Art History through 19th Century- Rococo and Art of the Enlightenment

Veduta

- A type of naturalistic landscape and cityscape painting popular in 18th Century Venice. It literally means "view."

Grace at Table, Chardin, 1740

- - Many moral leaders as well as patrons of the arts in France disapproved of the decadent lifestyle and artificiality of emotion embodied in the work of Rococo masters such as Fragonard and Boucher. - During the Enlightenment, artists were charged with the moral duty of educating and inspiring the viewer. - French moralist philosophers such as Diderot urged artists to paint didactic scenes that glorified the simple morals of the middle and lower class lifestyle. - Chardin was a master of these quiet scenes of domestic life. - Paintings such as his Grace at Table from 1740 were the antithesis to Rococo decadence and immorality. - Genre scenes with families were popular themes. - In this image a mother instructs her young daughters on how to say grace. - Not only did works such as these convey religious and family values, they also reinforced gender roles. Even during the Enlightenment, a woman's role was to care for the home. - Chardin's style is characterized by simple compositional arrangements, warm light, attention to detail, and quiet activity. - It is often remarked that Chardin's work is reminiscent of the Dutch interior paintings of the Baroque period.

L'Indifferent, Watteau, Rococo

- A member of the French academy, Watteau was the premiere painter of the French Rococo period. - The artist was Flemish by birth and a great admire of Rubens. He brought Rubens' bright, iridescent pastel colors to France but he paints on a very small, delicate Rococo scale. - His Rubens' influenced style based on a pastel color palette applied with loose, painterly brushstrokes can be called Rubeniste. - This image depicts a graceful dancer from a comic opera. - The colors throughout the work are washed pastels rather than bold primaries. - The light silk fabrics of the clown contrast with the heavy rich furs and satins that adorn the King. - his light and playful small-scale piece reflects the attitude and lifestyle of the private patron for whom this was painted and signals a shift from the bold, theatrical Baroque to the soft, relaxed Rococo.

The Village Bride by Jean-Baptiste Greuze

- By French painter Jean-Baptiste Greuze is another example of a moralistic genre scene idealizing the life and morals of the lower class. - Greuze was the master genre painter of the 18 th Century. - He depicted humble scenes of moral lower-middle class and peasant families. - His work was famous for its emphasis on emotion and sentiment, which always had a didactic message to convey. - Greuze took his role as a moral educator of the people very seriously and saw his art as a means of effecting social change. - The Village Bride is a sentimental domestic tableau, a mini play or narrative. - The scene depicts the issuing of a marriage contract in a humble rural home. The elderly father gives a dowry to the young groom and welcomes him into the family, which surrounds the young couple. - Each family member is reacting to the event in a different way. - One sister will miss her, the other is jealous. - The mother cries while the blushing couple holds hands timidly. - Although Greuze's painting style is similar to his Rococo counterparts, the mood and message are quite different. - The critics loved this painting, especially Diderot who thought it was moral.

Rococo

- Comes from the French word "rocaille" which means "pebble." It refers to the artistic and decorative movement, which took place in France beginning with the death of King Louis XIV when the aristocracy enjoyed a more relaxed and playful lifestyle. Delicately ornamented, curvilinear forms and themes of pleasure characterize the style. - Delicate, pastel, curvilinear and soft, whereas the Baroque was bold, compositionally dynamic, rich in color and brilliantly lit - Conversation in the salons became an art based on practiced wit and flattery rather than sincerity. - The art of this time reflects this attitude. - he Rococo style can be described as saccharine, superficial "eye-candy." There are few religious themes if any in the Rococo. Rather, themes of pleasure, fantasy and decadence prevailed in this style.

Nymph and Satyr Carousing, Clodion

- Completed by the artist Clodion around the year 1775, the dynamic figures of Nymph and Satyr may remind the viewer of Bernini's open compositions. - Clodion was well aware of the Italian Baroque having worked in Rome. - However, the erotic mythological theme, diminutive scale and intimate functional context of this piece purely reflect the Rococo.

Fragonard, The Swing, Rococo

- Fragonard was a popular painter of the Rococo period. - His 1766 painting the Swing is an iconic Rococo piece. - Fragonard was a student of Boucher and a master colorist who was known for his attention to detail and sense of humor. Fragonard's work embodies the Rococo. - Uses of pastels, delicate forms, lyrical composition and a light theme of pleasure set in nature. - (Playful themed)

Basin of Marco from San Giorgio Maggiore

- Many wealthy British, French and American citizens finished their formal education by embarking on what was known as the "Grand Tour." - Italy and its classical and Renaissance culture was the focal point of this educational tour. - Many Grand Tour participants were eager to collect souvenirs and mementos of their trip abroad, the most sought after of which was known as a veduta. - The Venetian painter Canaletto specialized in these veduti. - Canaletto was known for his clean, orderly and attractive views of cities such as Venice. - Such sunny scenes were great treasures for the traveler once he arrived home in dreary England. - Canaletto's great precision and ability to capture detail may have been aided by the use of the camera obscura. - The yearning to understand things beyond one's borders and an interest in scientific accuracy manifested themselves in paintings such as Basin of San Marco from San Giorgio Maggiore, thus underscoring the Enlightenment pursuit of empirical knowledge.

Cupid a Captive, Francois Boucher

- One of the most beloved Rococo artists was the painter Francois Boucher. - Boucher was the painter to King Louis XV's mistress, Madame de Pompadour. - Through his association with her, Boucher became very popular and a favorite at the court of Versailles. - Although he was known for his exquisite portraits of the Aristocracy, Boucher is best remembered for his erotic scenes of playful lovers and Arcadian allegories. - Boucher's handling of Rococo themes was not as subtle as Watteau's. - Rather, his were overtly sensual, playful and fantastic. - Cupid a Captive painted by Boucher in 1754 represents one of Boucher's favorite reoccurring subjects: mythological nudes set in landscapes. - However, Boucher shares Watteau's Rococo stylistic choices including: a soft, pastel palette, loose brushwork and a delicately arranged composition.

Watteau, Return from Cythera, Rococo

- Painted between 1717 & 1719 - Depicts a fete galante or outdoor picnic on Cythera, the mythical island of love. - The theme is one of pleasure, sensuality, romance and intimacy. Intimate relationships, conversations and gestures of the Rococo replace the grand rhetorical displays of the Baroque. - The theme reflects the Rococo interest in private relationships free from royal constraints. - Although private, the viewer is invited to join in this light-hearted afternoon of fantasy and romance. - The open, painterly, Rubeniste brushwork allows for areas of dappled afternoon light to reflect off on the shiny taffetas and silks worn by the figures. - The palette of delicately muted pastels is a hallmark of the Rococo style. - Even the arrangement of figures and landscape elements has a lyrical delicacy that departs from the strong diagonals and bold dynamics seen in Baroque compositions. Small-scale, intimate scenes of pleasure and frivolity such as Return from Cythera appealed to the aristocratic patrons of this period.

Portrait of Paul Revere, John Singleton Copley

- Painted by John Singleton Copley between the years 1768 and 1770. - Copley was a self-taught portrait painter who defined the style of American portraiture and worked in a style known as "American Realism." - American Realism is characterized by clear, crisp, economic use of detail and precision. - Some have called the style "plain" and it is indeed the antithesis of the fussy decoration of the Rococo taking place across the Atlantic Ocean. - In this portrait of the great American Revolutionary hero Paul Revere, the artist has used clear, brilliant, unmodulated color in a direct and simple presentation of the sitter. - The portrait is neither too fancy nor too formal. Revere looks up from his work and engages the viewer directly. - Many historians have remarked on the directness that is conveyed in this portrait, reflecting the philosophy and personality that characterized both Enlightenment thinkers and American revolutionaries such as Paul Revere.

A Philosopher Giving a Lecture at the Orrey, Joseph Wright

- Science and technology were key issues in the age of the Enlightenment. "A Philosopher Giving a Lecture at the Orrery (in which a lamp is put in place of the sun)"painted by English artist Joseph Wright of Derby between 1763 and 1765 reflects these new interests. - he highly detailed image depicts a philosopher lecturing on Newton's principles regarding the positions and motion of the bodies of the solar system. - The dramatic, yet intimate scene relies heavily on the influence of Caravaggio. - Derby depicts figures as individuals in various stages of life, conveying varied emotional as well as psychological responses to learning. - The hyper-real detail and precision of Derby's painting technique itself indicates the interest in science, innovation and education that dominated the minds of many Enlightenment thinkers. - This painting also points to the notion that learning is a life long process which begins at a young age and never ends.

Bust of Voltaire

- The marble bust of Voltaire by Houdon from 1781 is our first example of Enlightenment art. - Voltaire was a philosopher as well as a historian, essayist, playwright, poet, wealthy businessman and economic reformer. - Yet he is remembered best as an advocate of human rights. - True to the spirit of the Enlightenment, he denounced organized religion and established himself as a proponent of rationality. - It is said that Voltairepersonified the Enlightenment. Houdon's detailed portrait of the philosopher reflects both the seriousness of old age as well as Voltaire's wily anti-establishment attitude.

The Breakfast Scene from Marriage a la Mode

- The same backlash against decadence and immorality was occurring in England during the Enlightenment. - However, British artists conveyed their moral lessons in a different way. The Breakfast Scene from Marriage a la Mode by William Hogarth painted in 1745 is a perfect example of this differing approach to moral messaging. - Hogarth was an English printmaker and engraver and a great chronicler of life in London who specialized in satire. - A satire is a novel, play or painting that ridicules people's hypocrisy or foolishness, often by using humor or parody. - Marriage a la Mode or the "Fashionable Marriage" is part of a moral subject series of images produced by Hogarth. - The series satirizes what Hogarth and many others believed were the morally corrupt marriages of the upper class. - The paintings depict a married couple who spend too much, are unfaithful and in general, lack common sense. - In The Breakfast Scene, the second in the series, the young couple lazily reclines in their expensive home surrounded by tacky souvenirs from the Grand Tour. - Religious paintings hang next to covered erotic ones in the next room. It is obvious that the two have not spent the night together. - The husband puts his hands in his empty pockets finding no money. - But what does the dog, symbol of fidelity, find in his pocket? Their butler holding all of the bills throws up his hands and seems to say "Oh my." - This newly married couple couldn't be more different from Greuze's loving humble family. - Hogarth believed that modern art should reflect the reality of society rather than the illusion of the ideal. - Hogarth's humorous visual commentaries were widely circulated and eagerly awaited by the public.

The Enlightenment

- To understand the natural world and humankind's place in it solely on the basis of reason and without turning to religious belief was the goal of the wide-ranging intellectual movement called the Enlightenment. The movement claimed the allegiance of a majority of thinkers during the 17th and 18th centuries, a period that Thomas Paine called the Age of Reason. - The goal of this wide-ranging intellectual movement was to understand the natural world and humankind's place in it solely on the basis of reason and without turning to religious belief. - The movement claimed the allegiance of a majority of thinkers during the 17th and 18th centuries, a period that Thomas Paine called the "Age of Reason." - At its heart it became a conflict between religion and the inquiring mind that wanted to know and understand through reason based on evidence and proof, also known as "empirical" knowledge. - Three of the chief sources for Enlightenment thought were the ideas of the ancient Greek philosophers, the Renaissance, and the scientific revolution of the late middle ages. - Among the leaders of this revolution were Francis Bacon, Diderot, Rene Descartes, Isaac Newton and Voltaire. - These individuals were devoted to the supremacy of human reason, popularization of science, and political and economic reform.

Elisabeth Louise Vigee-Leburn

- While some women of the era were busy hosting important gatherings in their salons, and others were teaching their daughters how to keep house, some were making their names as serious artists. - One such woman was the French painter Elisabeth Louise Vigee-Lebrun. - Her Self Portrait painted in 1790 depicts one of the very few female members of the French Academy of Art and the court painter to the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette. - Vigee-lebrun painted many of the queen's official portraits and the two were good friends who shared much in common, including the death of an infant child. - Vigee-Lebrun's painting style is similar to the soft and painterly approach of her Rococo contemporaries. - However, she is best known for her portraits and images of women and children, all of which lack the typical Rococofrivolity. - In this self-portrait, the artist looks directly at the viewer. - Vigee-Lebrun portrays herself painting, thus legitimizing her status as a professional artist. - Like her Queen, Vigee-Lebrun wanted the world to know she was an independent woman, not just an idle, pretty face. - During the French revolution, because of her association with Marie Antoinette, Vigee-Lebrun was exiled and had to leave France. - She left with her daughter. Her husband promptly divorced her. After twelve years in exile, over two hundred and fifty international artists signed a petition asking the French government to allow Vigee-Lebrun to return to the country. - She was finally welcomed back and continued her career as a prominent artist. Her position in the French Academy was secured.

Rocaille

An artistic and literary style, developed from the baroque, characterized by complex and elaborate ornamentation. System of decoration derived from rock-work, ornamented with pebbles and shells found in follies and, especially, grottoes, often associated with water, fountains, cascades, etc.