Chapter 28
Encountering the Enlightenment:
Philosophy, Science & Society
Artistic developments in the 17th
century
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•
•
•
•
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:coexistent 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 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
equal.
• 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 Godbased.
• 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 eliminated, but
the middle classes and some members of the aristocracy
changed their ways of thinking.
• These changes are reflected in the art of the time - both in
neoclassicism and in romanticism – 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)
Philosopher giving a lecture at the Orrery
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•
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
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•
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 (17551792)
• 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
1808)
• 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.
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 17501780 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
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•
•
•
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
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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
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•
•
•
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
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•
•
•
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 beand was- staged
Nadar, Sarah Bernhardt
Curtis
Wright
Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams
Dorothea Lang