

Neoclassicism in France

David, Coronation of Napoleon• Coronation of Empress Josephine by Napoleon• Veronese style draperies• Cf. Rubens, Marie de’Medici• Figures lost in a disparate busy crowd• Pius I lost in crowd but maintains dignity• Pageantry, opulence• Napoleon asked David to rework actual event for this

painted version

Social Conditions

• Secularization of European Culture• Social Democracy & Scientific progress• Internationalism (global economy)• Art is an open Market• Conscious effort to preserve art and

artifacts

1775 - 1815

• Great Upheavals• American and French Revolutions• Dictatorship of Napolean who attempts to

unify Europe under French Rule

NeoClassicism

• A way of Life affecting religion, dress and attitudes of politics

• Distaste for the refined, manipulative, and enigmatic feminism

• Virtue of moral rectitude associated with physical clarity and social reform

Painting

• Apparent rather than suggestive• No obscurity or ambiguity• Heroic masculinity• Clarity of Line, Polished Finish and isolated

color• Intolerant, righteous and dogmatic

Jean Antoine Houdon

French 1741 - 1828

Napolean, 1806

1781

1788 1784

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Antonio Canova

107

Pauline Borghese as Venus, 1801-08

Neoclassicism in Italy

Canova, Pauline Borghese as Venus

• Napoleon’s sister as Venus• She was known for her scandalous

and notorious behavior• Cold, classically nude• Marble’s sensitivity to chiaroscuro:

soft forms• Possesses Paris’ apple that Venus

won in a contest• Very few people allowed to see this

work, and then only by torchlight• Pose not realistic, compositional

inventiveness

United States of America

Unidentified artist, seventeenth century, Elizabeth Clarke Freake (Mrs. John Freake) and Baby Mary, about 1671 and 1674, oil on canvas, 42 1/2 x 36 3/4 in.

Unidentified artist, seventeenth century, John Freake, about 1671 and 1674, oil on canvas, 42 x 36 3/4 in. (108 x 93.3 cm), Worcester Art Museum,

The Death of General Wolfe 1770

Neoclassicism in the United StatesWest, Death of General Wolfe• Controversy over whether history paintings

should be in classical dress or contemporary clothes

• Influence of the Greek Hellenistic Dying Gaul and Michelangelo’s Pietà

• Three part composition• Tells story of the Battle of Quebec in the

background: ships unloaded in the middle of the night at right, guns pulled ashore in morning in center, battle occurs around 10 am at left

• Wolfe shot three times in the Battle. West shows us a hand wound and a shot in the side

• Indian sets the place as America, none at the battle Ranger in green comes in to

tell West he has won the battle and captured the French flag before he dies

Meticulous handling of paint

The Treaty of Penn with the Indians. 1771-72

John Singleton Copley, 1738-1815 “Watson and the Shark”, 1778

John Singleton Copley

Self portrait 1784

Neoclassicism in the United StatesCopley, Paul Revere• Seen as an artisan at work• Polished table and engraving tools before him• Silver teapot in one hand, he is seen as a man of thought and action• Takes a measure of us with his glance • Holds teapot as a political act: the tax on tea• Seems to ask us where we stand on this issue• Engraving tools and sand cushion on table• The shine of the table and teapot offers highly reflective surfaces

John Singleton Copley 1738 - 1815Nicholas Boylston1767

Charles Wilson Peale

1741 - 1827

Neoclassicism in the United States

Jefferson, Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia

• Roman Doric style• French doors• Appears as though it were one story

with a dome, but actually two• Balustrade masks second floor, in

the French style• Octagonal dome• Studied Palladio• Visited Roman ruins in southern

France• Columns made of brick, covered in

stucco• Symmetrical ground plan