11
EUROPE AND AMERICA, 1750–1850
TEXT PAGES 316-343
ROCOCO
1. List four adjectives that describe the type of art created for the 18th-century French
aristocracy: (page 317)
a.
b.
c.
d.
2. One of the best examples of French Rococo architecture, known as the
__________, was built near Munich. It was designed by _______________.
(page 317)
List three Rococo features of this small building: (page 318)
a.
b.
c.
3. Compare the photographs of the Hall of Mirrors in the Amalienburg (FIG. 11-1) and
the Galerie des Glaces de Versailles (FIG. 10-34). List three adjectives or phrases that
describe each: (Multiple answers possible based on observation)
(comparison of FIG. 10-34 and FIG. 11-1)
Hall of Mirrors, Amalienburg
Galerie des Glaces, Versailles
a.
a.
b.
b.
c.
c.
d.
d.
4. What is a fête galant?
5. What two 17th-century artists inspired the debate in 18th-century France between the
advantages of color as the most important element in painting and those of form?
(page 318)
Color:
Form:
Which element did Watteau consider to be the most important? Color (page 318)
6. List four characteristics of Watteau’s Return from Cythera (FIG. 11-2) that are typical
of Rococo art in general:
(page 318)
a.
b.
c.
d.
7. In what way does Fragonard’s The Swing (FIG. 11-3) typify a Rococo “intrigue”
picture? (pages 318-319)
8. Name a sculptor who worked in the Rococo style:
List three characteristics of his work:
a.
b.
c.
THE ENLIGHTENMENT
1. What is meant by the “Age of Enlightenment,” and how did it affect the role of art?
(page 319-321)
2. List two ways in which European art was changed as a result of the scientific and
technological advances made from the end of the 18th through the early 19th
centuries?
(pages 339-340)
a.
b.
3. In what ways does Wright of Derby’s Philosopher Giving a Lecture at the Orrery
(FIG. 11-4) reflect the scientific view of the universe? (page 321)
Describe the type of lighting he used: (page 321)
Would this painting be considered as an appropriate subject for Poussin’s “Grand
Manner”? Why or why not?
THE TASTE FOR THE “NATURAL”
1. Who was Voltaire? (page 321)
2. What, according to Rousseau, had corrupted the “natural man”? (page 321)
How did his views differ from those of Voltaire? (page 321)
3. What effect did Rousseau’s views have on 18th-century French art? (page 321)
4. The French painter Elisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun specialized in (page 321)
In contrast to Rococo artificiality, the style of her self-portrait (FIG. 11-5) can be
described as: (page 321)
5. Although Gainsborough preferred to paint landscapes, he is best known for his
portraits. Briefly describe his style: (page 322)
To what genre did Gainsborough’s portraits belong? (page 322)
6. What type of subject matter did Hogarth portray? (page 322)
7. Name an American painter who was influential in the Anglo-American school of
history painting: (page 323)
8. How does Copley’s Portrait of Paul Revere (FIG. 11-9) differ from contemporary
British and continental portraits? (page 324)
9. What is meant by a “Grand Tour”? (page 325)
NEOCLASSICISM
1. Neoclassicism was stimulated by the excavation of the Roman cities of
and in the mid- (page 325)
2. Angelica Kauffmann combined two styles in her work. What were they?
(page 325)
a.
b.
3. What is the importance of the subject matter in the Oath of the Horatii (FIG. 11-11)?
(pages 326-327)
List two Neoclassical stylistic features that are found in that work: (page 326-327))
(More answers are possible)
a.
b.
4. Briefly explain the politics behind David’s Death of Marat (FIG. 11-12):
(page 327)
5. For what major patron did David work after the fall of the Revolutionary party?
(page 327)
6. Which aspect of Canova’s portrait of Pauline Borghese (FIG. 11-13) comes from the
earlier Rococo style? (page 328)
Which aspect is realistic?
(page 328)
Which features are Neoclassical?
(page 328)
7. Name a building that apparently influenced Jefferson’s designs for Monticello:
(page 329)
8. Why did Jefferson believe that the Neoclassic style was appropriate for the
architecture of the new American republic?
(pages 328-329)
9. In breaking with his teacher David, Ingres adopted a manner that he felt was based on
true and pure Greek style. List two characteristics of that style:
(page 329)
a.
b.
Name two Renaissance artists whose influence is apparent in Ingres’ Grande
Odalisque (FIG. 28-37):
(page 329)
a.
b.
ROMANTICISM
1. Scholars use the term “Romanticism to refer to a general phenomenon that
began around 1750 and ended around 1850. It can also be used more
narrowly as the name of a movement that flourished between 1800 and
1840. (page 330)
2. The shift from reason to feeling, from objective nature to subjective emotion, is
characteristic of the attitude of mind known as: Romanticism (pages 33-337)
List three values that were stressed during the so-called Age of Sensibility:
a.
b.
c.
3. What feelings were thought to be evoked by the “sublime” in nature and art?
(page 330)
4. What type of subject matter was typically found in the work of Henry Fuseli?
(page 330)
5. Who was William Blake?
(page 330)
Briefly characterize his style: (page 331)



6. Goya’s work cannot be confined to a single stylistic classification. Briefly
summarize his varied concerns as expressed in the following works:
The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (FIG. 11-18):
(page 332)
The Third of May, 1808 (FIG. 11-19):
(page 332)
7. What was the political message behind Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa (FIG. 11-20)?
(page 332)
List three devices he used to add drama to his presentation: (page 333)
a.
b.
c.
8. The 17th-century debate between the Poussinists and the Rubenists was carried on in
the 19th century by Ingres, the draftsman, and Delacroix, the colorist. (page 333)
9. List four characteristics of Delacroix’s style that are seen in The Death of
Sardanapalus (FIG. 11-22): (page 334)
a.
b.
c.
d.
What does the scene depict and how does the subject relate to the interests of the
Romantics? (page 334)
10. What political event did Delacroix depict in Liberty Leading the People (FIG. 1122)? (page 334)
11. What did Caspar David Friedrich believe that the artist should paint?
(page 336)
12. What sorts of scenes did Constable like to paint? (page 336)
How did he create the sparkling effect of light? (page 336)
In what way could his work be related to the Romantic outlook? (page 336)
13. How does Turner’s The Slave Ship (FIG. 11-25) reflect the practices of 19th-century
slave traders? (page 338)
List three adjectives that describe Turner’s style: (page 338)
a.
b.
c.
What features of Turner’s work were most influential in liberating artists from the
traditional way of painting? (page 338)
14. To what school of art did Thomas Cole belong? (page 338)
MID 19TH-CENTURY ARCHITECTURE
1. List three features that the Paris Opera House (FIG. 11-27) shares with the Palace of
Versailles (FIG. 10-32):
(page 339)
a.
b.
c.
2. Describe the effect of the use of iron on 19th-century architectural structures:
(page 339)
3. What was the significance of the technique used by Paxton to construct the Crystal
Palace (FIG. 11-28)? (page 340)
THE BEGINNINGS OF PHOTOGRAPHY
1. What is the difference between the camera obscura and the camera lucida?
(page 340)
2. When did Daguerre present his new photographic process in Paris? January 7, 1839
(page 341)
Briefly describe the Daguerrotype process:
(page 341)
In general, how did artists react to Daguerre’s invention? (page 340)
3. What is a calotype? (page 341)
Who developed it and when? (page 341)
4. What were the advantages of “wet plate” photography? (page 342)
What were the disadvantages? (page 342)
5. Name a photographer who documented the American Civil War:
(page 342)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Compare Fragonard’s The Swing (FIG. 11-3) with Ingres’ Grand Odalisque (FIG.
11-15). Although both works have strong erotic overtones, they are very different in
their emotional effects. What makes one Rococo and the other Neoclassic?
2. In what way does Rousseau’s statement “Man is born free, but everywhere in chains”
reflect the premises of Romanticism? Select three images that you think illustrate this
view and explain why they do.
4. Compare Benjamin West’s Death of General Wolfe (FIG. 11-8) with El Greco’s
Burial of Count of Orgaz (FIG. 9-36). Note stylistic similarities and differences and
explain the iconographic features that make one a Baroque painting and the other a
product of the Enlightenment.
5. Compare Ingres’ Grande Odalisque (FIG. 11-15) with Titian’s Venus of Urbino (FIG.
9-19). How do they differ in composition, body type, distortion, and degree of
idealization?
6. Do you think there are remnants of Romanticism alive today in our society? If so,
can you identify them? How are they reflected in the arts? What film that you have
seen recently best embodies the ideas of romanticism? Can you think of an artist
working today that you would consider a Romantic?
7. Discuss the differences in approach to the depiction of landscape in the works of
Claude Lorrain (FIG. 10-30), van Ruisdael (FIG. 10-25), Turner (FIG. 11-25),
Constable (FIG. 11-24), Cole (FIG. 11-26), and Friedrich (FIG. 11-26).
8. Compare Watteau’s Return from Cythera (FIG. 11-2) with Wright of Derby’s A
Lecture at the Orrery (FIG. 11-4), Hogarth’s Breakfast Scene from Marriage à la
Mode (FIG. 11-7), Goya’s The Third of May, 1808 (FIG. 11-19), David’s Oath of the
Horatii (FIG. 11-11), and Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People (FIG. 11-22). What
is the style and the social message of each? Which do you feel is most effective with
getting that message across? Why?
PICTORIAL ANALYSIS
LOOKING CAREFULLY, DESCRIBING, AND ANALYZING
Look carefully at Hogarth’s Breakfast Scene from Marriage à la Mode (FIG. 11-7) and
David’s Oath of the Horatii (FIG. 11-11). Both images contain social commentary, yet their
messages and their styles are quite different. Write at least two pages analyzing and
comparing them. Here are some questions that might help you with your analysis, but do not
be limited by them.
First look at the spaces and the figures within them. Describe the architectural setting and any
accessories you see. Then look at the figures. How many figures are there, and how do they
relate to each other and to the spaces the artist has created? What are the figures wearing and
how do the costumes relate to the message the artist is trying to convey? What historical
period is each depicting? Look at the poses of the individual figures; what does the pose of
each figure tell us about the personality and motivation of that figure?
What was the political background in which each image was created? What style did each
artist use and how might the style have been important is the artist’s message? Why might
one of the artists have used a classical theme while the other created a stage set? What was
the social purpose of each image; what was each artist trying to get people to do or think?
How effective do you think each artist was?
SUMMARY OF 18th-CENTURY PAINTING & SCULPTURE
Fill in the following charts as much as possible from memory; then check your answers
against the text in Chapter 11.
BACKGROUND:
Historical People, Events, Ideas, etc
Typical Examples
Stylistic
Characteristics
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Watteau
Country:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Fragonard
Country:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Wright of Derby
Country:
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Vigée-Lebrun
Country:
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Hogarth
Country:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Gainsborough
Country:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
West
Country:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Copley
Country:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Kauffmann
Country:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
David
Country:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Fuseli
Country:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Blake
Country:
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Canova
Country:
SUMMARY OF 18th-CENTURY ARCHITECTS
Typical Examples
Stylistic Characteristics
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Cuvilliés
Country:
______________________________________________________________________________________
_______
Jefferson
Country: