French Baroque

François Boucher: Portrait of Madame de Pompadour 1756

Following the untimely dead of Watteau, Boucher rose to prominence in French painting. He served as court painter to Madame de Pompadour who has been called "the godmother of Rococo". She was Louis XV's mistress and a major apron of the arts. The life-sized painting is highly orchestrated; self-fashions her as a FEMME SAVANTE (accomplished woman who was equally elegant and sophisticated). Despite her non aristocratic family, her relationship with the king she was named Lady in Waiting to the Queen; the highest non-royal title of the court. The background clock has been suggested to indicate the time she was given this title. She is shown amidst luxury; wearing a shimmering, voluminous dress that signals opulence. She sits in her boudoir which reflects her accomplishments; ink, envelopes and well-used book confirm her education. She identified herself with Venus; he cupid by the clock, roses on her dress and pearl bracelets (venus was born from pearls of the sea) suggest her affinity with the love goddess.

Watteau: Pilgrimage to Cythera 1717

A difficult painting to categorize; it is partly classical in that it is set in the birthplace of Venus and it is also not entirely a landscape. Fête Galante: overtones of love - principal theme in his work. The image is beautiful, sweet and tender; represents vulnerable lovers on a day's outing to the magical island of love. The sun hangs low in the sky; they prepare for their departure in an atmosphere of sweet sadness. The further away they are from the boat, the more immersed they are in each other - whisperings of sweet nothings. A female looks back longingly. The boat - pushed by little cupid putti alighted in a melted sky; clearly studied from Titian's Rape of Europa. Soft, supple colors; painterly style evokes shimmering satin as successfully as Rubens's Garden of Love. A pictorial love poem describes the old debate of colore and disengo.

Chardin Blowing Bubbles 1733

An outgrowth of Dutch genre painting and the VANITAS symbols frequently seen in the still life tradition. The bubble, in tact only for a moment, symbolizes the brevity of life, which serves as one of the painting's underlying themes. Chardin has chosen a charming, endearing way to send his message: he presents two children. An older boy who is possibly instructing a younger one, who eagerly looks on. Unlike most Rococo paintings, the figure are half-length and life-size rather than diminutive, and their scale affects our understanding of the possibility that we could encounter a similar scene in our own world. **Window is a subversion of the previously accepted rules of painting.

Nicolas Poussin: Death of Germanicus 1627-1628

BAROQUE CLASSICISM: reigned supreme in France; Poussin contributed largely to this. He was a highly influential French painter yet spent the majority of his career in Rome. There he absorbed the lessons of Raphael and Carracci's classically ordered paintings; inspired his own rational classicism. Poussin studied perspective/anatomy in ancient sculpture such as the Laocoon and Death of Germanicus reflects these studies. The work is a model for artistic depictions of heroic deathbed scenes a typical history painting relating to powerful themes of death, loyalty and revenge. Germanicus = beloved Roman general who was poisoned. Poussin depicts Germanicus on his death bead; on the left are his loyal soldiers swearing revenge and on the right his mournful family weeps. The promise to avenge is at the center as the figures show signs of grief/loyalty and suffering. Classical architecture sets the scene for the figures who are arranged in a CLASSICAL FRIEZE. The curtain restricts the action to a shallow space, heightening the drama.

Watteau: Mezzetin 1718

Belong to the 'Rubenist' painters; depicts an actor from the contemporary theatre of Commedia del'Arte. Apart of the common people's world as well as the high aristocracy; the individual comic figure is shown in endearing sweetness. The silk affect and playing of guitar; thrown back his head in a romanticized serenade to his beloved. Garden is similar to Rubens's "Garden of Love" - female sculpture looms in the background; sings his heart in vain = a touching pathos of unrequited love. His loose touch and use of color is exquisitely muted - silvery greens/peachy pinks. Loose and gestural - foam-like paintings of the foliage. Typically Rococo in terms of spirit, figure type and color of costume/setting. Debate of disengo vs. colore

Chardin: Still life with brioche 1763

Chardin was admitted to the French Academy as a still life artist. He raised this form of painting in its simplicity/elegance to a newly appreciated level. The Brioche, named for the center roll, displays a variety of textures set on a ledge that we view at eye level. Texture in Dutch work is created by defined textures/light reflection. However, in Chardin's work we are mostly impressed by the blurring of edges: on the brioche topped with an orange branch, in the difficult to discern facets of the glass liquor bottle and the gilt edged ceramic tureen. Chardin used contemporary ceramics/porcelain in his paintings.

Chardin: Back from the market 1739

Chardin's expertise in still life as well as in genre painting was indebted to the many Dutch/Flemish 17th century paintings in France. To Chardin's patrons, members of the rising bourgeoisie in France, his genre scenes and domestic still lifes proclaimed to the virtues of hard work/ devotion to the family. Back From The Market: shows life in a Parisian bourgeois household. There is a large room but we cannot ignore the potentially amorous scene taking place outside on the left. The maid's posture, leaning to her eft with her shoes pointed to the right suggests informality. The beauty hidden in everyday life/ clear sense of order begs comparison with Dutch artist Jan Vermeer. However, Chardin's soft brushwork suggests objects rather than defines them. In the still life elements of the painting (the floured loaves of bread); he summarizes forms and subtly alters their appearance and texture. PASTEL PAINTING - colored chalks mixed with glue/rolled into a cylindrical tube. Enables animation/expression and a more lifelike appearance.

Hyacinthe Rigaud: Portrait of King Louis XIV 1701

Chief portraitist to the King; Louis XIV had a long reign during the 17th and 18th century which left a mark on his country. Named himself "the sun king"; image reflects this absolutism in his rule/powerful bringing of light onto the state. Upheld the political philosophy of absolutism in the monarch. Presented as a man and a majesty; person and political face. He is dressed in fully formal attire; swags of curtain hang around him like a canopy (symbolic emphasis on his divine power). Full length portrait was a formula reserved only for the highest of nobility = Van Dyck influence. Dressed in blue velvet, gold embroidered flour-de-lis; a symbol of France. The cloak is shoved to one side; reveals his legs which are sheathed in white silk = expression of his wealth, splendor and power. Cloak is lined with fur of an ermine; reserved only for royalty. Each black dot is representative of the number of creatures who died on his behalf.

Claude Lorrain: Pastoral Landscape 1648

Contemporary of Poussin who spent his lifetime in Rome; landscape style is suffused with a soft golden light; set in a setting sun as to cast deep shadows. A sense of melancholy and nostalgia at the ending of the day. The subjects, as in Pieter Bruegel the Elder's landscapes, are simple figures; shepherds and humble farmers. Campaña - countryside of road; idyllic farmland and vineyard. Ancient tombs and aqueducts dot the horizon; romanticized. The color of the light adds a hazy illumination; harmoniously composed landscape.

Nicolas Poussin: Abduction of the Sabine Women 1633-34

Demonstrates his allegiance to classicism; displays the discipline in an intellectual style - response to the excess of the high Baroque. THe strongly modeled figures are "frozen in action" like status; many are derived from Hellenistic sculpture placed in front of reconstructions of Roman architecture. Represents noble/serious human actions; emotion is abundant in dramatic poses/expressions. Lack of spontaneity due to derivation from sculpture. Scene is theatrical; reflects his arrangement of wax figurines on a miniature stage as a means of preparing the composition. Poussin closely practiced the analogy between painting/literature; felt the viewer should READ the emotions of the figure. Poussin's detachment and lack of sympathy for those suffering makes the work more heroic; he suppresses color and stresses form and composition (e.g. the alignment of swords). His studies sharply contrast with Caravaggio's painting from nature/living models without preparatory drawings.

Baroque in France

During the tumultuous 17th Century, France served as a great patron of the arts. By the late 17th Century, Paris was vying with Rome to become Europe's art center. The rules/officials recognized the power of art to convey the majesty and strength of the monarchy; set out on a massive program of patronage.

Rococo

In France, the Rococo style is linked with Louis XV, but its first appearance occurred before his birth at the height of the seventh century Baroque style, and it continued on through the excesses of the reign of Louis XV. The fundamental difference between Baroque and Rococo is FANTASY; if Baroque presents theater on a grand scale, the Rococo stage is smaller/more intimate. This manifests a shift in aristocratic tastes; who reasserted their power as patrons through richly stylized/ornate domestic art to decorate their new homes in Paris.

Influence of King Louis XIV

King Louis XIV ensued a formal state academy of art as to inflict total control. To attain a place in this academy was to have publicity and status as an artist. The king greatly admired the work of Poussin, tried to lure him back to Paris from Rome but was largely unsuccessful. The French Academy established an accepted style (heroism, classicism, idealized historical painting, tumultuous yet rigid control) , however this was inevitably resisted. There was a debate within the artist: a Poussinist vs. Rubenist - classical vs. lyrical - disengo vs. colore - form vs. color/sensuality

Nicolas Poussin: Landscape with St. John on Patmos 1640

Landscape - loved in its expressive power. Allowed his fusion of poetic and heroic subject matter. Inspired by his time in Rome: an ideal landscape which is highly structured. Although informal elements exists (craggy rocks, broken ruins and a wild, un-manicured landscape) there is a strong sense of symmetry. The midpoint of the temple/obelisk harks back to the antiquity; the crumbling ruins tinges the image with a sense of melancholy; a "vanitas" = reminder that things end. The sitter is a Christian saint identified by his thin halo; in the guise of a figure from the ancient past as seen in his yellow toga and flowing white beard. Appears to be an ancient philosopher/a man of learning; identified as St. John who was a writer of one of the four gospels. Like The Flight into Egypt, there is a winding road which guides the eye back into the space and a REPOUSSOIR: trees which act as visual punctuators to bracket the composition. Reflects a movement from Paganism to Christianity - the obelisk points heavenward; synchronizing of religion aspiring towards the divine.

Georges de La Tour: Joseph and Jesus 1642

Many French painters of the early 17th Century were influenced by Caravaggio. La Tour's use of light and his reliance on detailed naturalism derived from Caravaggio's northern European followers whom he may have visited in the Dutch Republic. La Tour's mature religious pictures effectively convey the complex mysteries of the Christian faith. With its carefully observed details/humble subject, it might be taken as a genre scene. However, it is full of devotional spirit: the two figures are set in profile, thus yielding title by their expressions. La Tour lends maximum significant to each gesture. The boy holds a candle (signature device of the artist) whose flame reinforces the devotional mood and imbues the scene with tenderness/intimacy. Suggestive that Joseph is in fact crafting the cross for Jesus; foreshadowing and pathos.

Nicolas Poussin: Garden of Flora 1631

Nicolas Poussin was an avid student of classicism, particularly classical language/philosophy. Mythological scene taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses of death of young lovers which perpetuate in flowers. Flora: goddess of heaven/growth - green dress/garlands of flowers represents her fertility. All around her, ironically, are dying figures in a poetic fashion. A visual poem - deaths from "metamorphoses"; transformation of young lovers into natural elements. Poetic garden: human drama that leads to the creation of flowers. e.g. a man throwing himself on a sword (noble form of Roman suicide); flower blooms from his sword; carnation - 'carnies' (flesh) - blood. Comparable to Botticelli's Primavera: less melancholic; interested in transformation from material to immaterial. Different mythological figures create a figurative 'pictorial' bouquet.

Watteau: Signpost of Gersaint 1721

Signpost to a shop owned by a picture dealer; imagines the fourth wall of shop removed; we can see into the interior from an exterior street. e.g. the dog chained/scattering of hay and cobbled streets indicate our externalized vantage point. Another theme of love: shoppers are coupled; come to look at art together. Tenderness; sense of sentimental as a portrait of King Louis XIV is lowered into a box; a gesture lays rest to the previous era. The voluminous rose satin dress of the woman on the left, seen from the back, draws they eye; this figure is balanced by the languidly leaning woman on the right. Another couple in black dress study a painting of naked nymphs; gentlemen looks at him; his wife studies the foliage. A comical detail. Originally semicircular in shape - colors show traces of addition.

Jean-Honoré Fragonard: The Swing 1767

Transforms fantasy into reality; star pupil of Boucher. Brilliant colorist; fantasy, flirtation and licentiousness embodies the spirit of Rococo. The painting suggests a collusion in erotic fantasy between the artist/patron with the clergy as their unwitting dupe. This "boudoir painting" (sexual intimacy) offers the thrill of sexual opportunity/voyeurism in an outdoor setting. The innocence of the public heightens the testing quality of the swing moving towards the patron-viewer. Cupid holding his finger to his lips; suggests the conspiracy int he erotic escape in which we viewers are now participants. Lush, foaming trees; encapsulates the secluded "place of love" that provides secrecy for their encounter. Strong overtones of fertility due to the otherworldly haze. Sensuality - Rococo; provided distraction for his wealthy patrons.

Cloidon: Nymph and Satyr Carousing 1780

Used to adorn interiors, French Rococo sculpture took many forms. Cloidon was a successful sculpture of the Rococo period who later adapted his style to a more austere Neoclassical manner. He transforms the fantastic of Boucher/Fragonard into three dimension works of coquettish eroticism. There is an open/airy composition of the sculpture which is related to Bernini. Its miniature scale produces an intimate and sensual effect.

Watteau: Drawing - Seated Young Woman 1716

Watteau's use of color planted him firmly in the Rúbeniste camp. However, his innovations and creativity as a draftsman (which would have implied a Poussiniste status) combined both colorant line. Although previously artist such as Rubens had drawn with red/black chalk heightened with white, Watteau excelled in this technique known as TROIS CRAYONS. In seated young woman, he uses three chalks ask that the red color defines her body (legs, face, breast) which suggests a vivacious quality when contrasted against the white/black of her clothing. The colors enliven/add spontaneity to the drawing.