Modern Art, Day 3
January 25, 2013
18th Century Genre, Landscape, and Still Life

John Singleton Copley, “Mr. and Mrs. Ezekiel Goldthwaite,” 1771
o Artist shows their prosperity but doesn’t idealize them (see wart and fat folds on
the woman’s face)

Copley, “Boy with a Squirrel (Portrait of Henry Pelham)”, 1765
o characterization of sitter, great demonstration of artist’s ability
o artist sent painting to Royal Academy to get a show

Copley, “Watson and the Shark,” 1778
o May have a political dimension (artist was a Tory): demonstrates that lack of
order or responsibility will lead to bad consequences
o At this point, Copley had moved from Boston to London
o wanted to emphasize contemporary aspects of painting: in the distance we see
Havana harbor, figures wear contemporary clothes, includes a black man to
show he is a man of America and part of the New World
o quotes from past art: figure of Watson in the water is based on statue of
“Borghese Warrior,” people in boat similar to Raphael’s “Miraculous Draught
of Fishes”
o shows meticulous attention to detail in the surface of the shark, but also
includes some painterly brushstrokes
Genre Painting

Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, “Blowing Soap Bubbles,” 1739
o celebration of ordinary people in their ordinary lives
o genre paintings gained popularity during the 18th century due to the
Enlightenment emphasis on ordinary people and the value in them
o not a portrait because we don’t know the name of the sitter, and he’s doing
something, not just sitting and looking at us

Chardin, “Saying Grace,” 1740
o hard to tell SES of figures
o repetition of colors bring your eye all through the composition
o evokes a sense of brightness and order

Jean-Baptiste Greuze, “Broken Eggs,” 1756
o pyramid composition—gives picture stability
o corners, center of pyramid, and its bottom margin have important clues as to
the story
o young woman with eggs makes a sub-pyramid
o broken items signified broken chastity
o similarity between oval form of egg basket and oval shape made by young
woman’s arms
o little boy is like a cupid figure; there’s a bow near him and he’s trying to put a
broken egg back together
o not exactly Rococo, but still shares many Rococo elements (image of pretty,
dainty girl)

Greuze, “Village Bride,” 1761
o Denis Diderot: first art critic
 called painting an answer to his own interest in painting that “would no
longer depict debauchery and vice, but rather lead us to virtue”
o mother and sister hangs onto bride’s hand, father casts out his arms to welcome
groom, girl in corner has a lapful of grain to feed chickens
o shows strength, stability and goodness of family unit

Greuze, “Emperor Severus Reproaches his son Caracalla for Having Attempted to
Assassinate Him,” 1769
o artist got a lot of criticism for trying to paint a non-genre painting

William Hogarth, “Marriage Contract,” 1743-5
o first in series called “Marriage a la Mode” that deals with mismatch in social
classes in marriage; merchant class man marries daughter of aristocrat who
needs more money
o aristocrat dad has gout due to his rich living, holds parchment with his family
tree, window shows construction of a new palatial home for him, but
construction has been delayed due to lack of money
o bride and groom aren’t paying any attention to each other; instead, bride is
listening to her lawyer Silvertongue
o bride is toying with her ring to suggest she’s not taking the marriage seriously
o artist was strongly nationalistic, and very anti-French: shows groom with mark of
syphilis on his face because that disease was known as the French pox

Hogarth, “Tete a tete”
o part of “Marriage a la Mode” series
o man on left is household retainer who’s leaving aghast over the piled up bills

Strong interest in narrative present in British painting