Rococo to Romanticism Midterm

Las Meninas by Velazquez 1657

- 17th century spanish artists who influenced goya - compared to family of charles IV - both of them included themselves in the composition - how was it helpful for the royal family to accept such an unflattering image of themselves

The Oath of Horatii by David 1785

- 3 horatii brothers (roman) taking an oath to defend rome from neighboring alba - Horatii and curati brothers fight and only survivor is a horatii brother - role of citizen should supersede role of brother, public virtue over private - composition: visual language is pared down, clearly articulated gestures/poses - geometric clarity to the work - bodies of the men in the painting: predominantly geometric form - stiffness, angularity, geometry - arranged left to right in a stage like space, so the narrative and allegorical meaning of the work come forward as clearly as possible - physical separation of the genders represents distinct values/behaviors: women: private loyalty, allegiance to the family, emotion, curvilinear form, softer, rounder, lighting is softer; Male: public loyalty, allegiance to the state, no emotion: geometrical, lighting on the men is starker - exemplifies neoclassical history painting

Napoleon Crossing the Saint Bernard Pass by David 1800

- David prospers under revolutionary government, survives fall, thrives under rule of napoleon - david became official painter of new government - represent military victories and campaigns - depicts napoleon crossing the alps - very dynamic, yet napoleon is in full control - painting as propaganda - dramatic departure from neoclassical ideal of previous work - much more dramatic and baroque (horse hair, rippling red cloak, drama, movement, dynamism)

Gersaint's Shop Sign by Watteau 1720-21

- Gersaint was the dealer of Watteau's paintings: a typical dealer, shows an important but gradual shift as artists produced works for the open market vs just private commissions - shows the shop where works were sold among other luxury items; other place art was seen in addition to the salon, more private and formal - painting was the sign for the entrance of the shop: admired by all; was purchased by a private collector - requires close, private looking to see it: see the patrons doing the same thing; encourages passerby to enter; figures not in costume but wearing fashionable clothes - painting is an ad for the shop and for art itself - looking at and buying art is part of aristocratic pleasure and interaction

Death of Germanicus by Poussin 1627

- Greuze looked to this painting as a model for his own work

Death of Marat by David 1793

- Honor death of revolutionary figures/martyrs to be shone in processions/marched - Produced at height of the reign of terror - Commemorates popular political figure - Marat killed by a woman - Puts marat in the pose of pieta (jesus after crucifixtion) - Revolutionary secular version of a devotional image - Did not want the painting to further inflame anger - Served as a quiet, powerful, consoling memorial to this revolutionary figure - Only martyr painting he actually finished - Difficulty.turmoil of the period in representing current events Void above marat Not a lot of time to make the work Simplicity and sparseness gives populist feeling Accessibility, universality Says year 2 - revolutionary remaking of the calendar Body Idealized physical form Expression of ideal body - male, representation of ideal virtue and ideal citizenship Powerful example of how closely imagery and poltiics wind together Art could and should have central role in politics of the moment

The Three Stages in the Study of Drawing by Cochin 1763

- Rome prize: if you win, you go to rome to study - big important part of the training of the academy was learning how to draw the human figure - many steps of copying before being allowed to draw from a live action figure - artists became increasingly resistent that the classical path was the only tradition worth upholding

Filial Piety by Greuze, 1763

- another family scene oriented around the father - traditional patriarchal order - family headed by male figures - about behaviors, values, morals of those attending to the father - theme of father-son relationship - spontaneous moment/outpouring of love and support - father's posture - between life and death - being rewarded for raising one's children well - old age surrounding by loving family members - reward for a life virtually lived - nostalgic quality to painting for the parisian audience - affirmed Greuze's reputation as the painter of moralizing sentiment

The Bath of Venus by Boucher 1751

- another of Pompodour - compare madame to venus - intended for the washroom - erotic - celebrate theatricals performed by the court - homage to sensual delights and pleasures provided by luxury decorative objects - artist was positioned as a seductress, feminized, discredited

Rococo

- art of the aristocracy and monarchy - pleasure seeking and pleasure taking - as revolution happened, criticism increased - less popular monarchy grew, less popular rococo is - prominent role art has in 18th century society - style most favored by the French elite - embodies the values of the monarchy and aristocracy

antiochus and Stratonice 1774 Jacques Louis David

- beginning to explore new styles - branch from rococo - more restrained, linear, figures more clearly delineated - place where they are is more coherent, rational - seen from classic mythology - narrative told through gestures, emotions, and arrangements of the bodies - antiochus is lovesick and the doctor is diagnosing him with lovesickness - notion that current art should be a continuation of art of the past

Chardin, Self Portrait, 1771

- born in Paris at end of 17th century - worked in genre painting and still life - painted works that occupy virtuous, ordered, stable, traditional world - focuses on the mid 18th century and middle/upper class french life - known for his genre paintings - quiet, simple, ordered world - also paid attention to still life painting - one of the most celebrated artists of his time

Self Portrait by Gericault 1818

- both came of age under napoleon - supportive of napelonic empire - rise of romanticism which was a reaction against neoclassicalism

Portrait of Louis XIV, 1701 by Rigaud

- brought academy of art, music, literature under control of the state - art was taught, theory was generated/debated - state run exhibitions of art - The Salon - held in rooms at the louvre - artists became instruments of royal patronage and propaganda - ensure promoting Louis XIV - had significant power to shape people's perceptions, behaviors, values, etc - Rigaud was the main portratist to the king - Point of the work was not to offer a likeness rather to present the kind as the embodiment of France - communicate that the power of the state is consolidated into this one person; glory of the country = the king; highly formalized dress: fleur de lis cloke, heels (greater height, stature, authority), wig; stance is a theatrical representation that the monarchy and aristocracy embraced

Shepherd and Shepherdess Reposing, Boucher 1761

- colorist - pastoral subject matter which he became famous for - painted for other aristocratic patrons - depicting lovers - soft light bathing them, picturesque natural setting - bodies in contact with one another - no real narrative, major event, significant figure - only action - shepherd is about to pick a rose - state of serene leisure - pleasurable experience for the viewer

Self Portrait of Jacques-Louis David, 1794

- david became one of the most influential painters - exemplary neo-classical painter - key in anti rococo movement

Studies for Raft of the Medusa by Gericault

- don't appear in final version - help to immerse and physical and emotional trauma of the experience - mortal/vulnerable matter - taken the human body and turned into still life of sorts - limbs are unconventional studes: undermine harmony, balance, and integrity of the human body: body is broken and fragmented - very thickly painted - evoke fleshiness and physicality of these body partys

Ungrateful Son by Greuze, 1777

- eldest son goes to the army - doesn't care about his duties as a son

Portrait of Francois Boucher by Lundberg

- embodies rococo painting - thought to become one of the greatest history painters but sike! - thought his patrons were artistically and morally corrupt and corrupted him - painter of erotica triviality

Mounted Trumpeter of Hussars by Gericault 1814

- evoke raw force/energy and represent potentially untamed nature - potential uncontrollability of the natural world - work alludes to the fall of the napoleonic regime: melancholy quality to the figure; stillness to the figure that speaks to the defeated state of the emperor

The Times of Day: Evening by Runge

- evoking natural forms: non naturalistic way; not a scene from natural world; elements from natural world - meant as prepatory works for final painted panels: enormous scale - never did

A Father Reading the Bible to His Children by Greuze, 1755

- exhibited as his debut at the salon of 1755 - painting of a virtuous father surrounded by his family - peasant scene: household gathered together for the daily bible reading; humble interior, clutter (domestic morality), viewing children with sense of religious values; joining of sentiment and morality; demonstrate importance of virtue, domestic, familiar order; not corrupted by material indulgences cohesiveness as a family unit - hierarchy at work here: father is focus, family dutifully submits to his authority, wife is seen listening attentively to him (feminine good conduct), father surrounded by his sons - more male side and more female side - intended as a comforting image to parisian salon viewers: antidote for confusion and corruption of the modern world - clear moral message - fits into the enlightenment call

Gathering in a Park by Watteau 1718

- fete galante - private, intimate interactions - erotic advancements/relationships/interactions - no narration - work pulls us in - intimate relationship between viewer and work

Venetian Pleasures, 1717 by Watteau

- fete galante painting: park, aristocrats, singing, dancing, listening to music, figures engaged in private exchanges and interactions - Nymph in top right given a place of prominence - stirring to life, music, flowing fountain has woken her, an erotic figure - no narrative precision: function is to celebrate the exclusive world of elite pleasures and pasttimes, illicit, intimate activities; represents aristocracy to the aristocracy; decorative fashion, luxury silks, lacy - small gestures: work is made to be looked at up close, invites intimate looking - space figures in: not well ordered or rational, organic flowing lines, density and lushness, not clear distinction between parts of the scene

Intervention of the Sabine Women by David 1799

- first major work painted and exhibited after being released from prison - returns to the classical past/roman history - scene has significance: early romans needed women to grow their population so they stole the wives of the sabines; sabine men were ready to attack the romans to reclaim their women but the women were integrated with the romans; painting shows two armies battling; women throwing themselves between them to stop the battle and urge a reconciliation btw the 2 factions; woman in middle is pleading reconciliaton for the sake of the republic and families - fitting allegory for the reconciliation of french society after the deep divisions and violence of the french revolution - symbol of reconciliation of david with the french public - how david decided to exhibit it: not at salon but in private exhibition at his studio - early example of private exhibition; charged admission, placed mirror across from it so the visitor could see themselves in the painting when they looked (help to integrate the public into the work and to emphasize the issue of reconciliation btw david and his audience)

Battle of Aboukir by Gros 1806

- focusing on single heroic figure in action - landscape gives sense of particulars in the place - see french general attacking wounded figure - wounded figure's son offers sword as a gesture of submission - aestheticizing war and violence - celebration of extremely violent scenes - convey excitement of battle and sense of pride over french victories

Sketch for Battle of Nazareth by Gros 1801

- french troops defeat a force of turk troops - turks shown as undisciplined, cruel, disorganized, identified with eastern garb - french shown as civilized, in control, composed - painting of french force - attempts to assert superiority of western europeans over nonwestern europeans: ascribing stereotypes and derogatory characteristics; establish greatness with napoleon as leader - napoleon commissioned this painting 3 weeks after this battle took place: depiction of truly contemporary event, change history paintings, convey contemporaryness and grandness of it - never completed: meant to be 45 feet wide: shown with maps and battle accounts, contemporary, criticized - chaotic composition: not translated into celebration of natural victory, natural pride, glory of napoleon; fails to reconcile the journalistic and the symbolic

Soap Bubbles by Chardin, 1735

- genre scene - stillness, harmony, fundamental order- everything resting right where it should be - shown in salon of 1739 - liked to depict children in his genre scenes - Vantasse images: in some way or other, allude to fragility or fleeting nature of life, material world, material possessions, worldy accomplishments; the boy's youth is in transient state - bubble - popular among middle class viewers - work seen as antidote to aristocratic values -viewers can get without a reference

Laocoon and His Sons

- helped inspire David - Minkleman: intense interest in classical studies - important figure in the classic revival - wrote an important pamphlet on the 2 statues - considered ancient greece and rome to be pinacles of achievement - antimonarchical: enlightenment, improve institutions in society

Leonidas at Thermopylae by David 1814

- heroic greek resistance against the powerful persian army - vowed to defend, even tho they all die - began the painting in 1802 - dismissed the painting as a story of efeat and loss bc of their failed russian campaign - was exiled to brussels

Study of Two Severed Heads by Gericault 1818

- history painting turned into reporting on current events - real challenge to conventional notions and functions of history painting - went to the morgue to study bodies to paint - he's thinking of the body in mortal terms/as a physically fragile impermanent thing: immerse himself in being ina an atmosphere of death; help himself imagine the experience of death and dispair; the body is flesh/brute matter in the world - emotional, psychological, physical extremes the figures are experiencing

Septimus Severus Reproaching Caracalla by Greuze, 1769

- history scene: first for Greuze - very poorly received, considered a failure - Dierdot hated it: stylistic, technical reasons; anatomy of figures is incorrect; unreadable facial emotions; lack of clarity and legibility; criticized for showing a declaration - no real action; uncompelling history painting - scene from roman history - greuze engages with very serious scenes - classical subject matter

Monk by the Sea by Friedrich 1809

- human figures dwarfed by their surroundings - spiritual components of his concept of landscape and painting - subject: situating nature/partially defining it in religious terms: simplified rendering/purification of the landscape; paints with thin paint - no real texture to surface of his canvases; elevate above material reality into metaphysical realm - was a recognizable part of the german coast

Belisarius Begging for Alms by David, 1781

- influence of his years in rome - narrative: story from ancient roman history; B had been a great roman general; emperor thought he committed treason but he didn't, blinded and cast out; emperor realized his mistake and took him back (ruler who comes to his senses and listens to reason) - could be criticism of the french monarchy: an allegory of the unjust rule of the french monarchy; ruler who listens to reason; by leaving it vague, appeals to 2 audiences: those who are critics and fans of the monarchy

Wounded Cavalryman by Gericault 1814

- infused napoleonic era with sense of excitement - exemplifies another aspect of romantic movement - sense of disillusionment - shown with above painting - pair together symbolizes military victory and defeat - retreating from battle - brought down in defeat - strong supporter of napoleon - painted at the time of napoleon's first fall from power - fall of the regime - Gericault's own sense of mouring over the failures - not really a portrait, too large for genre, too fragmented for history painting - weakening of the hierarchy/distinction of the genres - represents two sides of napoleonic campaigning: victory and defeat - exemplifies the mixing/blending of genre categories - centered on motif of horses

The Clothed Maja by Goya 1805

- interested in spanish bohemia - maja = bohemian woman - painting same figure clothed and naked- makes the nudity of the bottom figure benal but also more shocking - completely secular contemporary female nude - no mythological reference or thin reference to an allegory/narrative of any kind

The Rest on the Flight to Egypt by Runge 1806

- learning how to paint - motifs of the times of day series brought in here - illusionistic picture - important for revisions of times of day projects - felt progress, still disappointed, no church purchased it so he didn't finish

Charging Cavalryman by Gericault 1812

- lots of attention - earliest and ambitious large scale - about to give the order to attack - lose/energetic brushwork = immediacy - weakening of the hierarchy of the genres - shown by itself

Portrait of Louis XIV by Rigaud 1701

- master of self presentation/ self mytologizing - shows how goya's paintings are a departure from royal portraiture

Respite from War by Watteau 1713

- military paintings - show world of military in unremarkable terms - doesn't aim to convey power, glory, commemorate battles or triumphs - no drama here - just everyday movements in lives of soldiers

Abbey in an Oak Forest by Friedrich, 1809-1810

- monks in funeral procession to the graveyard of an abbey - this is the ruin: imaging of the ruin signifies inevitable passing of time and forces on human life - using landscape as exploration of spiritual concerns - motif of architectual ruin - emrbaced: rejecting classic and renaissance tradtiion; classic forms arisen out of nature

Greuze

- morality - genre painter: scenes from everyday life

Diligent Mother by Chardin, 1740

- more kids - very cute scenes of adult sociability - husbands and fathers never really appear - mother is taking part of an acivity that exemplifies her domestic/maternal responsibilities - world of where nothing of tremendous significance is happening

Family of Charles IV by Goya 1800

- most well known/elaborate of his official portraits - don't come together has a royal unit - plays up plain/ugliness of their faces in contrast to the luxury of the clothes that they are wearing - Critic: the corner baker and his wife after they won the lottery; first artist to strip the royals of their royalty; surrounded by the trappings of wealth and power - sense of disjuncture between plainness of figures and the splendor of their clothes/surroundings - lack of idealization - see elements of Goya's romantic disillusionment: no higher ideal people can aspire to, painting highlights the ordinaryness of even great figures, lack of uncertainty, goya depicts them as they appear: lack of redemptive meaning

Morning Toilette by Chardin, 1741

- mother arranging her daughter's bonnet - not an ordinary outing - prayer book out, going to church - child quietly stealing a glance in the mirror : subtle caution against vanity - how chaste his female figures are, modest and desexualized world

Napoleon on the Battlefield at Eylau by Gros 1808

- napoleon is on horseback and is visitng the battlefield after a really tough fight with the russian army - notion that napoleon's army is invincible was shaken - reference to loss of life - bodies strewn about - napoleon is seen as benevolent conqueror: showing mercy to the russian figure at his feet; disruption and negation of the neoclassical sense of orderly, mapped out, very legible pictorial composition - vigorous handling of paint: physicality of paint itself helping to give you a feel of the scene

Raft of the Medusa by Gericault 1819

- narrative: 1860 ship called the medusa wrecked off west coast of africa; captain of the ship was king's appointee; incompetent navigator, failed to take responsibility and escaped 150 died on raft; depicting moment of deep desperation and also moment when seeing passing ship - scale: 16 ft tall, 24 ft wide - figures are not facing spectator - unusual: focal point of their attention is the ship on the horizon - all but imperceptible to us, the viewer - bodies are chaotically displayed across the surface of the raft - literal pyramid of bodies; different use of the body and arrangement of pictoral space - at the top of pyramid is the African man - pinacle figure is the racial other - new for the time - bodies in the foreground spill out into the space of the viewer - close to us - undermine convetions of history painting: subject: critique of incompetence of the monarchy; painting without a hero, unheroic human action; dead, contorted, twisted, suffering human bodies; interest in extreme experiences/intense emotional/psychological states - handling of paint: vigorous, visible, active paint surface - notion of art as requiring the cultivation of individual style/individual point of view: greatness in art emerges from the uniqueness of its particular maker

Sea of Ice by Friedrich 1823

- nature as overpowering and dangerous entity - intense state of experience and emotion - ship being crushed - embrace of the fragment - ice - assault on symmetry and harmony of neoclassical compositions

Coronation of Napoleon and Josephine by David 1806

- neoclassical/neoroman setting to hide gothic architecture of notre dame - evoke the ancient roman empire - pope was invited to crown napoleon but napoleon had a scandal - napoleon had taken the crown from the pope and crowned himself emperor - taking the power from the church and bestowing it on himself

Venus and Mars Surprised by Vulcan by Boucher

- not a moral warning to the viewer - celebration of erotic pleasure and sensuality - deliberately anti virtuous - mythological aspect is chosen or its erotic content - light, soft decorative palette

Napoleon Visiting the Pest House at Jaffa by Gros 1804

- official napoleonic military painter - painter is of jaffa - napoleon visiting the plague/pest house - another modern history painting of a contemporary event - during napoleon's campaign, some french soldiers got the plague - painted to counter act criticism -focal point: napoleon who is touching the wound of an infected soldier with his bare hand to emphasize napoleon's fearlessness; mythologizing napoleon (jesus healing the sick); beneficient leader and divine healer - trying to counteract the less than ideal realities surrounding the sick french soldiers - need to represent contemporary event and need to transcend this particular time and place - does what he is unable to in nazareth painting - success in salon of 1804 - body is depicted as a mortal thing: no longer the transcended neoclassical body of David: poses, gestures, not moral/political ideas - speak to bodily suffering/deterioration

Battle Between Minerva and Mars by David, 1771

- one of his earliest works -see influence of the rococo - dramatic, curvilinear forms - absence of clear distinctions of parts in the scenes - sensuousness of the female nude - not a clearly articulate space - subversion/playing with gender rolls

Wanderer Above Sea of Fog by Friedrich 1818

- opposition between nature and culture - immensity of nature and finitude of people: landscape extends in both directions; nature expands infinitely; aspects f natural world that cannot be fully represented by artist and fully grasped by people; fog helps to convey ungraspability of nature - swallowed in this mist which masks it - nature is force which we cannot grasp in its totality - figure: fragile figure facing the vast, uncontainable natural world; alienation of the single figure from the world around him; not at home in this environment but an outsider

The Well-Loved Mother by Greuze, 1769

- organized around the maternal figure - mother is center of the family - shift in emphasis (atypical for Greuze) - accompanied by dogs- hunting, so not a peasant family, more elevated economic status - exceptional work: portrays the joys of mother and fatherhood; procreating pair; viewers are meant to aspire to - familial and social order that Dierdot likes - antidote to failed collapse of marital unit in modern society - marriage is important to a healthy society

Gericault's Portrait Series

- painted a series of 10 patients suffering from psychological things - interest in marginal/outcast figures - most alienated in society - defiance of genre: not portraits in conventional sense: not studies for other works, not famous people, not scientific illustrations - lush painting: emphasis process - brushwork is autograph of sorts: more look of sketch than finished painting; sense of the immediate and unfinished - emotionally powerful works: interest in facial expressions, using painting to explore and express extreme states of mind - definition of people themselves: people driven by intense internal states/extreme states of mind/psychological imbalance

Self Portraits by Goya 1797 and 1815

- painted at very different points in his life - representations of different outlooks on life at different points in his career - Early: several years after becoming painter to king; court clothing; depciting himself as a court painter; expression/gaze is alert and outward looking; glasses = symbol of enlightenment - Later: older, darker; heavier gaze; more somber view of himself and the world around him

The Swing by Fragonard

- painted for a patron in wealthy aristocracy of France - producing works with erotic content for private, aristocratic living quarters - celebrates an adulterous affair between woman on swing and man she is swinging for (lover) and he comissioned it - woman is swinging, moving through air, pleasurable abandon, loss of control - third figure is her husband - doesn't know he is watching - commissioned by private patron who wanted painting of his mistress - secrecy, illicit behavior: not to condemn but to celebrate - eroticism, pleasure, forbidden behaviors - meaning conveyed through style, composition, flowing brushwork, loose lines, colors - Audience: private elite audience; depicts private and elite behavior - values of french king, queen, and aristocracy - rococo - sensual pleasure: detail of the shoe flying of her foot: abandon, lushness, posture of the male figure who reaches out towards thee woman; wants to catch a glimpse under her skirt; surroundings: irrational profusion of greenery and soft brushwork, gentle palette, light, loose brushwork, abundance of curvy form - male and female figures not depicted very differently from each other

Charles IV on Horseback by Goya 1800-01

- painter to the king - focused on portraits/representations of royal family and major royal commissions

Allegory of Four Corners of the World, Rubens 1615

- paradigm of a colorist painter - revel in representation of surfaces - interest in relationship between colors, build the painting out of colorist relationships - notice variety of skin tones - decoration of painting as visual delight FLESHY NUDES

Death of Germanicus by Poussin

- paradigm of linear painting - example of history painting - germanicus was poisoned by his father - older, clarity, rationality, legibility -each figure has clear bodily poses, move the narrative forward - human body is the unit of meaning in history painting - each gesture, pose, expression has to be easily read to form narrative - figures arranged laterally - adheres to primary colors

The Times of Day: Morning by Runge

- pen and ink drawings which then engraved - floral motifs: interest in representation of nature - using nature to evoke fundamental truths: romantic embrace of significance of nature - connection between religiousity and nature

Butchers of the Rome Cattle Market by Gericault 1817

- powerful animals, animal strength, and energy - power of nature

Temptation and Expulsion from the Garden of Eden by Michelangelo

- prime example of linear painting

The Toilette of Venus by Boucher 1751

- process of adorning her body - self adornment, self beautification - celebration of beauty of body and pleasure of attending to it - focus on material luxury, objects, surfaces - delight for the viewer - homage to venus - tending to the body - intended for her washroom for her and louis - eroticism - intimate private nature of the space where the works were hung - weeks before: madame de pompodour played venus at versailles so this was an homage to her and the private amusements of the court

Achilles Battling with the River Scamander 1801 by Friedrich

- produced at very early stage of career for compeititon - subject was Homer( classical past) - not a success: disenchanted with studies of art; reconsideration of his work/direction art was taking; turn from neoclassicism and stirrings of romanticism

Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of His Sons 1789

- produced same year as beginning of french revolution - subject taken from ancient roman history: brutus was first leader of the roman republic, led the revolt that overthrew the king; own 2 sons conspired to restore the monarchy; brutus put the death sentence in place for this crime and had to put it in place against his own sons - brutus is ruminating over this decision - female figure with outstretched arm is his wife and nurse is next to her - themes similar to oath the horatii: fathers willing to sacrifice their sons for the good of the state; public allegiances take priority over private; cost is very clearly marked in both paintings; women in the paintings do play important roles: pain and loss and suffering that are consequences of men's actions are painfully demonstrated by female figures in the paintings; women convey the price paid - imbuing the work with classical detail - composition: sizeable gap (unoconventional) symbolizes the violence and dismemberment done to the sons, pulling apart of the family; tragedy of the story is told through the arrangement of pictorial space and arrangement of figures Moral: sympathize with women and their loss or brutus and the sense of duty has been done: both are necessity to save the republic and lack of humanity - message that predicts future events of french revolution

Pilgrimage to the Island of Cythera, 1717 by Watteau

- represents a fete galante (elegant celebration); a subject Watteau invented himself - features aristocratic figures in an outdoor gathering (music, dancing) - a theatrical performance - perform scenes from operas, etc which the french court regularly did in costume - Cythera: a greek island, mythological home of Aphrodite - love, desire, beauty so the people are coming to the island on a pilgrimage to Venus - the statue of Venus on the right is presiding over the participants fleurty conversations - Couples: broad, looping curves; compositional backbone/chain that unites the composition; united in attraction, fleurtation, seduction, engaged in private conversations/interactions - emphasizes a series of intimate moments between the pairs - openly celebrates private pleasures, erotic pleasures, theatricality of the court/aristocracy; pleasure seeking and pleasure taking - composition: loose, flowing brushwork; broad, looping curve, repeats themes above - Watteau's notion that painting itself is a colored surface that seduces people through an appeal to the senses - fashion, fine clothing, luxury fabrics

Stonebreakers by Corbet

- represents bottom of socioeconomic ladder - focus on different world than fragonard - different political and artistic values

Epsom Downs Derby by Gericault 1821

- retreats from producing major statements like raft of the medusa - went to england: drawings, painted sketches, studies -only large oil painting produced during this period - horse racing scene: not as monumental as in earlier works; showing speed of animal but not uncontrolability - had an inheritance: could work without need to find buyers; wanted to produce works that reflect his own ideas

Cupid and Psyche by David 1817

- returned to the more rococo inspired work he produced at the very beginnings of his career - irrational spaces - eroticism, desire, love - so different from the work he produced for most of his career

Mars Disarmed by Venus and the Graces by David 1824

- returned to the more rococo inspired work he produced at the very beginnings of his career - irrational spaces - eroticism, desire, love - so different from the work he produced for most of his career

Madame de Pompadour at her Toilette, Boucher 1758

- seated at her makeup table, covered in ribbons and frills, holding rouge - chromatic uniformity (pink, white) - deliberately displaying a bracelet with the face of Louis XV - how she derives her authority - double portrait because it contains one of the king too - she is performing the ritual of putting on cosmetics - but she is already done: shows the importance of performance, dress, artifice for one's identity - comparison between cosmetics and paint - not an uncommon analogy - apply colored material to the surface that aims to seduce/appeal to the eye

The Return from Market by Chardin, 1739

- see beginnings of the prep of a family meal by a family servant - kitchen seen as clean, orderly, organized, performing her job as keeping order in kitchen and house - well maintained/ordered domestic sphere

Sketch of Marie Antoinette - David

- see how david worked to establish a visual and pictoral vocabulary - crucial shift from historical to contemporary subjects - powerful viseral evidence of david's relationship to the french revolution - larger issue: attention to artistic issues: revolutionary govt paid a lot of attention to the power of art to shape people's perceptions; give visual form to abstract principals - dissolve state run academy of fine arts - established a central musuem to house art that was confiscated from private collections - destructive acts, louvre as public musueum

The Process of Love by Fragonard

- series of 6 images - absence of narrative - no mythological pretext -

The Laundress by Chardin, 1733

- servant is accompanied by her own child - no conversation, each absorbed in their own activities - mother work, child plays - see childhood vs adulthood in a subtle form - first painting where he took up the theme of children playing - no heavy handed moralizing

Portrait of Madame de Pompadour by Boucher

- she was the official mistress of Louis 15 and an influential woman - influenced why people thought rococo was so feminine - she was well educated, ambitious, talented, good at using visual imagery to help her create an identity - heighten her status and power at court - likeness was not the primary goal here - objective was to put forward a specific definition of herself to her viewers - private room, luxe surroundings, openly celebrated material indulgence and luxury - surrounded by objects which indicate her intelligence, literary prowess, papers on the floor - well learned, sophisticated figure - she produced engravings based on boucher's paintings: highlights this in the work and shows her being in artistic dialogue with the artist - close attention to her dress and decorative objects/surfaces - like Watteau - painted by the king's artist - how political leaders used art to change public perception of themselves - artistic movements and styles are seen as having specific political and social meanings

Portrait of Napoleon in his study by David 1812

- shown as rep of the french state - sword = military accomplishments - see scrolls - represents the napoleonic code (extensive system of laws and rights) - high degree of illusionism - detail for the sake of detail - photographic realism - high finish - crowded work bc of the visual detail - all these features defy the earlier neoclassical idea of simplicity and restraint

Saying Grace by Chardin, 1740

- shows children learning from a servant - prayer said before a meal - children learning how to be pious - family, hardwork, virtues - so popular and celebrated: these values were thought to be reflected not just in the subject matter but in his style - woman is not mother; but nanny

Study for African Slave Trade by Gericault 1823

- sketch for work life raft - seems to mark desire to return to modern life subject matter depicted on very large scale - modern and politically charged subject matter - meant to be antislavery - violence and brutality of the slave trade - abolitionist picture - image of opposition to the resortation government - perhaps intended as a sequel to raft - departs from raft: seems to ensure that this work isnt unorganized like raft: figures left to right, more legible and balanced comp - died before this work came to life - potentially major abolitionist work

The Ray by Chardin, 1727

- small size paintings filled with representation of small size objects - hung the lowest on the wall of the salon: deals with dead matter; no human figures; no narrative; deals with the world of stuff; grounded purely in direct observation; people felt that you didn't need much imagination or intellect to create them - array of objects meant for personal consumption - well received and admired - divided into 2 zones: inanimate objects and life objects/objects to be consumed - the hanging ray dominates: disgusting subject matter is redeeemed by Chardin as an artists; make a gross object into a nicely painted one - subject: how the artist manipulates paint to represent all of these objects

The Death of Socrates by David 1787

- socrates was charged with corrupting the youth of athens - surrounded by students accepting his death sentence - one arm reaches for the poison, the other poised in the air to show his commitment to his principles - no superfluous details which don't have narrative purpose - clear gender division: socrates wife is in far background - clinging clothes to the red figure cup bearer- erotic appeal - relationship btw students and teachers: intellectual and erotic - the idealized man form was considered the ideal male form: representative of ideal character and virtue; primacy of the male body as the conveyor of meaning

Prodigal Son by Greuze, 1778

- son from other painting returns from the army, sees his father has died, mother's gesture shows that she is blaming the son for the death of the father - son is bent like a beggar, dingy shows economic cost for the family of the son having abandoned them - harmonious ideal relations btw father and son - breakdown of the family order - too painful to listen to these - poison soul with terrible sentiment - composition to reinforce and communicate fracturing of the family unit - excessiveness and melodrama: keeping with the excess of rococo; sweeping and curvilinear forms; different kind of excess

High Priest Coresus Sacrificing Himself to Save Callirhoe, Fragonard, 1765

- started his career as extremely prominent painter of history paintings - was a student of Boucher - draws on his elements

Carabinier with Horse by Gericault 1814

- stoicism to the figures; slightly melancholy quality - figures convey noble stoicism

General Bonaparte at the Bridge of Arcole by Gros 1796-97

- student of david - work marks the beginning of romantic painting in france - transformation in the practice of history paintings in france - depiction of napoleon in a battle scene: first great test of napoleon's skills as a battle leader; not emperor, just military leader; tremendous battle against austrian troops - during key battle against Austrian troops: fearless, heroic leader (flag in hand, sword in other); intensity and immediacy to the work; dynamic pose - moving one way but looking back another; focused intensity to his expression; loosness in the brushwork

The Governess by Chardin, 1739

- tending to the raising of the children - servants job - nicely dressed young boy - toys scattered on the floor - gaze is lowered: she is scolding him, teaching him a lesson, educating him, trying to shape his behavior - moralizing aspect is more subtle and less apparent - sewing basket is near - opposition between work and play - what it means to transition and choices that even a child has to make - background: not overly indulgent, not showy display of material finery

Hierarchy of the Genres

- the academy established this hierarchy of the subjects -seen in the salon - bottom works were for intimate viewing - history paintings at the top were meant to be viewed from a distance: featured human figures, historical events, religoius scenes, ancient mythology, literature, very large - portraits were next - Genre Scenes: scenes from everyday life, ordinary scenes - Landscape - Still Lives: intimately accessible to viewers - human figure at the top, natural world on the bottom: different kinds of work to appeal to different kinds of viewers

Chalk Cliffs at Rugen by Friedrich 1819

- three figures poised at the very edge of the cliffs: urban figures, visitors to wild lanscape and not at home in it - nature has not been controlled or shaped by people - landscape as this immense, vast entity - tends to use limited palette - brushwork is almost invisible: wants material qualities of the paint to disappear and just for the image to remain; suggests austerity/astheticism/denial of material/visual pleasures in favor of metaphysical - relationship between landscape and national identity: nationalism/attention to what defines and unites the german people led to an increased interest in german landscape; landscapes of particular places; help shape a national identity by making works viewers could seek a commo identity with

Young Student Drawing by Chardin

- tiny painting - art student in the studio; surrounded by other pieces - artists representation of other artists - way to ellicity comparison btw merits of academic training with his own type of painting - lovedd making the viewer marvel at what he could do with paint itself - not a linear painting - shows a figure absorbed in a task, in their own world

Death of Bara by David 1793

- unfinished - bara was a young boy who died in the revolution - an unknown martyr - not a hero or extraordinary figure - innocence and youth co-opted to give the violence and suffering a sense of purity and innocence - no real signs of violence done to the body - ideal physical form is maintained - no wounds shown - only hint is the twist of his body at the midsection: surprising erotic quality, ideal citizenship - meant to be shown in parade but never did because of the fall of robespierre

The Nude Maja by Goya 1805

- unknown sitter - very specific space - stares at the viewer directly - unconcerned she is being gazed upon - gaze is not coy/inviting like typical female nude - face is quite idealized - not luxe surroundings - no attributes of conventional nude - empty space, light not soft, glowing, or idealized - focus of the painting is on her naked body - represents an early example of a shift towards the female figure as the exclusive focus of an eroticized gase - charged with obscenity

The Marriage Contract by Greuze, 1761

- virtuous father with family member as eh carries out his familial duties - bethrothal scene: concluding of the contract of the terms of the center couple's marriage has been worked out and agreed upon - Genre scene: right of passage, life event, viewers can relate to and understand; accessible subject, appeal of his images for modern society, draw viewers into the moral message of his work - mother and sister clinging to the bride: happy event with a tinge of sadness; show emotion helps draw the viewer to the scene - make viewer more receptive to moral instruction being conveyed using empathy - bride is image of feminine modesty, scene of virtuous love - authority being transferred: money being passed, notary there, right half is male zone - setting clearly articulate, figures pop out, helps with emotion of the work to come through more clearly - use color to map out meaning of the work - dark colors is rejection of rococo elements - illusionism: good at resembling the actual scene- looking at the actual scene, not a painting: helps to highlight moral impact on the viewer

Portrait of Antoine Watteau by Boucher, 1726

- was admired during his lifetime - influential, exceptional - no major commissions - painted small paintings - no history paintings - died young - rococo

Engraving of the Salon of 1785

- was in the louvre and took place annually - attended by lots of people and was a major event and a way for people to see and experience the art of their time; way for artists to establish themselves - central to production of viewing of art in paris - a jury chose who got to be exhibited - there was a succint expression of which kinds of paintings were considered to be most important, most amibitious - physical arrangement was so important - the salon itself was busy, crowded, cluttered social gathering - compete to get attention/accolades

Start of the Barberi Race, Rome by Gericault 1817

- went to rome and started painting horse races - interest in horses - manifestations of unbridled energy, notion of uncontrolled animals - extreme power of natural world - struggle between people and nature - enormous monumental picture that has no particular narrative/no historical significance

The Kitchen Table by Chardin 1735

- wonders of illusionism - praised about how pictures look like the image themselve - simplicity of his images: powers of imitation - works were celebrated by critics, the public, art market

Oath of the Tennis Court by David 1791

Foreshadowing of a new kind of history painting Attempting to depict contemporary events of great significance Work commissioned by revolutionary group - jacobins Commemorate a founding moment of the revolution Meeting of the 3rd Estate - all the people of france except clergy and aristocracy Supposed to be meeting of third estate, king blocked them so they went to the tennis court hall (in versailles) and took an oath to the development of the constitution and a constitutional monarchy Moment of fervent political power - power being taken into the hands of the people Gesture of outstretched arm - concept of popular will and popular power Find visual form for non visual abstract ideas Popular power - power being taken on by the people Lightning striking the key institutions, curtains billowing - winds of change sweeping through Prepatory work for the final painting

History Paintings

Paintings based on historical, mythological, or biblical narratives. Once considered the noblest form of art, history paintings generally convey a high moral or intellectual idea and are often painted in a grand pictorial style.

Danae by Titian 1552-1553

excellent example of colorist painting - artistic processes, how they concede the representing objects in painting, defining painting differently - conceive of themes in color from the beginning - less attention to clearly delineating the objects in a scene - more attention to flesh, skin, surfaces of bodies, materials, objects - female flesh, decorative/irrational