Diploma Lecture Series 2012 Absolutism to enlightenment: European art and culture 1665-1765

The shrinking planet

Richard Beresford

1 / 2 February 2012 Lecture summary: Historians of the 18th century often speak of a ‘short 18th century’ and a ‘long 18th century’. The first runs from the death of Louis XIV in 1715 to the outbreak of the French revolution in 1789 and is useful for those focussing on the French 18th century. The ‘long 18th century’ is normally taken to begin with the restoration of the English monarchy in 1660 and may run as far as 1830. Our lecture series looks at the first half of this longer period and encompasses a phenomenon sometimes known as the Early Enlightenment, or alternatively as the First Enlightenment. What is the Enlightenment? When the great German philosopher Immanuel Kant addressed this question in 1783, he made a nice distinction: although he lived in an age of enlightenment, it was still not an enlightened age. In other words enlightenment is not necessarily a period with a beginning and an end. It can also be thought of as an underlying current in the flow of human civilisation, it’s course running through a changing landscape. Enlightenment (as opposed to The Enlightenment) meant for Kant simply the freedom, courage and determination to think for oneself. The Early Enlightenment is one the great periods of independent thinkers. This is the age during which, in Western Europe, modern scientific method instigated most of the technological advances which define our modern world. But, although this rationalism is the defining characteristic of the age, it does not necessarily express itself in noticeably ‘rational’ styles of art. In trying to understand the Art of the enlightenment as a product of the Spirit of the enlightenment, we must look for linkages of an indirect kind. One outcome of the scientific revolution which profoundly affects the life and art of the period is the phenomenon we now call globalisation. For the first lecture in our series it seems appropriate to take a step back from planet earth and to explore the pattern and flavour of this new globalism. Slide list:

1. Nicolas Poussin, A Dance to the Music of Time, c 1635, Wallace Collection, London 2. Joseph Wright of Derby, A philosopher lecturing on the orrery, c 1766, Derby Museum 3. Frontispiece to the first edition of Novum Organum by Francis Bacon, London, 1620 4. Robert Guillaume Dardel, René Descartes, c 1782, Wallace Collection 5. Pierre Lombart after Anthony Van Dyck, Oliver Cromwell on horseback, after 1655 6. John Baptist Gaspars, Portrait of Charles II, c 1670, Christ's Hospital, Horsham 7. Hyacinthe Rigaud, Portrait of Louis XIV, 1701, Louvre 8. Frontispiece to Voltaire’s Elémens de la Philosophie de Neuton, 1738 9. Sebastien Le Clerc, Louis XIV and Colbert visiting the académie des sciences, 1671 10. Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London 11. World map from Claudius Ptolemy, Cosmographia, Ulm, 1482 12. Hendrik Hondius, world map from Atlantis maioris appendix, 1631, State Library of NSW 13. Willem van de Velde the younger, The battle of Texel, 1673, Rijksmuseum 14. Jan Vermeer, The geographer, Städelasches Kunstinstut, Frankfurt, 1668-69 15. Jacques-Philippe de Loutherbourg, Shipwreck off a rocky coast, 1760s, AGNSW 16. Antoine Watteau, Embarkation for/from Cythera, 1717, Louvre 17. John Harrison's first marine chronometer (H1), 1736, National Maritime Museum, London

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18. P L Tassaert after Thomas King, Portrait of John Harrison, mezzotint, 1768 19. Bakhuysen, Dock of the Dutch East India Company, 1696, Amsterdams Historisch Museum 20. Chinese porcelain punch bowl showing wharf at Canton, 1786/88, National Trust 21. Cerro Rico, Potosí, Bolivia 22. Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Peasant Boys playing dice, c 1670, Alte Pinakothek, Munich 23. José de Ibarra, Baby Jesus with canons of Puebla Cathedral, 1st half 18th c, Puebla Cathedral 24. Monastery of San Francisco, Lima, Peru, 1673-1774 25. Anon, Christ Child with Imperial Inca crown, Peru, 18th century, private collection 26. Canaletto, The Piazza San Marco, Venice, c 1742-46, AGNSW 27. J Chapman and PJ de Loutherbourg, The Royal Exchange, London, 1777, British Museum 28. William Hogarth, The south sea scheme, engraving, 1720 29. Chinese porcelain salvaged from the BinThuan shipwreck, c 1608 30. Porcelain cabinet, Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin, c 1705 31. Plate from Johan Nieuhof, Embassy from the East India Company …, Amsterdam, 1666 32. Louis Le Vau, The Trianon de porcelaine, Versailles, 1670-71, destroyed 1687 (reconstruction) 33. Teapot, Meissen, c 1720-25, gilding applied in Augsburg c 1725-30, Kenneth Reed collection 34. Tea caddy, Meissen, c 1725-30, Kenneth Reed collection 35. Ollio pot, Vienna (Du Paquier), c 1735, Kenneth Reed collection 36. Johann Georg Platzer, The sculptor’s studio, c 1730, AGNSW 37. Balthasar Neumann, Vierzehnheiligen (Baslica of the 14 holy helpers), near Bamberg, 1743-72 38. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Allegory of the planets and continents, 1752, Metropolitan Museum 39. François de Troy, The astronomy lesson of the duchesse du Maine, c 1700-05, Musée de Sceaux 40. Maurice Quentin La Tour, Mlle Ferrand meditating on Newton, 1753, Alte Pinokothek, Munich 41. Bernard Picart, Tableau des principales religions du monde, 1741 42. François Boucher, The Chinese wedding, 1742, Besançon 43. Sir William Chambers, Chinese Pagoda, Kew Gardens, 1756 44. Garden of Stourhead, Wiltshire, 1741-80 45. Soup plate with the arms of Admiral Anson, Chinese export porcelain, 1743-47, British Museum 46. Teapot, Chinese export porcelain, c 1760, Victoria and Albert Museum 47. Chardin, A Lady taking tea, 1735, Hunterian, University of Glasgow 48. Tea service (déjeuner triangle corbeille à jour), Sèvres porcelain, 1762, Kenneth Reed collection 49. François-Hubert Drouais, Le comte de Vaudreuil, 1758, National Gallery, London 50. Hyacinthe Rigaud, Portrait of a young black servant, c 1710, Musée de Dunkerque 51. Sugar sculpture from moulds which belonged to the Royal House of Savoie, c 1820 52. Notice advertising sugar basins, late 18th century, Hull Museums 53. Glass sugar bowl lettered ‘East India sugar - Not made by slaves’, pobably Bristol, c 1820-30 54. Cacao plant, illustration from Sloane’s, Voyage to Jamaica, London 1707-25 55. Tea bowl and saucer, Chelsea porcelain, c 1755, Kenneth Reed collection 56. Interior of a London Coffee-house, 1690s, British Museum 57. Charles Jervas, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, after 1716, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin 58. Jean-Marc Nattier, Mlle de Clermont en sultane, 1733, Wallace Collection, London 59. Casket, Vincennes porcelain, 1754, Wallace Collection, London 60. Jean-Etienne Liotard, Woman in Turkish dress, 1752-54, Rjksmuseum, Amsterdam 61. Johann Heinrich Lips (attributed), print after a silhouette of Voltaire by Jean Hubert 62. A-J Oppendordt (attributed), Knee-hole writing table, c 1710, Wallace Collection, London 63. Antoine-Robert Gaudreaus, Chest-of-drawers, 1735-40, Wallace Collection, London 64. Nicolas-Jean Marchand, Chest-of-drawers, 1755, Wallace Collection, London 65. Cabinet of the Empress Maria Theresa, Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, 1760s 66. Japanese Cabinet, Bayreuth Hermitage, c 1748 67. Tureen with Kakiemon-style ‘yellow tiger’ pattern, Meissen, c 1730-40, Reed collection 68. Octagonal platter with Imari-style decoration, Meissen, c 1740, Schloss Lustheim, Munich 69. Robe ‘à l'anglaise’, 1780s, made from Indian chintz dating from the 1740s, Kyoto Costume Institute 70. François-Hubert Drouais, Mme de Pompadour, 1763-64, National Gallery, London 71. Fish incarnation of Vishnu, illustrated by Philippus Baldaeus, 1672 72. Joachim Melchior Dinglinger, Moghul court, c 1710, Green vault, Dresden 73. Pietro Longhi, Clara the Rhinoceros in Venice, 1751, Ca' Rezzonico, Venice 74. James Cox(?), Rhinoceros automaton, London, c 1780, Palace Museum, Forbidden City, Beijing 75. Plate from G Edwards, A Natural History of Uncommon Birds, London, 1747 76. Black and white Chinese cock pheasant, Chelsea porcelain, c 1750-52, Ken Reed collection 77. Melchior Hondecoeter, Birds in a park, c 1680, Rijksmuseum 78. Jan van Huysum, Flowers in a terracotta vase, 1736-37, National Gallery, London 79. Louis-Michel van Loo, Denis Diderot, 1767, Louvre 80. Joshua Reynolds, Samuel Johnson, c 1772-78, Tate 81. Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing, 1767, Wallace Collection 82. Boulton and Watt, Steam engine from Whitbread’s London brewery, 1785, Powerhouse Museum 83. British Museum, established 1753, first opened to the public 1759

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Joseph Wright of Derby, A philosopher lecturing on the orrery, c 1766, Derby Museum

Jacques-Philippe de Loutherbourg, Shipwreck off a rocky coast, 1760s, AGNSW

Maurice Quentin La Tour, Mlle Ferrand meditating on Newton, 1753, Alte Pinokothek, Munich

Jean-Marc Nattier, Mlle de Clermont en sultane, 1733, Wallace Collection, London

Black and white Chinese cock pheasant, Chelsea porcelain, c 1750-52, Ken Reed collection

Louis-Michel van Loo, Denis Diderot, 1767, Louvre

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