Chapter Sixteen
The Eighteen Century:
From Rococo to Revolution
Age of Diversity
Unqualified optimism, extreme discontent
Trust in science and human reason
Conscious engagement with social issues
Revolutionaries and conservatives
Enlightened despots
 Welfare of citizenry
 Duty and responsibility
Above: David’s “Oath of the Horatii”
Right: Gainsborough’s “Haymaker
And Sleeping Girl”
The Rococo
fantasy life of the last
European aristocrats
The Visual Arts in the Eighteenth Century
The Rococo Style
Escapism, anti-baroque
 Frivolity, lightheartedness
 Art as entertainment for aristocracy
 Eroticism, voluptuous beauty (a la Rubens)
Jean Antoine Watteau (1684-1721)
 Fetes galantes
 Return from Cythera (1717)
Watteau, Return from Cythera (1717)
Boucher, Cupid
a Captive
(1754)
Fragonard, Love
Letters (1773)
Fragonard’s
“The Bolt”
Note how the
hunky fellow
in short pants
is bolting the
door.
What will
happen
next???
Carriera, Anna Sofia
d’Este, Princess of
Modena (1730)
The use of pastels
makes this rococo
portrait look
especially dreamy
The Englishman
Gainesborough’s “Mrs.
Peter William Baker”
The tres rococo Salon de la Princesse, Hotel de Soubise, Paris
The ultra rococo
nave and high altar
of Vierzehnheiligen
Pilgrim Church,
Bamberg, Germany
(1743-1772)
The Visual Arts in the Eighteenth Century
Neo-Classical Art
Archeological inspiration
 New awareness of classical art
 Inspired by discoveries at Pompeii and
Herculaneum
 Appealed to revolutionaries in France and
America
Roman Republic, French Revolution
 Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825)
 United opposition to tyranny
 Modeled on ideals of Roman Republic
Austere poses, orderly decoration
 Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)
David’s Napoleon
Crossing the Alps
(1800)
The Visual Arts in the Eighteenth Century
Neo-Classical Architecture
Classical models of architecture
 Austere public buildings
 Thomas Jefferson’s State Capitol (17851796)
Literature in the Eighteenth Century
Intellectual Developments
Systematic examination of society
 Pessimistic views vs. Optimistic views
Renewed interest in Classical culture
 Translations, themes, forms, references
Rise of Feminism
 Mary Wollstonecraft, “Vindication of the
Rights of Women” (1792)
Literature in the Eighteenth Century
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
Hatred for human race
“Savage indignation”
 Animals capable of reason
Gulliver’s Travels
 Satire of human behavior
A Modest Proposal
 “Man’s inhumanity to man”
 Inevitability of human suffering
Literature in the Eighteenth Century
Rational Humanism: The Encyclopedists
Encyclopédie




Denis Diderot (1713-1784)
System for the classification of knowledge
Compendium of human rationality
Freedom of conscience and belief
The Late Eighteenth Century:
Time of Revolution
Technological improvements
Increased literacy, circulation of ideas
Governmental abuses
 Louis XV: “Après moi le déluge”
The Reign of Terror
 Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794)
 Essentiality of constitutional government
The Late Eighteenth Century:
Time of Revolution
American Revolution
 Inspired revolution in France
Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence




Optimistic, rational view
Political and social freedom
Equality and justice
Universality of man and nature
The Feminist Revolution
Mary Wollstonecraft (1739-1797)
“Vindication of the Rights of Women”
Similar sentiments to French declaration of
rights of man and American declaration of
independence, both of which excluded
women
First statement of women’s inherent rights
 Women not subservient objects for men, but
free, rational beings possessed of strength and
dignity and deserving of respect
Here ends our lecture upon
the 18th Century
This is George Washington,
sculpted in 1778 and looking
very neo-classical. He is
standing next to a fasces, a
bundle of rods bound together
around an ax with the blade
projecting. Fasces were
carried before ancient Roman
magistrates as an emblem of
authority. Note the symbolism
of how Washington has
covered and softened the ax
blade with his hand and a
piece of cloth..