Transcript Chapter 28
Chapter 28
Encountering the Enlightenment: Philosophy, Science & Society
• •
Artistic developments in the 17th century
Baroque – Grandiose scale – Dramatic theatricality – Elaborate ornateness Art of absolute monarchs – Louis XIV – Charles I • • • Rococo – Court style – Graceful, delicate – Emphasis on lightness and curvilinear forms Reaction against Baroque art of Louis XIV Began in France, popular in Germany
Beginnings and Endings:co existent artistic styles
• Artistic movements do not “begin” and “end” on specific dates • Renaissance style continues into 16th century in parts of Europe, especially England.
• Mannerism does not eliminate Renaissance art.
• Baroque art does not end with the introduction of Rococo.
• The “Enlightenment” does not end the Rococo.
• Older styles continue to be popular long after the introduction of a new style.
• Some styles compete during the same time period -e.g.
classicism vs. romanticism in the early 19th century.
What happened in the 17th century?
• Increase in scientific investigation.
• Establishment of ideas about individual rights and responsibilities.
• Autocratic monarchs and governments criticized by writers and theorists.
• Rise of social philosophical investigation into how humans learn, reason, act, and believe.
Changes in Ideas
• Medieval and Renaissance thought relied on belief in an all-powerful designing and controlling deity.
• All aspects of life were controlled by God, angels, saints, and demons • Explanations for events centred on divine will.
• The “Enlightenment” sought empirical explanations for events.
• Individual actions or natural causes (not related to God), were seen to shape the world.
• Scientific investigation eliminated much belief in spirits, demons, angels, etc.
John Locke (1632-1704)
• Empiricism –the experience of the senses in pursuit of knowledge rather than intuitive speculation or deduction.
• Mind at birth is a equal.
tabula rasa
, a blank slate upon which experience imprints knowledge.
• Revolution was a right, often an obligation, in the face of tyranny. All persons are born good, independent, and • Attacked the theory of divine right of kings. Natural right of individuals to life, liberty and property.
• Duty of the government to protect these rights. Believed in the rule of the majority.
Individual rights: some people are more equal than others
• Locke’s ideas of rights belonged to men, not to women.
• Locke’s ideas did not apply to non-Europeans (such as Native Americans or Black slaves).
• Locke’s ideas did not apply to Catholics.
• Locke’s ideas helped to fuel the American and French Revolutions.
• Locke’s ideas contradicted Christian (both Protestant and Catholic) dogma -no original sin.
Other important Enlightenment figures
• Voltaire (1694-1778): attacked the power and corruption of monarchs and church leaders.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778): author of
The Social Contract
and
Emile
, influences constitutions and education.
• Denis Diderot (1713- 1784): creator of the
Encyclopaedia
.
Knowledge and reason are the basis for progress.
• Adam Smith (1723-1790): Author of
The Wealth of Nations
, inspires modern liberalism and free-market capitalism.
• Thomas Paine (1723- 1809): author of
The Rights of Man.
Mary Wollstonecraft, 1759-1797
• Author of
A Vindication of the Rights of Women
(1792).
• Friend of William Blake, Henry Fuseli, and Thomas Paine.
• First feminist author and thinker of the 18th century.
• Obvious debts to Locke and Paine – she went one step further in advocating equal rights for women under the law (equality of education and opportunity).
Individual Rights
• Individual rights for men advocated by Locke in 17th century.
• Individual rights for women advocated by Wollstonecraft in 18th century.
• Revolution for rights in America 1776-1785.
• Revolution for rights in France 1789-1796.
• In the end, only free, white men got the rights they sought.
• Ideas about world, rights, and God did not change overnight!
The shift from theocratic to empirical reasoning
• Medieval & Renaissance society was
theocratic or
God based.
• Locke’s ideas advocated
empirical
knowledge of the world • The 1700s saw the rise of
experimental science
based on hypothesis, test and verification.
• Myth, superstition and tradition were not changed their ways of thinking.
neoclassicism
and in
romanticism –
eliminated
, but the middle classes and some members of the aristocracy • These changes are reflected in the art of the time - both in in radically different ways.
28-1 Houdon,
Bust of Voltaire
• Marble, life-size portrait of Voltaire in old age.
• Sense of “realism.” • Link to ancient Roman works-the portrait bust.
• Voltaire worked tirelessly against the “
ancien régime”
in France.
• One of several busts and sculptures of Voltaire by Houdon, who also sculpted a bust of Benjamin Franklin.
28-3 Joseph Wright of Derby (1763-65) P
hilosopher giving a lecture at the Orrery
• • Orrery – a mechanical device used to demonstrate the workings of the solar system with a lamp as the sun.
Dramatic lighting - invests science with intensity of Baroque religious or historical painting.
28-4 Coalbrookdale Bridge
• Built 1776-1779 by Abraham Darby III and Thomas F. Pritchard.
• First iron bridge, but it is built using wood-working techniques.
• Its cast iron armature creates an arch over the Severn River.
Coalbrookdale
28-5 Antonio Canaletto
Basin of San Marco from San Giorgio Maggiore
• Represents Venice, 1740 • Views of the city were popular as souvenirs • No mass-produced prints yet, so cityscapes and landscapes became popular for tourists – a new phenomenon of the era.
28-6 Greuze
The Village Bride
1761
• Peasants romanticized as pure and good.
• Rise in popularity of the “roman” (novel) spurs sentimental subject matter
28-7 Chardin
Grace at Table
(1740)
• Chardin-same generation as Watteau.
• Investigated the “poetry of the commonplace” • Related to Voltaire’s ideas about the innate goodness and piety of the poor • Marks the establishment of
tropes
or standard characters and themes.
28 8 Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun
Self Portrait
1790
• Most famous for portraits of Marie-Antoinette and her children.
• Portrays herself here in post-revolutionary clothing, simpler and more humble.
• Self-portrait represents the virtuosity of this artist, shows many brushes and her palette.
• She was a member of the
Académie Française.
28-9 William Hogarth
Marriage à la Mode
• Satirist of 18th century society in England, who used cartoon-like images.
• Critique here of marriage.
• Obvious reference to • current ideas – e.g.
the decadence of the aristocracy.
William Hogarth (1697-1764)
•
Gin Lane
and
Beer Street
Etching and Engraving
,
1751.
28-10 Gainsborough
Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan
• The wife of a famous playwright of the Restoration.
• Set in a landscape similar to those used by Watteau.
• Note the simplicity of her dress, hair, pose, etc.
• She represents the “good” woman, the loyal wife.
28-12 Benjamin West
The Death of General Wolfe
• Painted 1771, 12 years after the event in which the defeat of the French in 1759 transfers Canada to Britain.
• The hero’s death in guise of classical painting of death of Caesar.
• Wolfe died in battle, but not so cleanly or heroically as this image represents.
28-13 John Singleton Copley
Portrait of Paul
Revere (1768-1770) • Interest in depicting the skilled working man, validation of individual effort.
• Emphasis on eyes, thoughtfulness.
• Note the reflection in table top, also in teapot.
28-14 Angelica Kauffmann
Cornelia Presenting Her Children As Her Treasures
(1785) • Kauffmann was a founding member of the British Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
• The
Neoclassical
style.
• Moral and civic purpose: women as mothers serve state as makers and trainers of future leaders.
Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825)
•
Neoclassical
style: the “new classicism” that emphasized ancient texts, events, subject matter for paining.
• Studied in Rome.
• Rejected Rococo “artificiality.” • He first allied himself with the French Revolution (1789-1798), but later became court painter for Napoleon Bonaparte.
• Very effective propagandist in his art.
Jacques-Louis David
Oath of the Horatii
(1784)
• Stage setting • Story of conflict and sacrifice • Note the triangular composition • Based on
mythic
binary oppositions: –men and women, –strong and weak, –active and passive
28-16 David,
The Tennis Court Oath
1791
• • Records an event during the French Revolution (1789-1796), establishment of the National Assembly. (Jefferson watches it from the balcony) Study for larger work not completed because of instability of government.
28-17 David,
Death of Marat
1793
• Marat was a leader in the Revolution • Assassinated by Charlotte Corday in 1793.
• Part of propaganda campaign of
Jacobin
party (David was a member of the Jacobins) against those opposed to Revolution.
28-18 David,
The Coronation of Napoleon
28-18 David,
The Coronation of Napoleon
• Painted 1805-1808, following the event in 1804.
• David had been imprisoned for his political alliances.
• After his release, David became the • first painter of the Empire under Bonaparte, who seized power after the fall of the Jacobin party • Napoleon saw himself as a new Charlemagne.
28 19 The Panthéon, Paris (1755 1792)
• Also known as the Church of Sainte Geneviève.
• Architect: Soufflot.
• Begun 1 under Louis XVI; completed during the French Revolution.
• Inspired by Roman ruins in Syria.
• Dome recalls that of St.
Peter’s, Rome; façade mimics Pantheon in Rome.
28-21 Antonio Canova
Pauline Borghese as Venus (
Completed • Villa Borghese, Rome.
• Practically unknown to public, kept in private apartments of Pauline’s husband • Depiction of her as “Venus” was a scandal; however, the goddess of Love was how Pauline saw herself.
• Note how the fabric of the couch stretches with her body weight.
1808)
Excavation of Herculaneum and Pompeii
• Begun 1748, reveals two ancient Roman cities buried by eruption of Mount Vesuvius, 79 CE.
• Preservation of intact painting, sculpture, architecture leads to romanticisation of ancient Rome • Publication of books of engravings and drawings showing ruins.
• Inspiration for painters from buildings and frescoes on walls • Inspiration for sculpture, furniture, silver, pottery and interior design.
• Export of ancient treasures to Britain and France.
• Starts a mania for all things reek or Roman!
28-26 Thomas Jefferson,
Monticello
• Made of brick and wood, designed by Jefferson after his return from France and completed in 1806.
• Jefferson read all of • Palladio; visited Romantemple Maison Carrée, in Nîmes, France.
• His home has some affinity with Palladio’s Villa Rotunda (22-56).
28-28 Horatio Greenough,
George Washington
,1832-1841
• Completed long after the death of Washington.
• Neoclassical style; imitation of Zeus by Phidias.
• This was a controversial depiction; seen by many as “over the top” at the time.
• Suggested fate: throwing it in the Potomac.
• Collision of Ideology and Reality.
Neoclassicism and Romanticism
Neoclassicism
• Reliance on ancient models.
• Importance of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
• Emphasis on history painting, especially ancient history.
• Fueled by Englightenment interest in rationalism.
Romanticism.
•Rejection of “reason” in favour of emotion •Age of Sensibility 1750 1780 started trend toward interest in emotion rather than intellect •Re-awakening interest in Middle Ages and Gothic art and architecture “Gothic revival.”
Neoclassicism and Romanticism
Neoclassicism
• Reason • Intellect • Rationality • Calculation of courtly societies • Objectivity • Ancient Greece and Rome
Romanticism.
•Passion •Emotion •Sensibility •Natural Human sympathy •Subjectivity and Intuition •Middle Ages and Gothic
28-29 Antoine-Jean Gros
Napoleon in Pesthouse at Jaffa
1804 • Stylistically different from David!
• Romanticism not Neoclassicism!
• Fascination with the Near East • Napoleon’s attempt at damage control after trying to kill all disease-stricken French soldiers.
28-30 Girodet-Trioson
Burial of Atala,
1808
• Based on a novel by Chateaubriand.
• Views of Native American life - the noble savage.
• Influence of Christianity.
• • Tragic love.
Romanticism.
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
• 1780-1867 • Studied in David’s studio • Rejected David’s style, believing he was closer to a true Greek style of painting, one that was purer than David’s.
• Adapted the flatness and linearity found in Greek vase painting to painting in oils.
• He was a master of the controlled line, precise definition of shapes and forms.
28-32 Ingres,
Grande Odalisque
• Neoclassical ideal: Combination of exotic, erotic and classical Orientalism in full force.
• This painting was completed in 1814- holds no hint of Napoleonic Wars.
28-33 Ingres,
Sketch of Paganini
• Virtuoso violinist • Line is key • Strong outline createssense of stability • Accurate rendering of the features of the violinist
Two Sketches of Paganini
• Left: Ingres, Neoclassical; Right: Delacroix, Romantic
28-35 Henry Fuseli,
The Nightmare
1781
• Fuseli was a Swiss artist who worked in England.
• Member of Royal Academy of Art (founded 1768).
• Illustrates the Romantic attitude toward night, sex, and myth.
28-36 William Blake,
Ancient of Days,
1794
• Hand-coloured etching.
• Blake believed he was inspired by visions of spirits sent by God.
• Representation of God the Father.
• Imposition of architecture/ geometry on the world.
• Note the depiction of energy/force in the swirling colours used by Blake.
28-38 Francisco Goya
The Family of Charles IV
• Contemporary of David who rejected rational Neoclassicism in favour of an appeal to emotion.
• Portrait of the Spanish Royal Family.
• Inspired by Velazquez but far less flattering; they appear satirized as a collection of halfwits, adulterers and authoritarian rulers.
28-39 Goya,
The Third of May 1808,
1814
• Napoleon invaded Spain and Portugal, aided by Ferdinand VII, son of Charles IV.
• Goya shows the result of resistance to Napoleon’s forces, the massacre of Spanish citizens, both rebels and the innocent.
28 41 Géricault Raft of the Medusa 1818-1819
28-44 Delacroix,
The Death of Sardanapalus,
1826
• Orientalism • Narrative: story of ancient King who ordered all of his “possessions” destroyed after loss in battle.
• He set fire to his palace and went up in flames with it • Delacroix depicts the despotism and cruelty of the “orient,” not its exotic beauty.
20-45 Delacroix,
Liberty Leading the People
• Set in Revolution of 1830; painted almost immediately after the event.
• Allegorical: the woman represents liberty; the boy, the working class poor; the top hatted man on students/middle classes.
• Dead and dying in front.
28-49 Caspar David Friedrich
Cloister Graveyard in the Snow,
1810 • German landscape - a Romantic view of Gothic ruins (c.f.
Wordworth’s
Tintern Abbey
) • Monks in foreground • Unification of nature with emotion • Transcendence of landscape; depicts the picturesque/sublime reflects Kant’s aesthetics.
28-50 John Constable,
The Haywain,
1821
• Industrial Revolution in England changed landscape.
• Traditional farming lifestyle became mythologized by painters and poets (e.g.
Shelley) • Elimination of small scale farms and farmers by commercial farming; they move to the new factory cities.
28-51 J.M.W. Turner,
The Slave Ship,
1840
• Abolitionist sentiment is growing worldwide.
• Stories of atrocities circulate in Europe • Slave ship captain throws dead and dying “cargo” overboard • Based on historical event.
The Hudson River School
• Begun by Thomas Cole about 1825.
• Artists sought to depict uniquely American subject matter.
• Dramatic landscape was what America had to offer.
• Landscapes were largely from New England and the Hudson River Valley.
• Panoramic landscapes combined with moral messages from contemporary literature.
• “Second generation” of HRS artists traveled to the American west and to South America to search for untainted, pure landscapes as America was getting too crowded.
28-52 Thomas Cole,
The Oxbow,
1836
• Combination of nature and humanity: artist is miniscule in the landscape.
• Focus on the picturesque valorizes landscape, nature, visions of the divine in the natural world • Influence of English and German Romanticism.
28-53 Albert Bierstadt 1868
Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California
• Views of the romanticized western frontier.
• Purity of nature.
• Divine light diffuses from the heavens.] • Manifest Destiny.
• No humans, no war.
• Irony: he got there by railway!
28:54 Frederic Edwin Church
Twilight in the Wilderness
1860s
• • • • Romantic view of the landscape - wide-angle lens Church sought “pure” unaltered land.
Elimination of conflict from work —no war.
Coincides with Darwin’s
Origin of Species
.
28-55 Winslow Homer
Veteran in the New Field,
1865
• • • • Subtle references to Civil War “Veteran” returns to idyllic farming scene Death present in use of single blade scythe (“grim reaper” figure) Intersection of human with landscape is peaceful.
28-60 The Crystal Palace, London
• • • • Designed by Joseph Paxton, 1850-1851 Intended as main building of the Great Exhibition of 1851 English Imperial power is at its apex Shows to the world the superiority of English industry, design, commerce, and technology.
Photography: Writing with Light
• First photograph produced 1827—continues to be exposed and darkens to obscurity.
• Photographic process required two elements: – Use of chemical to create image on paper – Use of fixative to prevent image from continuing to develop • 1839 Daguerre discovers how to “fix” an image (stop the action of the light) -his work called the
daguerreotype.
• 1835 Talbot produces
calotype
with a negative, allowing picture to be produced more than once – His process not refined until 1844 but proved the more economical and lasting of the two.
28-61 Draped Nude
• Photographer Durieu and the artist Delacroix worked to create photographic art • What is the logical subject matter of photography? The same as art!
• Draped nude, classical subject matter
28-62 Daguerre, Still Life in Studio, 1837 • One of the earliest dageurreotypes.
• Daguerre patented his process.
• Nature seen as reproduced in “truthful” way.
28-64 Nadar, portrait of Delacroix,
c
. 1855 • Modern print from original negative.
• Pose: he hides his hands.
• Conveys strength, upper class pretensions • Wet plate technology required more effort, but yielded more intense effects.
28 65 O’Sullivan,
Harvest of Death, Gettysburg
• Photography from U.S.
Civil War not “the first war in photographs” as often claimed (Crimean War, 1854 was).
• Prints made on the spot.
• Apparent reportage -as if you are there • Important to remember photography could be and was- staged