Chapter 23

The Death of Marat, David

David was a revolutionary once the French Rev. began in 1789 and was a powerful figure in the new republic. Member of National Convention (legislative assembly holding executive power) in charge of artistic affairs. Wanted to assassinate the king, send Georges-Jacques Danton to guillotine, and closed the Royal Academy. Propaganda. Marat was editor of populist newspaper and deputy in national convention. Defender of the people and revolutionary but a feared and ruthless man. Despised so much that a counterrevolutionary stabbed him in the chest while he was in his bathtub writing. David paints him as an attractive, healthy man while he was really disfigured with a skin disease. Shows him still holding the quill that he defended the French people with. Fake petition Corday gave him before he stabbed him. Realism. Detail, sharp lighting. Shallow picture plane. Even though Marat's bathroom was in reality very lavish, he paints it very modestly. His arm resembles Christ's in the Deposition, Lamentation, or Pietá. Sheets recall Christs shroud. Martyr dying for his country.

The Death of General Wolfe, Benjamin West

Period: British Neoclassical Medium: Oil on canvas Historical painting. West was raised in Philadelphia but studied in Rome. Settled permanently in London. Founding member of the Royal Academy and was president. This painting was innovative because it was a contemporary history painting in a realistic setting. During the French and Indian war in Quebec. Modern Uniforms. National hero and martyr for country. Modern day lamentation scene with general Wolfe as Christ and the men surrounding him as his apostles. Classical rules of decorum. Aggrandized and classicized his figures. The unemotional figure is the Iroquois. Ancient river god

The Park at Stourhead, Henry Flitcroft and Henry Hoare

Period: Neoclassical "The picturesque": Lake District in north of England. Designed their landscape to resemble a landscape painting. An alternative to the sublime which caused awe and fear. "Associationism": layering architecture and garden design with numerous assocations. Elicit emotional responses. Knowledge of history during enlightenment poured into art. Landscaped to look natural. Unplanned and without human intervention. Idealization of a Classical past. (also kind of a romantic landscape because designed to transport viewer into lost Arcadian world with powerful emotions) In the background is a Pantheon-like replica of the Temple of Apollo in one of Claude's paintings. Path around lake is allegorical reference to journey of Aeneas through underworld, and the lake is Lake Avernus. Statue of a nymph. Layers of different historical and literary associations

Chiswick House, Lord Burlington and William Kent

Period: Neoclassical British Architecture Classical revival in architecture began before painting in England. Anthony Ashley Cooper (third Earl of Shaftesbury and Colen Campbell published a treatises) arguing for British architecture based on antiquity/Palladian style. Rejecting Baroque and the association with Roman Catholicism and it's ostentatiousness. Whig party. Burlington saw Villa Rotonda on grand tour and based the house off of it. Simple and logic. Cube shape, greek temple portico. Octagonal rotunda is geometric.

The Oath of the Horatii, David

Period: Neoclassicism Medium: Oil on canvas Moralistic history paintings. "Grand Machines": huge oil paintings based on noble and virtuous deeds of ancients and of modern French history. This painting took him three years to paint. Based on a 17th century BCE roman story about a border dispute between Rome and neighboring Alba. Settled by sword fight. The three Horatii brothers represented Rome. Only Horatius survived. Instructed to paint the moment when Horatius returns home and kills his sister...BUT David painted a scene not in the literature. Horatii taking an oath to fight to the death. Composition is simple. Contrasts the stoic, virile men with the heap of curved distressed women. Severe composition with shallow space. Tuscan Doric columns. Seem solid and statuesque, very planar and linear (even more than Poussin) Rejecting Rococo. Naturalism and intensity. Drama highlighted by harsh lighting and shadows (Caravaggio) Undercurrents of Romanticism