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• Hogarth is working in England, • Unlike the French who sought to proclaim the goodness in the working middle and lower
classes, Hogarth sa=rized of a newly prosperous middles class with zest • This was an age of sa=rical wri=ng in England and he sought to translate these sa=re visual. • His subject maFer is moral in tone. His favorite device was to paint a narra=ve series, like
chapters in a book. His pain(ngs follow the same characters as they encounter some sort of social evil.
Analysis • One of six pain=ngs that sa=rizes the marital immorali=es of the moneyed English classes • The story follows a middle class woman who father marries her to a viscount for a large sum of
money. She gets a =tle and he gets a fortune • The marriage soon falls to infideli=es and other social corrup=ons • Here the marriage is just beginning to decay
• The are both =ered aKer a long night spent in separate pursuits • The wife stayed at home playing cards and music-‐making, the husband has been out
of the house on suspicious business – the dog sniffs a a lacy cap in his pocket • The steward on the leK has his hands full of unpaid bills, and raises his eyes in despair • The house is in disarray • In the back room hang a series of religious pain=ngs but the final one is curtained –
alluding to the fact that it is an ero=c pain=ng – hidden from female gaze but easily viewed by the master of the house with a pull of the cord
• Purpose: exposing the corrup(on of upper classes. Poin(ng out the ills of society that the Enlightenment figures frowned upon
• Was published as a series of etchings that could be easily bought.
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• Heroism: honor, valor and love of country became a virtue celebrated in English Naturalist pain=ngs
• The Enlightenment concept of NOBILITY, according to Rousseau, referred to a kind of character, not to aristocra(c birth
• As the century progressed and revolu=ons neared the virtues of courage, and self sacrifice assumed greater importance. The modern-‐military hero, who rises from humble beginnings became an ideal of aKrac(ve virtue – someone willing to fight for mankind and society
• Joshua Reynolds painter Grand Manner portraits – which depict key par=cipants in important events. The virtue of these individuals are shown in their refined and elegant posture, their controlled pose, their large size on the canvas, and a landscape seVng with a low horizon seVng which produces a feeling of triumph
• Heathcliff was an English officer who defended the Bri=sh Fortress of Glbraltar from the Spanish and French
• Here he holds the key to the fortress, a symbol of victory • Behind him is one canon and a curtain of smoke rises from the baFleground reminding us
of his heroism, courage and sacrifice • The rendering of his face and uniform is not idealized but honest – conveying his honest
character. Yet his posture is upright and heroic, as is the seVng
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• Although born in Philadelphia, West worked in England before and during the American Revolu=on • In this pain=ng West is promo=ng the heroism of a young English commander who is mortally
wounded in baFle, having risked his life to fight for his country in baFle for Quebec against the French in 1759 – this baFle gave Canada to the Bri=sh
• The subject is a history pain(ng but is is recent history and so the characters are dressed realis=cally in modern clothing
• Generally, history pain=ngs were reserved for narra=ves from the Bible or stories from the classical past. Instead, however, West depicted a near-‐contemporary event
• He was urged by his patrons to paint the figures wearing togas. West refused, wri=ng, “the same truth that guides the pen of the historian should govern the pencil [paintbrush] of the ar=st.”
• Yet West took ar=s=c license in crea=ng a drama=c composi=on, from the theatrical clouds to the messenger approaching on the leK side of the pain=ng to announce the Bri=sh victory over the Marquis de Montcalm and his French army in this decisive baFle.
• He has further forgone the in favor of the the grand tradi=on of history pain=ng by arranging the figures in a highly unnatural, complex and theatrical composi=on
• The modern hero dies among grieving officers on the field in a way that suggests the death of a saint. The composi(on is derived from pain(ngs of the Lamenta(on of Christ
• The flag is posi(oned like the cross. His body is limp and swaying like Christ’s • The two figures at either side recall Mary and John while the surrounding figure recall
the apostles – all together there are 12 men grieving • Thus the virtuous young hero is made even more virtuous by this composi(onal arrangement. If
Christ was innocent, pure, and died for a worthwhile cause—that is, the salva(on of mankind—then Wolfe too was innocent, pure, and died for a worthwhile cause; the advancement of the Bri(sh posi(on in North America. Indeed, West transforms Wolfe from a simple war hero to a deified martyr for the Bri(sh cause.
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• Studied portraiture in England then returned to America • This portrait of Paul Revere was painted prior to the revolu=ons and depicts him
as a silversmith, at his table with his tools • The portrait is direct, honest and plain – which defined American art at this =me • Revere looks right at the viewer with an honest gaze • He wares his shirtsleeves – he is not dressed up • Although he is posed it is relaxed and casual, no s=ff and upright. He is bent over a
teapot in progress • The detail of the portraiture, and the siFer’s demeanor reflect Revere’s down-‐to-‐
earth character that would have been considered a virtue during the enlightenment
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• For the well-‐to-‐do middle class, especially in England, it became fashionable to take an educa=onal tour of Europe, especially Italy – to become versed in the classical past
• With advances in technology travel became much easier and popular • The traveling public sought “natural” depic=ons of landscapes as mementos • These landscapes also served the needs of many scien=fic expedi=ons • CanleFo was one of the most prominent landscape painters – specializing in Italian
landscapes • He used the camera obscura to render images that look like they have captured
every detail – yet there are highly edited to give the perfect, eye pleasing souvenir • He was also a master of Renaissance perspec=ve • THE GRAND TOUR SPURS A NEW INTEREST IN ANTIQUITY WHICH INFLUENCES
NEOCLASSICISM
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Jacques-‐Louis David • David was raised in the wealthy and powerful family of his uncle, a minister to the King of France. The young David was at
first trained in the studio of the great Rococo master François Boucher, a distant rela=ve. He then Studies An=quity and the Renaissance in Rome aKer winning a prize in an art contest
• What emerged in David's pain=ng was a sharp rejec=on of the Rococo style. Gone is the fluid brushwork, soK color, and the amorphous organic composi=ons of Boucher and Fragonard. Of equal import was the shiK in subject. He concurred with the Enlightenment belief that the subject of an artwork should have a moral. A supporter of the Rebels in the French revolu(on, he saw that pain(ngs of noble deeds in the past could inspire virtue in the present – i.e. a moral purpose for history pain(ng
Story and Analysis • Most Neo-‐Classical pain=ngs take their subjects from Ancient Greek and Roman history and the Oath of the Hora+i is no
excep=on. • David tells the story of three brothers that make an oath to their father that they will die in the defense of their city (this is a
legend about the founding of Rome) • In this pain=ng the three Hora=i brothers have been chosen to represent the city of Rome in a baFle against three brothers
from the neighboring city of Alba – the Curia(i • Here, the three Hora=i brothers are swearing an oath on their swords which their father presents to them to fight un=l they
die for their country • Here's the catch: one of the Hora=i sisters (pictured on the right) is married to one of the men on the other side (the
Curia=i). And the wife of the youngest brother is the sister of one of the Curia=i • When one of the Hora=i brothers returns home from the baFle—the only one surviving—his sister greets him with
condemna=on for killing her husband and the father of her children. Because she puts herself and her family before the good of her country, her brother kills her. The idea here is that one must be willing to sacrifice—even sacrifice one's life and family members—for the state.
• The ac=on unfolds in a shallow space like a stage seVng – defined my the severe classical architecture and geometric percision
• The figures of the men are hard, statuesque and clear in their courageous ac=on. They contrast with with the soK, curving forms of the women, we to patriho represent the emo=ons ascribed with femininity at this lime – sorrow, love, despair (all considered weak)
• Although originally painted for the King because he won the trip to Rome, the pain(ng roused it’s audience to a patrio(c zeal against the monarchy, making the neoclassical style that unofficial style of the French Revolu(on
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• When the French Revolu=on broke out David backed the Jacobins, a radical and militant revolu=onary fac=on that sought to take down the monarchy in favor of a centralized Republic
• He became the minister of propaganda and organized poli=cal pageant, ceremonies with floats, costumes and sculptural props
• He believed art could play an important part in educa(ng the public, and that drama(c pain(ngs emphasizing patrio(sm and civic virtue would rally the people
• Rather than con=nuing to create artworks with scenes from an=quity he know focuses on current events
Analysis • The pain=ng commemorate the assassina=on of Jean-‐Paul Marat, and influen=al revolu=onary
writer and friend of David • It depicts him in the bath as a martyr for the cause, aKer he has been stabbed to death by
CharloFe Corday, a member of a rival poli=cal fac=on • The murder scene is presented with directness and clarity • All of the narra=ve details of the event are placed in the foreground – the knife, the wound,
the blood, and the leFer with which Corday gained entrance to the room • The space is cold a neutral focusing all aFen=on onto the figure of Marat slumped in the
bathtub • This sharpens the sense of pain and outrage against the enemy • Thus David has masterly depicted Marat as a tragic martyr who died in service to the
revolu(on • Marat’s figure is based on Christ’s figure in Michelangelo’s Pieta – thus the pain(ng can be
scene as an altar piece to the new civic “religion,” inspiring the people to follow their saintly leader in revolu(on
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