Enlightenment/Neoclassicism/Romanticism
The Tête à Tête, from Marriage à la Mode. William Hogarth. c. 1743 C.E. Oil on canvas.
William Hogarth (1697-1764) championed a truly English style of painting when he comically satirized the prosperous middle class. During the great age of satirical writing, Hogarth saw himself as translating satire into the visual arts. He loved to make series of narrative paintings or prints, in a sequence like chapters in a book or scenes in a play. In it he would follow a character or group of characters through their encounters with some social evil. Marriage à la Mode (Image 098) is a series of six paintings from ca.1743 satirizing the marital escapades of the English moneyed classes. Engravings were made from the paintings, reversing the composition. These could be mass produced and sold much cheaper than his paintings, allowing the middle class access to Hogarth's work. In The Tête à Tête (098), the second in the series, the marriage of the Viscount and the merchant's daughter is turning into a disaster. The tired wife, who has apparently had a card party the night before, is at breakfast in the now disordered home. The Viscount returns, also exhausted from a night spent away, likely at a brothel - the dog sniffs at a lady's cap in his pocket. Their servant, carrying bills and a receipt, leaves the room in distress, obviously dismayed by the disorder. The decoration in the room also comments on the scene. The picture over the mantle shows Cupid among ruins, and the bust with a broken nose is a symbol of impotence. Also, the row of pious religious paintings ends with a painting covered by a curtain with a bare foot emerging, no doubt a painting with an erotic subject. Ladies could not view such material, but with the pull of a cord, a gentleman and his guests could look at it. As in all of Hogarth's work, the details are revealed as they would be in a novel, with careful elaboration that emphasizes the humor of the various situations. Designed to be engravings, the paintings were so popular that unauthorized version were produced almost as quickly as the artist could create the originals. This speaks to the subject's appeal as well as to how the Enlightenment fostered, and exploited, new printing technologies and more quickly disseminated visual culture.
Romanticism
a term used to describe the movement in the arts that flourished in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (roughly 1750-1850). Romanticism grew primarily out of a reaction to the reason and strict forms and rules of Neoclassicism. The style emphasizes the emotional, the mystical (especially Medieval mysticism), the spiritual over the reasonable and the rational, and the creative imagination over tradition. The Romantic period artists showed a predilection for the exotic, the primitive, the irrational (dreams, madness, etc.), and the intensely dramatic, such themes as death, dying, and incredible suffering. incorporated a fascination with the macabre and the occult.
Liberty Leading the People. Eugène Delacroix. 1830 C.E. Oil on canvas
Also like Gericault, Delacroix drew inspiration from the current events of his day. Delacroix's most famous work, Liberty Leading the People (Image 108) was made in response to the July 1830 revolution that resulted in the overthrow of King Charles X. The Paris uprising of July 27, 28, and 29, 1830, known as the Trois Glorieuses ("Three Glorious Days"), was initiated by the liberal republicans for violation of the Constitution by the Second Restoration government. Charles X, the last Bourbon king of France, was overthrown and replaced by Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans. Delacroix, who witnessed the uprising, perceived it as a modern subject for a painting; the resulting work reflects the same romantic fervor he had applied to Massacre at Chios, a painting inspired by the Greek war of independence. The peak of fervor occasioned by victory is represented in a pyramidal composition; the base, strewn with corpses, resembles a pedestal supporting the image of the victors. Here, it serves to contain and balance the painter's vigorous brushwork, and the impulsive rhythm of the scene. The hats, this seemingly minor detail conveys a important aspect of what is being communicated in Liberty Leading the People -all social classes participated in the revolt. The factory worker with an uplifted saber sports the hat typical of his class. Next to Liberty is a young man waving two pistols and wearing the black beret traditionally worn by university students. Liberty herself steals the show and becomes the focal point, she is a symbol of personal bravery, persistence, and leadership, and she also reminds viewers that women played an indispensable role in the events. With her Greek profile and exposed breasts, she reminds us of ancient statuary, and is the main character in a story of revolution set in a realistic battle scene. She wears a phrygian cap, which was a widely recognized symbol of liberty during the French Revolution, and she grasps a musket in one hand and the new French tricolor flag in the other. This flag was adopted by the new monarchy to replace the white flag of the Bourbons. Repetition of the Tricolor- on the Notre Dame towers in the distant and on end of a pike at the left - conveys hope that this new regime won't revert to pre-Revolutionary France. Within the subdued palette of Liberty, the saturated hues of the flag are a striking exception; its colors are repeated in the blue pants legs, socks and jacket, and in the red sash and blood stains of the downed soldiers.
A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery. Joseph Wright of Derby. c. 1763-1765 C.E. Oil on canvas.
he English painter Joseph Wright of Derby became the unofficial artist of the Enlightenment. Wright painted scientists and philosophers in ways usually reserved for Biblical heroes and Greek gods. He spent most of his career outside of London, which was unusual for prominent English painters of the period. Without the constraints of the London art world, Wright was able to to pursue his interest in science, being part of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, a society that included Erasmus and Darwin. Wright's trademark was chiaroscuro, or the contrasts between light and dark, which is beautifully demonstrated in A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery (ca.1763-1765) (Image 100). Two young boys peek over the edge of a 19th century orrery, a scientific model of the universe with a lamp in the center representing the sun. Two other young onlookers gaze at it contemplatively. A standing man takes notes while another man listens intently to the lecture being given. The faces of the audience reflect one of the primary ideals of the Age of Enlightenment - that observation based on science would best advance society. Wright here gives a nod to Baroque artists like Caravaggio, who also was a champion of chiaroscuro, though his light sources were often simple candles reflecting enlightened Christian subjects. In this painting, the gas lamp serves two purposes: it illuminates the scene, and it also is a symbol of the enlightenment that the figures are receiving through scientific discovery.
Monticello. Virginia, U.S. Thomas Jefferson (architect). 1768-1809 C.E. Brick, glass, stone, and wood.
he Neoclassical emphasis on rationality, civic pride, and love of country was as popular in revolutionary America as it was in revolutionary France. In fact, statesman and scholar Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) even pushed to have Neoclassicism adopted as the official architectural style of the United States (cf. U.S. Capitol, White House, et al). When Jefferson began to design his own home, he did not turn to the architecture then in vogue around the Williamsburg area of Virginia near where he then lived. Instead, he looked to the classically inspired architecture of Antonio Palladio and James Gibbs. Rather than place his plantation house along the bank of a river—as was fashionable during the eighteenth century—Jefferson decided instead to place his home, atop a solitary hill just outside Charlottesville, Virginia. Jefferson's fondness for the Neoclassical style is present in his design for Monticello (1768-1809) (Image 102), his home in Charlottesville, Virginia. Here, the influence of Palladio is certain, while the use of wood (instead of marble) and brick are distinctly American elements. He was a great supporter of the values with which Neoclassical architecture was associated: morality, idealism, patriotism, and civic virtue. Construction of Monticello began in 1768 when the hilltop was first cleared and leveled, and Jefferson moved into the completed South Pavilion in 1770. In 1784, he went to France as American Minister and had the opportunity to delve into Classical and Neoclassical architecture. From 1793 to 1809, he redesigned and rebuilt his home, incorporating the ideals of French architecture. The early construction resembled a Palladian two-story pavilion, but the remodeling, based in part on the Hôtel de Salm (1782-87) in Paris, makes it a striking example of French Neoclassical architecture. The most notable elements are the west garden façade - the view that is featured on the American nickel. A two-column deep portico with Doric columns support a triangular pediment with a semi-circular window. The home has both a strong vertical elements, with the short octagonal drum and shallow dome, and horizontal elements, provided by the wooden balustrade circling the roofline. By helping to introduce classical architecture to the United States, Jefferson intended to reinforce the ideals behind the classical past: democracy, education, rationality, and civic responsibility. Because he disliked the English, Jefferson continually rejected British architectural precedent. In doing so, Jefferson reinforced the symbolic nature of architecture. Jefferson did not just design a building; he designed a building that eloquently spoke to the democratic ideals of the United States. This is clearly seen in many of Jefferson other architectural achievements: the Virginia State Capitol, the Rotunda at the University of Virginia, and especially in his own home, Monticello
Hudson River School
As in England, landscape painting also dominated Romantic era works in the United States. The most famous group of American Romantic landscape painters were collectively known as the Hudson River School because they drew most of their subjects from the uncultivated Hudson River Valley of New York State. The works of these artists reflected a new concept of wilderness in which man was an insignificant intrusion in a landscape more beautiful than fearsome. They loved to explore the country's relationship with the land through their romantic landscapes, and their work instilled a great sense of love for the American wild in viewers. Though their work depicted the rich land with great detail and expressive color, it was not without a moral message, often incorporating comments on the question of America's direction as a civilization.Two of the most important artists of the Hudson River school were Thomas Cole (1801-1848), whose dramatic and colorful landscapes are among the most impressive of the school, and Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) who glorified the Rocky Mountains in the West, working in the same manner as the painters in the East.The Hudson River School was America's first true artistic fraternity.
The Oxbow (View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm). Thomas Cole. 1836 C.E. Oil on canvas.
Cole's The Oxbow (View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm) (Image 109) depicts a bend in the Connecticut River. "The imagination can scarcely conceive Arcadian vales more lovely or more peaceful than the valley of the Connecticut," wrote the artist Thomas Cole in his Essay on American Scenery. "Its villages are rural places where trees overspread every dwelling, and the fields upon its margin have the richest verdute." This idealized view of rural America was already starting to decline when Cole painted View from Mount Holyoke, also known as The Oxbow. Mount Holyoke had become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States, exceeded only by Niagara Falls. Cole selected this corner of the country to preserve in a monumental painting. He wanted to produce an enduring visual record of a vanishing way of life. People who were too busy to make weekend trips to the country could at least gaze on a peaceful picture of the life they might have left behind. Cole's decision to portray the famous view from Mount Holyoke was originally commercial: he took advantage of the American taste for native scenery to paint what he hoped would never be forgotten. Works like this were als created to address the then often discussed topic of westward expansion. Notice that Cole divides the painting in unequal halves with a diagonal line from the lower right to the upper left. The left side of the painting is an impressive view of the land stretching out to the horizon. The land is relatively treeless and civilized - regulated by agriculture with crops growing and smoke pouring from chimneys. The right side of the painting is obscured by ominous storm clouds that appear to be smattering the middle ground with rain. This part of the painting is wild, untamed, untouched by man. The "blasted tree" in the lower left corner is a symbol often used by American landscape artists to show the great power of nature. When viewed in its entirety, the view invokes the concept known as Manifest Destiny. In 1804, the Louisiana Purchase nearly doubled the size of the United States, and many felt that Americans were obligated to settle westward. Cole's painting depicts this idea - the land to the east is settled, comfortable, and useful. The land to the west is chaotic, untamed, and uncertain. Looking even closer at the painting, we see a tiny figure low in the center. The artist stands, in a coat and hat, in front of a canvas with a paintbrush in hand. Rather than looking at his work, he looks back at the viewer, as if waiting for input to determine the course of the country's future.
George Washington. Jean-Antoine Houdon. 1788-1792 C.E. Marble.
Jefferson knew just the artist for this task: Jean-Antoine Houdon. Trained at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture and winner of the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1761 at only twenty years of age, Houdon was the most famous and accomplished neoclassical sculptor at work in France. Houdon was to remain in Paris and sculpt Washington from a likeness Charles Willson Peale had drawn. But, dissatisfied and uncomfortable with carving in three dimensions what Peale had rendered in two dimensions, Houdon made plans to visit Washington. Houdon departed for the United States in July 1785 and was joined by Benjamin Franklin and two assistants. In Washington, DC, he took detailed measurements of his body and sculpted a life mask of his face. While in America, Houdon created a slightly idealized and classicized bust portrait of the future first president. Unfortunately, Washington disliked this classicized look and insisted on being shown wearing contemporary attire rather than the garments of a hero from ancient Greece or Rome. With clear instructions from the sitter to be depicted in contemporary dress, Houdon returned to Paris in December 1785 and set to work on a standing full-length statue carved from Carrara marble. Houdon's George Washington (1788-1792) (Image 104) stands looking slightly to the left, a fatherly expression on his face. His left leg is slightly bent and half a stride forward. At Washington's own insistence, he is clothed in contemporary garb as a gentleman farmer instead of a toga, or another classical garment (as Houdon would have actually preferred). His right arm rests on fasces, which is a bundle of thirteen rods that are symbolic of the 13 colonies and represent strength in unity. This visually represents the concept of E Pluribus Unum—Out of Many, One—a congressionally approved motto of the United States from 1782 until 1956. Behind him is a plow, a reference to the story of Roman dictator Cincinnatus, who resigned his leadership when it was no longer needed and returned to his farm. Washington also resigned to his farm and lived a peaceful life as a civilian after his time in office rather than continue on a political or military career.
Portrait of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Miguel Cabrera. c. 1750 C.E. Oil on canvas.
Miguel Cabrera never met the esteemed nun and writer, but he painted the portrait of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (Image 099) after her death using earlier portraits of her (perhaps even self-portraits). He perhaps was inspired by images of St. Jerome, who was the patron saint of Sor Juana's religious order. St. Jerome is often depicted at a desk surrounded by books and other instruments of learning. Although the painting is in some ways typical of an 18th century Mexican depiction of a nun, it has a few outstanding characteristics. Sor Juana looks boldly out at the viewer. The books around her include philosophy, history, and mythology - the types of works she actually had in her library and which symbolize Enlightenment ideals. The table in front of her includes writing implements, alluding to her own efforts as a writer and intellectual. This is juxtaposed with a rosary, an indication of her religious life. Finally, the red curtain was common in portraiture of the elite class in this period, a symbol of high status.
"Natural" art (as it pertains to 18th century philosophy and art)
One of the great debates during the second half of the eighteenth century was between Voltaire, who saw the answer to society's ills in science and reason, and his fellow philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Voltaire looked to the progress of civilization as the cure for humanity's ills while Rousseau decried that society actually corrupted mankind. Therefore, mankind's only hope, according to Rousseau, was to rediscover its original state with nature alone (rather than science and reason) serving as the guide. Rousseau's philosophy had a tremendous impact on the art of the period, as artists and patrons alike abandoned the artifice of the Rococo in search of the "natural."
neo-Baroque
The Baroque Revival, also known as Neo-Baroque (or Second Empire architecture in France), was an architectural style of the late 19th century. The term is used to describe architecture which displays important aspects of Baroque style, but is not of the Baroque period proper—i.e., the 17th and 18th centuries.
Self-Portrait. Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. 1790 C.E. Oil on canvas.
The eighteenth century witnessed a growing legion of professional women artists who competed with their male colleagues and each other for patronage and positions in the prestigious academies. This resulted in restrictions on female memberships in many institutions as well as a ban of females altogether in the French Royal Academy, which voted in 1706 to no longer admit women. Even so, there were a number of eighteenth century women artists that became known for their talent, teaching, stylistic innovations, influence on other artists, and professional prosperity. Nowhere can this be better seen than in the life and work of the French painter Elisabeth Vigee-LeBrun. The "naturalistic" trend was also evident in portraiture during the later eighteenth century, as we can see from the Self Portrait (Image 105) by Elisabeth Louise Vigee-Lebrun (1755-1842). Here, the artist interrupts her work to actively engage the viewer. Vigee-Lebrun's pose, expression and dress are all completely "natural." Vigee-Lebrun was also one of the most technically fluent and popular portrait artists of her era, and her pictures are notable for their freshness, charm, and sensitivity. Her self-portraits received much criticism in her day, being labeled everything from "brilliantly graceful" and "spontaneous" to "superficial" and narcissistic; however, there is no doubt about them being beautifully and richly colored, and an important record of both political and stylistic changes that were occurring in art during the latter part of the 18th century. Le Brun was one of the most successful portrait painters in history. She completed over 900 works during her 87 years. While there were some history and landscape paintings, she was best known for beautifully colored and detailed idealized likenesses of well-known aristocrats of her time, including over 20 portraits of the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette. The great Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens had a profound impact on Vigee-Lebrun's color, glazing techniques, compositional approach, and use of light. She made copies of his Medici Cycle in the Luxembourg Palace while still a teenager, but she was particularly impressed with works she saw on a trip to Flanders with her art dealer husband, J.B.P. Lebrun, in 1781. When she returned home she painted two self-portraits under Rubens influence. In this work, actually painted in Rome in 1790, she not only emphasizes her role as a professional artist, at her easel with brushes and palette in hand, but she underscores her formerly important position as painter to the queen by showing an unfinished likeness of Marie Antoinette on her easel.
Enlightenment
The eighteenth century witnessed an extraordinary expansion of knowledge known as the Enlightenment. Interestingly, the roots of the Enlightenment are actually found in the scientific and intellectual developments of the seventeenth century,1 which fostered a belief in natural law, universal order, and the confidence in human reason that spread to influence all of eighteenth-century society, including art. Regardless of their sources, the currents of thought during the eighteenth century were many and varied, but certain ideas may be characterized as pervading and dominant. A rational and scientific approach to religious, social, political, and economic issues promoted a secular view of the world and a general sense of progress and perfectibility. These new ideas certainly played major roles in the American, French, and Industrial Revolutions. The major champions of these concepts were philosophers, most notably Voltaire, who popularized and promulgated the new ideas for the general reading public. These proponents of the Enlightenment shared certain basic attitudes. With supreme faith in rationality, they sought to discover and to act upon universally valid principles governing humanity, nature, and society. They variously attacked spiritual and scientific authority, dogmatism, intolerance, censorship, and economic and social restraints. They considered the state the proper and rational instrument of progress. The Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot, which made all of humanity's available knowledge generally accessible to everyone who could read, epitomized the spirit of the Age of Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason, as it is also called.2 As an offshoot of the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution also had a tremendous impact on the world of art because it introduced ndustrial materials such as iron and steel as an artistic medium. An important eighteenth-century work in iron, which prefigured the wide-spread skeletal use of iron and steel in the nineteenth century (with the Eiffel Tower being the most famous project), is the iron bridge at Coalbrookdale in England. The first iron bridge in history was conceived by Abraham Darby III, owner of a significant cast-iron business, and architect Thomas F. Pritchard, whose design reminds us of the aqueducts of ancient Rome (see Lesson 3.18). 1Especially in the discoveries of Isaac Newton, the rationalism of Réné Descartes, the skepticism of Pierre Bayle, the pantheism of Benedict de Spinoza, and the empiricism of Francis Bacon and John Locke. 2Information on the Enlightenment is from encyclopedia.com.
The Oath of the Horatii. Jacques-Louis David. 1784 C.E. Oil on canvas
The most important artist of the Neoclassical period was Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825). David agreed with the Enlightenment ideal that the subject of an artwork should have a moral. He favored teachings that used the art of the ancients and of the great Renaissance writers. The Oath of the Horatii (Image 103) depicts a story from heroic pre-Republican Rome. The story had been told in a play several years earlier, so David's audience was widely familiar with the story, wherein three brothers are taking an oath to defend Rome, in an attempt settle a conflict with a group from nearby Alba, the Curatii. The women in the painting grieve, knowing that the conflict will affect their lives, as the families are united by marriage (click here to find out what happened). The painting is highly representative of Neoclassical style not only for its subject matter, which is patriotic and moralistic, but also for the formal devices used by the painter depict force and clarity. The space is shallow like a stage, and the figures are statuesque and carefully modeled, similar to ancient relief sculpture. The men feature sharp, geometric forms that evoke the virtues of courage and patriotism touted by Enlightenment leaders, which contrasts with the soft curves and lines of the emotional women displaying love, sorrow and despair on the right. This, coupled with the stark light in the picture, causes the viewer to consider the scene with a mix of passion and rationality. In David's painting, we see the moment at which the Horatii swear on their swords (held by their father), to win or die trying. This is the epitome of the Neoclassical style: a theme of heroic self-sacrifice and love of country ( from Roman history) shown in a clear and forceful composition using classically-modeled figural forms. This painting also created quite a stir when it was displayed in Paris just a few years before the French Revolution. Although the work was commissioned by royal patronage, it nevertheless was used by French revolutionaries as inspiration to sacrifice self for the good of the nation. David did not intend the painting as revolutionary, but it aroused his audience, and the Neoclassical style became the voice of the French Revolution
the Houses of Parliament in London IMG
The nineteenth century saw a revival of Gothic architecture, which scholars believe rose out of opposition to the Industrial Revolution. Certainly, the spirituality and Medieval mysticism, which the Gothic represented, appealed to the Romanticists, but the Gothic also represented craftsmanship during an age of mechanized production. The most famous of the Neo-Gothic works are the Houses of Parliament in London (Image 112). In the early eighth century, a Saxon church dedicated to St Peter was constructed. The church became known as the West Minster (west monastery), while St Paul's, located to the east in London, was known as the East Minster (east monastery). In the tenth century, the church was reconstructed as a abbey and adopted as a royal church. The royal interest in the abbey, both as a burial place and of Christian kingship, which gave rise to the idea of a palace at Westminster. On October 16, 1834, a fire destroyed most of the Palace of Westminster, leaving only the Great Hall, the western Law courts, and the cloister of St. Stephen. In 1835, a competition was held for a design for a new building, the only requirement being that the design be either Gothic or Elizabethan, as these styles were suitable for the dignity of parliament and appropriate for public architecture. There were 97 entries, and all but six were Gothic. Charles Barry's (1795-1860) design won, and though he preferred classical Renaissance designs, he designed neo-Gothic buildings as well, and A.W. Pugin (1812-1852), who loved medieval architecture, contributed Neo-Gothic details to Barry's design. In 1839, Charles Barry toured Britain, looking at quarries and buildings, with a committee, two leading geologists and a stone carver. Barry's New Palace of Westminster was reconstructed using the sandy-colored Anston limestone. However, the stone soon began to decompose most likely due to pollution and the lack of quality of some of the stone used. Some of the defects were strikingly clear as early as 1849, but no work was done for the remainder of the 19th century. In 1928, it was deemed necessary to use Clipsham stone, a honey-colored limestone from Rutland, replacing the deteriorating Anston. The project began in the 1930s but was quickly stopped by the start of the Second World War. Construction began again after the war and was completed during the 1950s. By the 1960s weather and pollution had once again begun affect the structure. A stone conservation team and restoration program to the exterior elevations and towers which was started in 1981 and was finally completed in 1994. The limestone building is almost 250,000 square feet, with the symmetry interrupted by two towers: The Victoria Tower, the base of which is the entrance to the New Palace of Westminster, and the clock tower, which contains the bell named Big Ben. The building is not truly Gothic, despite the Gothic details. Pugin supposedly commented that it was "All Grecian...Tudor details on a classical body." The two main axes come together in a great octagonal hall, with a tall spire at its location. The clock tower containing Big Ben is 320 feet tall with a pyramidal roof. Barry was careful to combine the old with the new, so that the surviving buildings would fit well with the whole. He also aimed to balance the horizontal, enhanced by bands of paneling, with the vertical, marked by turrets that reached far above the walls. Steeply pitched iron roofs also add to the skyline, and the Gothic scheme continued within the palace, encompassing wallpaper, stained glass, carvings, and even the royal thrones. The design had a substantial influence on various public buildings in Britain and beyond, such as town halls, law courts, and schools.
Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On). Joseph Mallord William Turner. 1840 C.E. Oil on canvas.
The other great English Romantic painter was Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851). Like his contemporary John Constable, Turner produced landscapes that were responses to the threat of industrialization. Unlike Constable's calm, precise paintings, Turner's were bursting with violent swirls of color, full of passion and energy. Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On) (Image 111) is a particularly vivid example of Turner's work. The sea appears to be on fire as yellow, red, and orange swirl together in sky and water. A ship moves out to sea, leaving behind a turbulent, churning mass of water, while in the bottom right of the canvas, a shackled foot prepares to sink. The scale of the relatively small human forms in the vast ocean and great sky enforces the great power of nature over humans. Turner's painting was based upon an incident that occurred in 1783. In a widely read book called The History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, Thomas Clarkson, outlined an occurrence that happened involving a ship over loaded with slaves. Many of the slaves onboard were sick, and the captain of a slave ship realized that his insurance company would reimburse him for slaves lost at sea, but not for any who died en route. The captain decided to throw all slaves who were sick or dying overboard. Turner depicts this horrifying event through passionate color. The forms are indistinct, making the colors more intense and the brushstrokes more energetic. His method, one that released color from defined outlines and instead conveyed an emotional response, is one that had a major effect on the development of painting. By examining the artist's style here, it is evident why Turner is often regarded as a visionary. For the artist, the sharpness of color and the power of his brushwork carry as much (or more) emotional force as do the identifiable forms in his work. Turner would have a tremendous impact on the development of modern art leading ultimately to twentieth-century abstract art, where forms are eliminated altogether.
Y no hai remedio (And There's Nothing to Be Done), from Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War), plate 15. Francisco de Goya. 1810-1823 C.E. (published 1863). Etching, drypoint, burin, and burnishing
The series was produced using a variety of intaglio printmaking techniques, mainly etching for the line work and aquatint for the tonal areas, but also engraving and drypoint. As with many other Goya prints, they are sometimes referred to as aquatints, but more often as etchings. The series is usually considered in three groups, which broadly mirror the order of their creation. The first 47 focus on incidents from the war and show the consequences of the conflict on individual soldiers and civilians. The middle series (plates 48 to 64) record the effects of the famine that hit Madrid in 1811-12, before the city was liberated from the French. The final 17 reflect the bitter disappointment of liberals when the restored Bourbon monarchy was encouraged by the Catholic hierarchy to reject the Spanish Constitution of 1812, therefore opposing both state and religious reform. Goya's scenes of atrocities, starvation, degradation, and humiliation have been described as the "prodigious flowering of rage. The serial nature in which the plates unfold has led some to see the images as similar in nature to photography. Y no hai remedio (And There's Nothing to Be Done) (Image 106) is image 15 in the series, and it shows the hopelessness and despair that De Goya observed. One prisoner, executed, lies grossly contorted on the ground in a pool of blood. His executioners are shown only by the barrels of their rifles in the right edge of the frame. In the background, the same scene repeats itself. While an accurate depiction of the realities of war, the series proved too intense for the public at the time - the series was not published until 1863, several decades after De Goya's death
Dry point etching
The simplest method for producing intaglio prints is drypoint, in which a sharp stylus or needle is used to scratch lines directly into the metal plate. The advantage of this technique is that the metal scrapings on either side of the lines, known as the burr, hold a dense film of ink which prints as a rich, velvety black. Drypoint, however, is not a very practical technique for producing multiple images, for the delicate burr wears away so quickly that only a small number of good impressions, no more than a dozen, can be taken from the plate. For artists who wished to create a large number of high-quality impressions from the same plate (a large edition), this medium had limited appeal. A well-engraved plate can produce several hundred impressions, at times even a thousand, while a woodblock can generate many more.
La Grande Odalisque. Jean-AugusteDominique Ingres. 1814 C.E. Oil on canvas.
Though Ingres could be classified as a Neoclassicist, he also showed some early Romantic tendencies. Ironically, Ingres' most influential and famous paintings were Romantic works featuring the exotic and the erotic, such as his La Grande Odalisque (Image 107). The term "odalisque" refers to a member of a Turkish harem, which is in itself exotic and erotic. At first glance, La Grande Odalisque seems to follow the work of some of the great Venetian masters, like Titian's Venus of Urbino (1538) (Image 080). The figure's languid pose, small head, and elongated limbs are a nod to the Italian Mannerists. Draftsmanship was very important to Ingres. He favored long, flowing lines - for example, the woman's back - creating a work of exquisite beauty and sensuality. There is also an odd element to the painting. The woman's back is unusually elongated; there are four extra vertebrae. The volumes of the nude, bathed in an soft light, are toned down in a space without a great deal of depth. Ingres was influenced by Mannerist painting and, perhaps, by Persian illuminated manuscripts. In contrast with the abstract lines, the rendering of the details, such as the fabrics in done very realistically. The subtle economy of colors also sets this work apart. Ingres treated the sensual motif with a cold harmony set off by the blue drapery. The gold of the other fabrics helps make this odalisque a mysterious, captivating figure. But, this is no classical setting. The peacock fan, turban, pearls, hookah, and the title all reference the Orient, which to the France, was not the Far East, but the near east or perhaps even North Africa. It's also important to consider the audience: an early 19th century French male viewer would immediately consider not only a harem slave by the term "odalisque," but would also think of the history of aggression between Islamic Asia and Christian Europe. The Romantics favored exotic settings, both for their rich history and because the exotic gave a greater license to display more blatant sexuality to a rather prudish audience. The painting was not received well, as the strange combination of precise classical form clashed with the Romantic themes and was thus confusing to the viewers. Ingres was dubbed a rebel until the 1820's, when critics decided that while Ingres did show awareness of Romanticism, he still used elements that adhered strictly to the Neoclassical, and thus, Ingres became a figurehead for the academic battle against the Romantic Movement.
Westminster Hall/Central Lobby IMG
Westminster Hall (Image 112) is the oldest building on the Parliamentary estate. What makes it such an amazing building architecturally is not only because its great size and the grandeur of its roof, but its major role in British history. Around the Hall, many major institutions of the British state were established: Parliament, the law courts and various government offices. Involved in the life of England since the 11th century, a walk through the Hall's history is a journey through 900 interesting years of British history. The Central Lobby (Image 112) is the heart of the Palace of Westminster and was designed by Charles Barry as a gathering place for Members of both Houses, and where they could meet their constituents. It is a towering stone octagon with an ornately tiled floor, and a rich mosaic-covered vault. The very recognizable Central Tower is constructed over the Central Lobby, which forms the crossroads of the Palace: the place where corridors from the Lords, Commons, and Westminster Hall meet.
Neoclassicism
is the term used to describe a dominant movement in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries which was characterized by a desire to recreate the heroic spirit and the decorative style of the art of Greece and Rome. A new and more scientific interest in classical antiquity, fueled by the archecological discoveries at Pompeii and Herculaneum, was one of the features of the movement. Neoclassicism stood in opposition to the light-hearted and frivolous Rococo style with its sense of order, clarity, and reason seen in Greek and Roman art. These values held great appeal in the Age of Enlightenment, particularly in France and the United States as the Neoclassical style held strong moral implications. As the American colonists and the French lower classes grew increasingly dissatisfied with their governments, they sought to restore ancient Greek and Roman values into civil life. After the political revolutions, the French and the Americans would choose classical models of government for their new nations. The Americans modeled their government after Athenian democracy; the French turned to the Roman Republic model. Like the Romans, the French were also eventually ruled by an emperor: Napoleon.
Mexican nun Juana Inés de la Cruz
known as a feminist and a scholar. She chose life as a nun so that she could freely pursue her education. She had a voracious appetite for knowledge and read constantly. She also wrote plays and poetry, and she was also an early proponent of women's rights, often challenging society's values. She advocated for women to have access to education and is considered the first published feminist of the New World.
neo-Gothic
of or in an artistic style that originated in the 19th century, characterized by the revival of Gothic and other medieval forms. In architecture it is manifested in pointed arches, vaulted ceilings, and mock fortifications.
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