Art of the Enlightenment and Neoclassical Art

1730: Rococo

1800: Neoclassical

1830: Romanticism

1837: First photograph

“Enlightenment and Revolution: Head vs. Heart”

From rocaille meaning “pebble” or “shell”

“Trust the body” + More is MORE!

• Shift of power from monarchy (Louis XIV and Baroque) to the aristocracy (Rococo)

• Royal Academy set the taste for art in Paris

• Strong Satirical paintings

• Epitomized by paintings that show aristocratic people enjoying leisures

Rococo

Sometimes referred to as Late Baroque

Architecture: Simple exteriors, ornate interiors- Naturalistic: small stones, shells, plant forms- Feminine – delicate, undulating- Silver & gold, light- Small relief sculptures – cupids, clouds

Painting:- Small in size- Fete galante – themes of love- Frivolity, playful, sensual- Pastels, delicate curves- Dainty figures

François de Cuvilliès

the AmalienburgNymphenburg Palace Park, Munich, Germany

early 18th C.

François de Cuvilliès

Hall of Mirrors, the AmalienburgNymphenburg Palace Park, Munich, Germany

early 18th C.

François de Cuvilliès

Hall of Mirrors, the AmalienburgNymphenburg Palace Park, Munich, Germany

early 18th C.

Sculpture + Painting + Architecture in harmony

Antoine Watteau

Return from Cythera

1717-1719oil on canvas4 ft. 3 in. x 6 ft. 4 in.

Fête galanteThe French Academy – Rubenistes vs Poussinistes

Jean-Honoré Fragonard

The Swing

1766oil on canvas2 ft. 11 in. x 2 ft. 8 in.

Yinka Shonibare

PHILOSOPHY – two types of thinkers“To exist is to feel; our feeling is undoubtedly earlier than our intelligence, and we have had feelings before we had ideas. All our natural inclinations are right. Man by nature is good…he is depraved and perverted by society. Our minds have been corrupted in proportion as the arts and science have improved” - Rousseau

A taste for the ‘natural’

Voltaire (1694-1778)“What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly

evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason” - Voltaire

Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Lebrun

Self-Portrait

1790oil on canvas8 ft. 4 in. x 6 ft. 9 in.

William Hogarth

Breakfast Scene from Marriage à la Mode

ca. 1745oil on canvas2 ft. 4 in. x 3 ft.

Satire!What would the contemporary equivalent of this painting be?

Thomas Gainsborough, Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1787, oil on canvas, 7 ft. 2 5/8 in. x 5 ft. 5/8 in.

Sir Joshua Reynolds, Lord Heathfield, 1787, oil on canvas, 4 ft. 8 in. x 3 ft. 9 in.

Benjamin West

The Death of General Wolfe

1771oil on canvasapproximately 5 x 7 ft.

John Singleton Copley

Portrait of Paul Revere

ca. 1768-1770oil on canvas2 ft. 11 1/8 in. x 2 ft. 4 in.

The ENLIGHTENMENTScience and Technology

- Empirical reasoning and the scientific method - Sir Isaac Newton & John Locke tangible data & concrete

experiences, individuality and empowerment

- Diderot – theEncyclopédie

Joseph Wright of Derby

A Philosopher Giving a Lecture at the Orrery

ca. 1763-1765oil on canvas4 ft. 10 in. x 6 ft. 8 in.

Abraham Darby III and Thomas E. Pritchard

Iron Bridge at Coalbrookdale

Coalbrookdale, England

1776-1779

- 379 tons of iron

- Pieces cast separately

- “made to fit” so each part is a little different

- Opened New Years day 1781

The Industrial Revolution- The Steam Engine - Power of steam, coal,

iron, oil, steel and electricity

- Building construction and photography!

NEOCLASSICISM (1750-1815)• Enlightenment brought about the rejection of royal and aristocratic authority

• Supported by Napoleon in order to associated himself with the successes of the Ancient Roman's Empire.

• Jacques-Louis David becomes First Painter 

• Neoclassical art was more democratic

• Current events depicted have classical influences

INSPIRED by the excavation of Pompeii & Heculaneum- Grand Tour of Italy – A MUST!

Angelica Kauffmann

Cornelia Presenting Her Children as Her Treasures or Mother of the Gracchi

ca. 1785oil on canvas3 ft. 4 in. x 4 ft. 2 in.

Exemplum virtutis

Jacques-Louis David

Oath of the Horatii

1784oil on canvasapproximately 11 x 14 ft.

The French Revolution – 1789David became Neoclassical painter-ideologistPatriotism & sacrifice!

Jacques-Louis David

The Death of Marat

1793oil on canvasapproximately 5 ft. 3 in. x 4 ft. 1 in.

Marat = extremely powerful during the Revolution, journalist, David’s portrait is more propaganda than portrait

Corday’s letter of introduction. “My great unhappiness is sufficient reason to entitle me to your kindness.” (She actually claimed to have information about royalist rebels)

Bloody murder weapon – Made to look like Corday fled the scene though she was arrested

NEOCLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE

- Innovations: Cast iron

Characteristics: revision of classical principals on a modern framework- Inspired by: Palladio & Inigo Jones- Symmetry, balance, composition and order- Some buildings has special rooms such as the Green Room or

Etruscan Room

Jacques-Germain Soufflot

The Panthéon (Sainte-Geneviève)

Paris, France

1755-1792

Pierre Vignon

La Madeleine

Paris, France

1807-1842

Pierre Vignon

La Madeleine

Paris, France

1807-1842

Richard Boyle and William Kent

Chiswick House

near London, England

begun 1725

Richard Boyle and William Kent

Chiswick House

near London, England

begun 1725

Thomas Jefferson

Monticello

Charlottesville, Virginia

1770-1806

Thomas Jefferson neoclassicism

Palladio + local materials

Jean-Antoine Houdon

George Washington

1788-92marble6 ft. 2 in. high

Horatio Greenough

George Washington

1832-1841marbleapproximately 11 ft. 4 in. high

Jean-Antoine Houdon

Voltaire

1778marble18 7/8 in. high