Art History Module 9

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (French, 1780 - 1867)

A student of David • Publicly remarked on his disdain for the "natural" style and also for the Romantics • With Ingres' success, the French art world was divided- there were those who sided with Ingres and admired Renaissance artists such as Leonardo and Raphael; and those who sided with Delacroix and the Romantics and admired Baroque artists such as Rubens.

Ingres, French, Odalisque with Slave, Neoclassicism, 1842

place in an exotic location. You see this beautiful architecture, but the woman, with her red hair, is clearly European. So, again, he is just adopting this foreign setting for his paintings of the nude women. This one also similar to Titian's Venus of Urbino. You see the red color; also the receding space, and even her position along the bed.

Ingres Grande Odalisque

And Ingres really embraces this idea of Orientalism when painting the female nude, and Orientalism, it's important to think about, does not involve a true understanding of these cultures. Now, if you look at this woman, she's clearly European. There's absolutely nothing exotic or foreign about her. So, as I said, Ingres doesn't really grasp this idea of exoticism but rather he just uses the taste for it, and that's what we refer to as Orientalism. We also see Orientalism when we applied [inaudible] architecture of this period, and even fashion, interior design. A lot of these traits of art from India and North Africa were adopted into the European style at this time. So, we look at the Grande Odalisque; again, we see an influence of another Renaissance artist, in this case, Titian, obviously, the nude idea. We also see an influence of the Maneris [phonetic]. If you look at the body of the Grande Odalisque, you see that she is very elongated. Her arm tends to, seems to bend in a way that's not entirely natural as the Maneris often painted their figures

Vigée-Lebrun (French), Portrait of Marie Antoinette, Rococo, 1783

And here, even when she's doing something very simple, such as arranging the flowers or tying the bow from the flowers, she appears very elegant and to be doing it in a very utmost royal way. And here in the corner you see the beautiful crown, alluding, again, to her royalty.

Neoclassicism

Arose as a result in the growing interest in Classical Greek and Roman style, figures, and architecture; also influenced by Poussin's Classicism of the French Baroque period • An interest in Greek and Roman culture came about largely due to the popularity of the "Grand Tour," and the excavation of the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii (begun in 1738 and 1748, respectively) near Naples • Features severe images and somber themes; neglects "natural" tendencies • Scenes are often instructional • Led by Jacques-Louis David, and later by his student, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres This is discussed in your textbook, so I won't go into a lot of details, but the important things to know is that people are beginning to not rely on any given truce, things that have been really taken for granted or thought to be authoritative for very long, but people are actually beginning to think of new ways of doing things, new ways of applying science, of new ways of thinking about their own rights. This is a time, sometimes known as the "Age of Reason," but it's really what has given birth, given life, maybe we should say, to the French Revolution and the American Revolution. People are becoming much more less likely to automatically accept certain truths. They want to challenge things and, as I said, this does lead eventually to the French and American Revolutions, but also to radical scientific discoveries, and this [inaudible] to Neoclassicism but also Romanticism. We'll talk about this with both of these. The Excavations of Herculaneum & Pompeii. So, this is an important historical event. In '79 AD, or CE, as we call it, the volcano, Mount Vesuvius, erupted outside of the city of Pompeii in Italy. And what that meant was that there was a lot of volcanic ash that came down on the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum; Herculaneum being a little smaller than Pompeii, and it simply froze those cities in time, and it wasn't until the 1730s and 1740s that archaeologists were able to go in to those sites and begin to dig around and begin to see a lot of how the people of Herculaneum and Pompeii have lived daily life in the first century. And they uncovered a lot of beautiful artifacts, a lot of beautiful homes, and these artifacts and the style of that Roman Empirical period, which we talked about a few weeks ago, will begin to have an influence on the taste of 18th century Europeans. You've heard me say linear style or the type of painting associated with neoclassicism which is very tight and you didn't see brushstrokes. That's called linear style

Sublime

Articulated by writer Edmund Burke, "sublime" refers to something that inspires feelings of awe mixed with terror • Examples of the sublime may be great, violent storms or vast, impassable spaces; things that are both beautiful, but frightening as well

Rubens (Flemish), Garden of Love, Baroque, 1633

But if you look at the architecture in the background of "Garden of Love" and then you look at these archways that Watteau has included, you know, right down to the sculptures on either side, you really get the same sense [inaudible] striped column you see here, you really get the sense that Watteau was taking a quote from a Rubens' painting. Also think about the subject of this painting, "Garden of Love." This is one he painted as an homage to his new wife, and we saw the portrait of the couple here. Well, here Watteau is painting this really image of love throughout this beautiful painting.

David (French), Bonaparte Crossing the Great Saint Bernard Pass, Neoclassicism, 1801

He was actually eventually exiled to Belgium as Napoleon was exiled to Elba, but the historic, and really heroic, is more accurate, depictions of David are some of the best images of Napoleon. So, what you see by David is, again, the tight brush strokes. You see this, an element of action and excitement, but the face of Napoleon is still very stoic and very somber the same thing with Marcus Aurelius, how the artist made him look incredibly large and powerful.

Delacroix (French), Collision of Moorish Horsemen, Romanticism, 1843 - 44

Delacroix like Gericault had this fascination with animals and Delacroix's tend to be a little more exotic though here we do see the same types of horses or a horse as we saw with Gericault. This one has this exotic setting. We're seeing a collision of Moorish horsemen so something that is much more North African in nature and that harkens back to this idea of [inaudible] and the other, the exotic. Delacroix actually did travel more than someone like [inaudible] and had this great ability and really sense of this exotic nature of in his case North Africa. We see this twisting violent nature of the horses. We see fighting happening in the background. It's much more painterly than even what we saw with Liberty Leading the People. We see the brushstrokes. It feels almost softened by how he really finishes off the painting.

Neoclassicism: Enlightened Art

Europe in the mid-18th c. to the early 19th c. The Enlightenment - a time of intense interest in observational science and reason; emphasizing the importance of reason over emotions; the practice of relying on authoritative, but possibly incorrect, historical sources was disregarded; gave rise of the idea of certain God-given rights - life, liberty, property, etc.; also referred to as the "Age of Reason" Excavations of Herculaneum & Pompeii - 1738 and 1748 Popularity of the Grand Tour Onset of the Industrial Revolution

Delacroix (France), Tiger Hunt, Romanticism, 1854

Finally this is one other romantic painting by Delacroix and I love this one because it involves the tiger and the horse in you're really seeing this tiger biting down on the horse's leg. You're seeing figures coming in from the background. It has all of this action. Also the sublime quality of the romantic style in that here are these two really beautiful and striking animals in this exotic setting but it's also very frightening. It's something that is showing the power of nature, another very typical trait of romantic painters.

Vigée-Lebrun (French) Self-Portraits, Rococo / Neoclassical, 1790, 1786

Here are two self-portraits of Vigee-Lebrun done in -- this one 1786 and this one 1790, and these are later. This is after the French had begun to rise up and this one, 1790, actually after the beginning of the French Revolution. So you actually see a different type of look in that the royalty is not the focus of Vigee-Lebrun's work from this point on, and these self-portraits really emerge as her greatest work from this late Rococo period, which really kicks off the neoclassical style, which we talk about next week. Again, with these you can look at the same qualities that she gave the fabric in the Marie Antoinettes, with the beautiful lace collar, the beautiful white dress of her daughter Julie, who appears in this painting.

Géricault (French), Raft of the Medusa, Romanticism, 1818 - 1819

Here's Gericault's most famous work, The Raft of the Medusa, and it's really an epic masterpiece. It's a large-scale depiction of an actual event. What happened was there was a French ship wrecked off the African coast and the incompetency of the captain was really seen as the reason for this. The captain had been given this job because of his own noble birth and he put himself and his senior officers before the lower ranked officers and before the passengers once the ship wrecked and they escaped on the lifeboats leaving about 150 people, survivors of the wreck, to build this makeshift raft and for 12 days they drifted. Two of the survivors published an account of the tale after they returned to France. They were eventually rescued and Gericault chooses to paint the moment when they see the ship on the horizon that maybe it is there hope and as you can see several have already perished. There obviously aren't 150 people here. Bodies were eventually thrown overboard once people died but here are the people that survived Thirteen days on a floating coffin where insanity, mutiny, mutilation, famine, thirst and cannibalism were all commonplace and that was a quote from the account that two of the survivors published after returning to France. And the situation really proved to be a pretty big deal in France as political dynamite because it really countered a lot about the revolution had stood for. Here was this captain who was incredibly incompetent and he was given his job because of his own noble stature and that was really to a lot of people just to slap in the face considering everything the revolution had stood for. So when we look at the composition notice that it has this very strong X across it. The romantics like this reliance on the diagonal line and you see it really dramatically depicted here. It heightens the trauma. Also see the use of foreshortening here in the bodies. Gericault frequented the morgues in Paris when he was painting this work of art when he was working on it because he wanted to get the accuracy correct and the sort of rotting and decomposing bodies that he wanted to include. Now as I said he had a nervous breakdown in 1819, really not long after this painting was completed and it might have been the volume of the emotion required to paint this that sort of pushed him over the edge.

Fragonard (French), The Secret Meeting, Rococo, 1771 - 1773

Here's another Fragonard scene, who really is spelling out almost the exact same situation. So here the woman has snuck out to her garden and here comes her lover hopping over the fence for their secret meeting. And again, the whole scene is playful, it's beautifully lit, it's beautifully colored. There are soft lines everywhere. Then the meaning of these paintings is really to be playful and to be fun and to be romantic. These paintings weren't meant to carry those same sour and heavy messages of French classicism.

Neoclassicism review

Neoclassicism review • Often looks to the past • Balanced, symmetrical compositions • Logical, rational images that lack heavy emotion • Controlled situations, man's power over nature • Historical, biblical, mythical events • A linear style - sharp outlines, clear forms, solid colors • Fascinated with Classical culture, and eventually also with foreign, exotic cultures • Strived to portray truths and to educate viewer

Delacroix (French), Liberty Leading the People, Romanticism, 1830

Now Delacroix's may be greatest masterpiece we'll call it, Liberty Leading the People is --, it's very typical obviously of romantics to tell recent history and they sometimes use allegory so here we have the allegorical figure of liberty leading the people. This is not meant to be a real person but rather a symbol for what people are beginning to fight for again in this second revolution that was happening after the initial French Revolution of the 1780s and 90s. So here Delacroix places liberty in the center. He puts her higher than everything else. He draws your attention to her in so many ways, the color of the flag, the contrast in value that he uses and again we're seeing the same types of bodies that we saw in Raft of Medusa and in the Massacres of Chios. It's a frightening scene. It tells about the drama and the worry really that these figures are feeling, these real people. He uses real people in his painting. This is actually a self-portrait of Delacroix that he includes here and he used friends and acquaintances for the other figures in the painting, just sort of a nod at the idea that this is something really happening and that France and its people must take hold of this country and really fight again for what they lost after the revolution. In the very background you see the Cathedral of Notre Dame, just another grounding factor telling us that this is in fact very real.

Rococo

ROCOCO, mid - late 18th c. • Rococo art began with the elegance and extravagances of Louis XIV, and was originally reserved as a style of interior decoration; it eventually manifested itself in painting and sculpture during the 18th century • Rococo style was based in France, and centered around the educated, aristocratic, and wealthy Parisian culture • Rococo is characterized by playful scenes; muted lines; delicate figures; pastel colors; and lighthearted themes of love, mythological tales, and aristocratic frivolities So Rococo really begins with what we saw from Louis XIV, which was that beautiful elegance and really grand excess, and Rococo grows out of that and originally began as a style of interior decoration, a way that the French people decorated their palaces, their homes, their public places. It was seen as the official French style following that of Louis XIV, and it eventually makes its way into painting and sculpture in the 18th century. So the Rococo style is really solely associated with France. That is where it was centered and it really focuses on the higher echelons of society, the educated, the wealthy, and mostly we're talking about Paris, though some of the style did leak onto the other parts of France. Rococo is characterized by some really definite signs. It's easy to spot a Rococo painting. The scenes are usually very playful. They deal with mythology, they deal with aristocratic frivolities, and I mean by that wealthy people acting immaturely or in silly or very light-hearted ways. There's a lot of tails of love in these paintings. And, you know, talking about just how the paintings look, the figures usually have a delicate quality to them. They usually feel very light. There are bright but beautiful colors, and sometimes pastel, but I hesitate to pigeonhole the colors with that word. There are beautiful pinks and peachy kind of colors, but there are these beautiful deeper colors that we see as well. So really, it's not necessarily always a pastel color, but an idea of beautiful color. And finally, muted lines. These scenes, a lot of times the figures sort of seem to fade into one another as if this is -- the whole painting -- entire painting's sort of covered up almost by a dream-like sense.

Neoclassicism Looks to the past • Balanced • Logical, rational • Calm situations • Man's power over nature • Historical, biblical, mythical events • A linear style - sharp outlines, clear forms, solid colors • Fascinated with Classical culture, and eventually also with foreign, exotic cultures • Strived to portray truths and to educate viewer

Romanticism Looks inward, does not rely on past stylistic movements • Asymmetry • Emotional, imaginative • Savage imagery that can be dark, frightening, and unsettling • Power of nature; depiction of the sublime • Contemporary, often unpleasant events • A painterly style - broad, loose strokes, lack of outlines, blended colors • Fascinated with foreign, exotic cultures • Strived to evoke emotions and stimulate the mind

Romanticism

Rose from desires for freedom - political, religious, speech • Values imagination over reason; emotion over logic • Relied on the sublime, and on fearful, dark moods; images can be frightening, morbid, or savage; depict power of nature • Asymmetrical compositions • Few historical depictions, most paintings include contemporary, and sometimes often unpleasant events • A painterly style - broad, loose strokes, lack of outlines, blended colors • Fascinated with foreign, exotic cultures • Rejected Neoclassical reliance on the Enlightenment and Classical cultures • Strived to evoke emotions and stimulate the mind • Flourished in France, England, Spain, Germany, and the United States

Jean Antoine Watteau (French, 1684 - 1721), The French Comedians, Rococo, 1720 - 21

So our first Rococo artist that we talk about is Watteau, and Watteau is early in Rococo. You can see that he was born really during the Baroque period and his style, though we call him Rococo, comes just at the beginning of what we would classify as that period. He didn't live very long, but he was very prolific and painted the same type of theme over and over again. He loved theatrical scenes. He loved to paint actors portraying roles. There are very famous images by Watteau of famous stock characters that were very common in French plays. Of course, the theater would have been a very favorite pastime and interest of the French Aristocracy and the upper class. It would have been quite a status symbol to be able to attend the theater, and Watteau, picking up on these ideas of painting things that are associated with this wealthy class, goes to the theater in order to really cull his subject matter.

Watteau (French), The Pleasures of the Ball, Rococo, 1717

So right off the bat, when you look at the title, you think of things that I mentioned earlier about what's important in Rococo scenes, the idea of love, well, "The Pleasures of the Ball." So here is this dance where here is a figure who is asking this woman to dance in a very romantic gesture. You see figures all around the scene, you know, fawning all over each other and really sort of engaging in these acts of very innocent, but outwardly affection. You also notice this grand and beautiful architecture, and I'll get to that in just a second, but think about the loose brush strokes that you see here, the beautiful colors. I mean, again, as I said, there are beautiful pinks and peaches, but you also see deeper colors as well, this beautiful red and beautiful blue. So this painting always reminds me of Rubens' "Garden of Love." And we know that Watteau was actually very fond of Rubens' work and very well-versed in how Rubens painted.

Théodore Géricault (French, 1791 - 1824), The Blacksmith's Signboard, Romanticism, 1814

So we begin with an early painting by Gericault and Gericault and Delacroix both have a fascination with animals, Gericault with especially horses and it's really evident in this early work called The Blacksmith's Signboard. should be really simple into something that's a very heroic depiction. You feel the movement of the horse, you feel the strength of the blacksmith. You can see the muscles in his arms, the movement of the horse and you also see the brushstrokes. You see exactly what I'm talking about with these loose brushstrokes, the brushstrokes that are very evident in these works. We see definitely an influence of Rubens in Gericault's work.

Eugène Delacroix (French, 1798 - 1863), Scenes from the Massacres at Chios, Romanticism, 1824

So we see one of Delacroix's most famous works and Delacroix was a much more vocal opponent to neoclassicism than Gericault was. Gericault let his paintings speak for themselves but Delacroix and [inaudible] had verbal disagreements that we'll talk about in another lecture. And when we look here at Delacroix's painting of Scenes from Massacres of Chios, we have another contemporary event just like the Raft of the Medusa. Here we have a scene from the Greek war of Independence from Turkey and Turkey sent 10,000 troops to the Greek island of Chios to quash a suspected rebellion and what happened when the Turkish troops went there were they killed thousands, they took countless women and children into slavery and Delacroix took accounts from survivors and from soldiers and turns this history painting really on its nose. This becomes a really horrific contemporary painting not a dramatic or heroic history painting. We see this mass of bodies very similarly done to what Gericault did with the bodies in the Raft of the Medusa. We see sadness on the faces of survivors. We see an emptiness almost a questioning of what is happening. We also see this vacancy in the center in that most of the action or the figures are taking place in the lower realms around the outside of the painting and there's really nothing in the center and it gives us this --, it really enhances the feeling of sadness I think. We could also talk about this idea of sublime in this painting obviously because this is a horrific event and then terrible things are happening but if you look at the way that Delacroix painted the sky it does have this sense of beauty to it that sort of sweeps you up before you notice the rest of the horrific painting.

David (French), The Death of Marat, Neoclassicism, 1793

So, another very important painting by David is the Death of Socrates, and it's another classical scene; so something taken from antiquity, and it's also very dramatic. Here is Socrates in the center, and he is accepting death rather than being exiled from Athens. 5 He's been condemned by the government of Athens for his teaching method, and the painting was commissioned by a set of brothers, a set of French brothers, who were pushing France for a more free market system; so, one of the factors that led to the French Revolution, and also for more freedom for public speech, for freedom of speech. And so, they're using David and the brothers, they are using Socrates as a symbol for all of this, and it was painted very close to the Revolution.Remember, I said it started in '89, and it was really, the painting began to symbolize really a call to duty and a reminder about political prisoners, who were suffering in the King's jails at this time, and also about really thinking logically about what's right and not necessarily what has been deemed correct for so long. So, the same thing with this painting. We see very sharp lines. That's very typical of this Neoclassical style. We see sadness on some of the figures, but we've seen the center of this very stoic and very angular Socrates, who stands as really the point of reason within this painting. The Death of Marat is maybe one of David's most famous works, and it is one of the ones we talked about very early in this series of lectures. Now, David was, and this is after the Revolution began, and David was very active in the Revolution, and this is his friend, and his name was Marat. And he was a very close friend of David's and was known for writing very passionate letters and leading very important aspects of the Revolution and led the revolutionary side. And he was eventually killed, murdered in his bathtub by a woman named Charlotte Corday, who was on the other side of the Revolution in a part of a rival political group.It's a very simple image to his friend. Now, it's different than the other two Neoclassical paintings we saw because it doesn't have the Classical image. It's much more contemporary, but it's still done in a very tight way. You don't see any brush strokes. It's a very somber scene. It's teaching us a lesson, and it's teaching us look what's happening in this Revolution. We've got to continue to fight. We've got to not let Marat's death go unrewarde

Ingres (French, 1780 - 1867), Oedipus and the Sphinx, Neoclassicism, 1808

So, the second artist that we discuss with the Neoclassicist is Ingres, and Ingres was a student of David. He really had a strong dislike for the Romantics, and we'll get into that in a different lecture. But he carried on the Neoclassical style, really fighting against the height of the Romantic period in France. And Ingres images tend to focus on very sharp lines. There, you don't see the brush strokes. Colors and forms are very well defined, and he doesn't rely on emotion. So, very similar to David, to his teacher, obviously. One of Ingres' images of Napoleon equally seems very powerful just as the crossing of the St. Bernard Pass that David did. He looks like a Greek God here, sitting in this very grand, very grandiose, we could say, [inaudible]. There's an especially, really strong attention paid to materials and texture. It's a beautiful really lush painting. When you look at this image of Napoleon, you almost forget that you're looking at this very famous man in history because you're getting sort of sucked up in all of this other detail that Ingres put in. It was not commissioned by Napoleon, this painting; it was just done out of pure respect by Ingres. And as I said, it really highlights his skills and his ability to paint these incredible textures. Ingres became known as one of the most important portrait painters of the 19th century

Ingres (French), Apotheosis of Homer, Neoclassicism, 1827

So, this is a painting I want you to really pay attention to. It is the Apotheosis of Homer, and it's one of Ingres' most important works; maybe not one that is most, one of the most [inaudible], but it's incredibly important as we talk about the relationship between Neoclassicism and the High Renaissance So, this painting should remind you of Raphael's School of Athens, and it's no secret that Ingres had great admiration for Raphael. And when you look at the image, and you look at the colors that are used, you look at the way that the scene is arranged, the perfect symmetry; you look at the use of the classical architecture, and you think about the theme, the Apotheosis of Homer, that is making Homer into a God. And so, he's honoring this literary hero, and among the people sitting around are all of these other heroes of the humanities, Plato, Socrates, Homer, Shakespeare, Dante. Poussin is seen here; actually, Shakespeare here; Voltaire, all these wonderful writes and philosophers throughout history, are put together and brought in this very exciting scene, similar to what was happening in the School of Athens

Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (French, 1755 - 1842), Portrait of Marie Antoinette, Rococo, 1778

The most famous portrait painter of this period is Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, and she's known for her very beautiful and striking portraits of Marie Antoinette before the beginning of the French Revolution and before Marie was beheaded during that event. Here are two of those. And if you look, you see this beautiful attention that Vigee-Lebrun pays to the fabric, but she does it in way, both of these, here and here, that it almost seems as if Marie is floating or made of something that you almost couldn't touch because it looks so light. You look at the curtain in the background and it looks the same way. Vigee-Lebrun paid a special attention also to Marie's face, making her appear maybe a little more beautiful than she was, but also very elegant and very refined.

Gericault (France), Portraits of the Insane, Romanticism, 1822

This is a Portrait of a Child Snatcher if you can imagine and we have to remember that this is a time when mental illness was really just coming onto the forefront as a field of study in medicine and that there really wasn't a very complete understanding of psychology or of psychiatry or of how the human brain really worked. This one is a portrait of a man suffering from delusions of military command so basically delusions of grandeur is what we would call that now and this is portrait of a woman suffering from obsessive envy So there's this feeling of disattachment or unattachment to these figures and it's thought when he was painting these --, we don't really know the exact purpose, he was probably either aiding his own psychiatrist, [inaudible] who was a very prominent psychiatrist in France at the time and was studying physiognomy which is an outdated form of psychiatry in which patients are diagnosed through their physical appearances and its thought that maybe Gericault was providing samples almost, diagnostic samples for [inaudible] to use to diagnose other patients but it also may have been some sort of therapy for Gericault himself to go in to paint these figures as he had recently as late as 1819 suffered his own mental breakdown. Look at the dark backgrounds that you see. It draws your attention to the center. They feel very drab by modern-day standards but considering the situation that these figures were in it was probably very appropriate as well.

David (French), Death of Socrates, Neoclassicism, 1787

This is his Oath of the Horatii. Some of you have probably already seen this painting that we definitely talked about it in the first, one of the first lectures. So, David had studied Classical Art in Rome for several years early in his career, and he really greatly admired old masters but also Greek and Roman art. And what we see in this painting are a little bit of an incorporation of both those. The Oath of the Horatii, what's happening here is the father, who's in the center, is making his three sons take an oath that, as they are about to go to battle, that they will fight to the death. They will either come home winners, or they will die, basically. And so, you see the men on the left side of the painting, with their very hard lines, and they're right angles here. And then you see the women on the other side, who are often obviously sad by what's happening here with the family, and the soft lines of the women. So, David really has a knack for sort of splitting the canvas in half and telling us exactly where everybody stands. You know, the father is sort of the bridge between these two worlds, the world of war and the war of domesticity or being at home. This was done before the French Revolution. The French Revolution is from 1789 to 1799, so about five years before, and this was done for Louis the 16th, and it was a time when the spirt of the Revolution was beginning to sort of take hold in France. And an image like this, though not overtly revolutionary, obviously, it was done for the King, would still have had a little bit of that taste of the fire that was beginning to breathe in the French people.

Romanticism in France

Théodore Géricault and Eugène Delacroix were the leading French Romantic painters; they, along with other French artists felt a disconnection to Neoclassical style, as this style could not properly convey the realities of their world • Responded to the contemporary events and disasters, both in France and beyond its borders • Paintings have a tragic realm, rely on the sublime to evoke emotions, and often embrace movement that approaches violence • Painting style is loose and blended, with very few crisp lines The opposite of that is painterly style where the brushstrokes are visible and we'll look at some examples of that which is very apparent in French romanticism

Jean-Honoré Fragonard (French, 1732 - 1806), The Swing, Rococo, 1766

Watteau's work takes us into Fragonard, who was the most important of all the Rococo paintings, and this painting, "The Swing," is his most famous and it really -- we could call this late Rococo as Watteau started it in Fragonard and Vigee-Lebrun, which we'll look at in just a moment, sort of end. But look at the brilliant colors, not only the pink of her dress, but the beautiful glowing backdrop of this painting. Also the idea, what's happening here. It's this very frivolous, very flirtatious scene in which the woman, who has been brought out into her beautiful garden to swing, so she needed something to help pass her time, and here is her servant, or a priest or there's some debate over exactly whose figure it is, but here he is and he's pulling the swing and allowing her to have this moment of fun. Well, and whether he knows it or not, whether he has arranged this or not, her lover has hopped over the fence and is underneath, hiding in the bushes, hoping to get a glimpse up her skirt. She's kicking her shoe off. It's very flirtatious. Even the Cupid statute that Fragonard has included here is holding up a finger as if to say, shh, you know, don't tell anyone about the naughtiness that's happening here. This kind of story would have been a common occurrence. This would have been something that, you know, the wealthy woman is only allowed to see her lover secretly. It would have appeared in theater, in literature, and also probably in real life as well. So the figures are all very carefully arranged. Of course, she, in the center, is perfectly framed by the trees, by the two bottom figures by the sculpture here, and we can really almost look back at this arrangement and think back to this French classicist paintings where the subject matter was much more serious and dour under someone like Poussin. The arrangement and the attention to beautiful nature scenes is very similar.

Orientalism

a taste for the objects, styles, and décor of the Middle East and Asia; a popular trend in Europe during the early 19th c. for BOTH Neoclassical and Romantic artists, who both viewed these cultures as exotic