Art History Exam 2

Washington Allston, Elijah in the Desert Fed by Ravens, skim milk and pigments on canvas, 1818

Allston understands importance of hp but is also deeply religious, even mystical • Romanticism appeals to his fascination with imagination, interiority, emotion • role model: Fuseli active during Allston's study in London • Boston artist that went to London • Ambitions to create history paintings with a deep scene of • Romans in the process of fleeing, fainting in this picture: attempt to reconcile his ambitions as a history painter with acknowledgement of his own private sense of spirituality • lspe painting: not part of academic painting to date - non-narrative: couldn't communicate grand civic ideas of history painting • 'historical landscape': combo history with lspe as means of elevating critical appreciation of lspe painting Allston looks to OT narrative • story of prophet Elijah, banished to desert, being fed by ravens o reduced to tiny figure - drama displaced into the landscape, so that the landscape assumes the character and mood of the narrative (Romantic idea: nature represented as a reflection of human activities) o parched landscape/society that has forsaken the true God o barren tree, gnarled roots/echoes figure • Emergence of romanticism o Reaction to enlightenment: reason, rationality, symmetry, balance o Romanticism: internal, ideas don't come from history, come from the world of dreams. Imagination, senses, supernatural • Keyword: historical landscape • Hard to express a narrative and a moral within a landscape- cannot do what a history painting can do: cant be didactic and help out society • Allston created this genre to combine history with landscape representation in order to express a narrative o A way to elevate landscape painting • Made with skim milk not oil • Landscape is so vast is consumes the human body o His figure, bent over as if in prayer almost mimics things within the landscape itself (ex: tree root) o Within romanticism human emotions are displaced within the landscape itself o Understand the landscape as a reflection of human condition o The human and the environment are interrelated • Color combination could be symbolic of a religious landscape- the way that he painted it will have religious significance

Charles Willson Peale, Staircase Group: Raphaelle and Titian Ramsay Peale, oil on canvas, 1795

Peale not all serious. Peale as showman: visual pleasure through visual trickery • keywords: Columbianum exhibition, trompe l'oeil • pleasure in deception as the undercurrent of the Enlightenment's emphasis on reason • note TOL curtain in Artist • First group art exhibition held in the US o What Peale did: gather 40 artists and organize an exhibition that was held in independence hall o He painted this for the exhibition and hung it in a doorway o What makes it a tromel'oeil: how does it produce a visual deception • He placed the canvas on top of a riser, step and painted the canvas so it imitated the look of pine • Pays close attention to light and shadow • Their bodies appear to break the plane of the canvas • Unusual to have people in a deceptive painting • It begins to suggest how Peale was also interested in things like deceiving people, illusions, games and tricks o Even though he is creating political public art he is immersed in Romanticism

20th-century reconstruction of Charles Willson Peale's triumphal arch, Philadelphia, 1783

Peale's commitment to art and politics after Revolution • art: medium for making American citizens, communicating political values dear to formation of republic • public festivals: popular site for viewing visual imagery o compare Peale's arch to ancient Roman arches - early America looks often to Rome as a political and cultural precendent o arch celebrates the ancient Roman figure of Cincinnatus (see GW) o Romans were famous for raising triumphant arches to welcome triumphant leaders back to rome o Intermingling symbols from the Roman republic and the earyl American public • Public art- public form to build political identity around it • After the war he dedicated himself to large scale public political art • Welcomes Washington- to commemorate this occasion he created this arch and located it in downtown philly • Only temporary and didn't survive • Fireworks were set off from the top and the whole thing went up in flames

Charles Willson Peale, The Artist in his Museum, oil on canvas, 1822

Peale's most important contribution in combining art and politics • what the painting represents: museum proprietor lifting curtain onto view of his museum, earliest American institution of art & natural history • location of museum: "Long Room," second floor of PA SH/Independence Hall o consider how the museum functioned as a space of political ideals: how it was intended to help shape ideal American citizens o and how this ptg functioned to express both those ideals and the culmination of P's work as artist, scientist, politician o This was the national capital at the time • Turkey in bottom left: acknowledging himself as a taxidermist, as a scientist o Why turkey: we were suppose to end up with a turkey as our national bird not an eagle o How he is involved in political language • He is also a paleontologist and he discovered a woolly mammoth- it was very important Jefferson latched onto it • Legs and jawbone are represented in the painting

Raphaelle Peale, Still Life with Wine Glass, oil on canvas, 1818

RaP's specialization in still life, how it suggests romantic sensibility • in hands of Raphaelle Peale, transformed into space of private pleasures • "dessert pieces": delicacies for consumption • they figure a tension btwn temptation/restraint • viewer's relation to picture: hermetic, closed space; our proximity to picture plane • finely detailed - hyperrealistic execution and attention to objects • recall SG. why RaP specialty = problematic for CWP o cf hierarchies of genres: still life was lowest: "mere imitation," without mental work of invention and exalted purpose of history ptg. o still life as genre at odds with public, civic purpose of history ptg. still life: trompe l'oeil as specialized genre of still life • simultaneous appeal to vision and touch • erotics of vision - pleasure of looking (Romanticism) • Painted exquisitely • "dessert pieces" • Still life were categorized by what was represented o Ex: fruit pieces, flower pieces, etc. • Hung in a dining room • What is illusionistic (remember you have to get close to them to look at them, intimate) the way he paints the glass with a glare o Presents everything in close proximity, as if we are standing at the table edge, persuades us that the table edge is vertical- signs the table o Some of the grapes are missing, appeal to our sense of touch and to our sense of taste o Sensory pictures, appeal to our senses as a spectator • First American still life painter • Still life was at the bottom of the hierarchy of artistic pieces o History→portraiture→landscape/still life • Still life: They say there is no imagination, invention, no creativity, all you had to do was copy what you saw • He didn't present everything at its peak season, sometimes objects would be rotting, wilting, decaying etc.

Raphaelle Peale, Venus Rising from the Sea—A Deception, oil on canvas, c. 1822

how the picture changes when RaP reworks it for public exhibition • RaP's source: Green mezzotint after a well known English painting • VRS becomes a curtain covering a picture of a female nude • what is the effect of this trompe l'oeil game? • what kind of interaction, response does it invite from the viewer? why RaP might have painted this trompe l'oeil picture: as a criticism of American prudery about the display of the nude • specifically references recent controversies surrounding the display of nudes in the US • nude = inappropriate subject matter for public exhibition • immoral to gaze at nude body of a woman - even if the subject is "dressed" in all the trappings of historical narrative - within a public space. CWP's response: hide behind curtains or conceal from view • VRS publicly displayed in Phila 1823 • the ptg does exactly what CWP proposes: conceals the nude behind a curtain o but instead of endorsing this strategy of display: RaP parodies it o Rap lures us into trying to lift that curtain. in so doing he makes us self-aware of our desires to see, to look at the nude despite social prohibitions o mockery of American social mores, parody of contemporary practices of artistic exhibition • Keyword: trompe l'oeil • He painted a copy of the painting of the portrait and painted a sheet over it (trompe l'oeil) • He tried to provoke his father (trick/ fool him) into thinking he covered the portrait with a sheet • Wanted to prove he was better than his father • After: he added arms and feet behind the sheet • How does this work as a romantic painting: have to use your imagination to try to understand what is behind the cloth when in reality there is nothing behind it (no other paint layers behind the cloth) o He appeals to our desire to see something o Neurotics of looking • Valentine Green after James Barry, Venus Rising fom the Sea, mezzotint, 1772 o The new painting that is shown hidden behind the painting o Referenced this painting o Popular print

Patience Wright, William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, life-size waxwork figure, 1779

• Additive • Have a wooden frame and she would add wax to create a form on the wood

John Trumbull, The Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776, oil on canvas, 1787-1820

• At this time no one was buying history paintings in the US (in the same manor as in London) • Trumbull becomes a diplomat • He creates a number of important pictures • Notice how long he spent making this single painting • It was one of the paintings that was considered to go into the dome of the Capitol building o It was a failure o Static, still, documentary painting o Even people during the time period complained about this • John Adams objects to it as history • How history was remembered was so important to people of this generation • Critical of the ability of artists to correctly represent the American Revolution

Benjamin West, Agrippina Landing at Brundisium with the Ashes of Germanicus, oil on canvas, 1766

• Benjamin west became the president of the Royal Academy o An example of a colonist artist that became very successful in England • History painting o Represent a story that also communicated a moral lesson o Involved being able to paint complex compositions with human figures in them o Large- Grand o Time period that valued the Grand Manor • Refers to its size and mission to communicate large moral lessons • Also refers to the way they were made- didn't create tons of little details, instead created pictures in large, broad strokes in order to express their ideas in large gesures • Germanicus dies (gives up his life for the greater glory of Rome) • Agrippina is brave and stoic in the face of death, stays storng for everyone else around them • Both are displaying civic virtue • Historical paintings are meant to teach moral lessons o This represents putting the state (public good) before yourself, you did so for the purpose of civic virtue o Sacrifice of germanicus for Rome and the sacrifice of Agrippina for Rome (courage, resolve and virtue) • How else is it neoclassical? o Poses / arrangement of figures= frieze (an arrangement of figures aligned in a single line walking together) o Why did they include a figure wearing little to no clothing o He is demonstrating his ability to master the human body, paint a neoclassical pose showing how the muscles move, contrapasso o Pillars- architecture • c.f. Ara Pacis ("Altar of Peace"), 1st century C.E. Rome o Central group of figures in his painting are modeled on a frieze- in a single line o Ancient roman architecture o Alter of peace o He is showing off his ability to paint the human body, paint a group of figures in a painting to look similar to a group of sculptures and classical history o Picks out 'quotations' from classical art/ sculptures

John Singleton Copley, Watson and the Shark, oil on canvas, 1778

• Black sailor rather than a white sailor • He is represented without any kind of characture (very abnormal during this time period) • Why is this different? • He started to make history paintings about contemporary events- very revolutionary to history paintings • see: Borghese Warrior • compare to: Paolo Uccello, St. George and the Dragon, c. 1456 • Have to create history paintings to obtain greatness, you cannot simply create portriats • He left Boston to receive more training abroad in 1774 to go to London • He seeks out Benjamin West who tells him to go to Italy o He took himself on the Grand Tour, Englishmen has been doing it for years o Roman sculpture, art, etc o Needed to study the classics and demonstrate that in his art • First history painting he attempts, he immediately started making contemporary history paintings • Story: The man in the water, Brook Watson, had a wooden leg under his right knee • Watson was a cabin boy on an English ship when Britain briefly had control over Cuba, Watson went on a ship and a shark bit off his right leg • Allegory of political and spiritual rebirth o Watson survives even though he has his leg chopped off o Optimistic future for the British Empire even though it is losing its colonies o Representing political bodies in the form of human bodies o Relate to Benjamin Franklins print encouraging Britain to appeal the Stamp Act (even though parts of its political body fall off, it continues to stay alive • Painting represents the third time the shark went around the boat to get Watson again but the group of British sailors saved him • People in the 18th century were also fascinated with sharks • Mobilizes the sublime • He painted it three times • Painting consists of many geometric shapes • Watson shown nude- Copley's ability to pain the human body • Background- buildings/ towers • Masts of the ships in the background form crosses • Represents the most humane and careful representation of an African American male • Most were seen with characticures and not humane • Liberty was only liberty if you were of white descent • see: Borghese Warrior (Greek, 100 BCE) o Imagine this figure turned on his side, the figure of Brook Watson is positioned similarly o Cooley is quoting figures from classical art and using them in his paintings • Paolo Uccello, St. George and the Dragon, c. 1456 o He is also quoting biblical stories o Men on horses attack figures, ex: dragons • see: Copley, Head of a Negro, oil on canvas, 1778 (study for Watson) o He uses as much care and humanity as he would when painting an white American o Very similar to the male represented in the paitning o Political allegory, critique on the institution of slavery

Benjamin West, The Death of General Wolfe, oil on canvas, 1770

• Both enormously successful and a huge controversy • Contemporary art- • The US is not at war with Britain just yet • 1756-1763= 7 years war o Between the British and the French over land o Just as important as the American Rev. o Really important for Canadian history and British history o British take over of Canada was so significant that they called it the conquest- Britain doubled its territory in North America- even though it was a great military success- they bankrupted themselves (leading to the taxation of the American Colonists) • Sky- clouds are specifically organized o Right= light o Left= dark o Both represents light and dark but life and death o They break right where his body lays and the manor in which they break in the shape that his body lays o The way his body lays is very similar to the body of Christ • How are the figures organized? Color? Space? Lines? o The figures around the body are brighter and clearer, illuminated (focal point) o Strongest dynamic line goes right through the Native American(iriquois) , Wolfe and up the mast of the flag o There is a diplomat- dressed in both European and Native American clothing o Hands of the figures are all pointed down towards Wolfe o Figures are grouped and Wolfe is at the bottom of the largest pyramid of figures o Vibrant colors (red- used deliberately, calls our attention to the middle of the composition and messenger is wearing a red coat, you can follow the red throughout the entire painting (creates a continuous line throughout the composition and connects the figures to general Wolfe) o Dynamic composition • Unlike his previous painting (look at Oct. 13th or 8th I don't remember) • Couldn't have won the war without the help of the Native Americans • Just as Benjamin West relied on classical examples in his previous paintings, he is now modeling his figures in ethnographical detail from images that had been collected from models of the Iroquois • This paining is also riddled with a lot of fictions o Englishmen may have paid West to put them in the painting even though they were not present at the battle • Iroquois man is the only one that doesn't express dramatic expression, he also represents the 'noble savage' o Notion that there is an ideal of man that is untainted by Western civilization, within this ideal this natural man is more pure than civilization (understood to be corrupt), it is a binary distinction between nature and civilization o Powerful idea in the 18th century o European ideology • History painting with a modern narrative o Tells its story with everyone in present day modern clothing o Communicates/ represents the same underlying meaning- history paintings are always meant to tell a narrative o Moral lesson it attempts to convey • Controversial: represented the death of an English soldier on American soil o Many people were uneasy about the celebration of the death of a soldier on American soil due to their relationship being on troubled ground • Reproductions in the form of engravings were recreated, original is in Canada

John Smibert, The Bermuda Group: Dean George Berkeley and his Family, oil on canvas, 1729

• Brought about what artists would call modern art • Keyword: historical painting (when he came to NE he brought this with him) • Most important genre of art making at this time period • They almost always communicate a narrative/ story and almost always conveys a moral • Drawn from o Classical history o Ancient Greece/ Rome o Biblical o Classical mythological • To paint his figures it took education and skill • His studio became a place where artists in Boston came to see examples of art from all over Europe • Man in the corner staring out is Jon Smibert • DBG= reverend, educator (on the right of the painting in all black) o Wanted to educate children from British planters on the island o Train missionaries that could learn and then convert NA to Christianity o In the Caribbean at this time: it was very similar to the 13 colonies (trading, etc.) • This expedition was motivated by the ancient idea of how culture works idea that civilization/ culture moved from east to west and followed a pattern o This notion was bound by manifest destiny • Group travels from London to Newport, RI and wait to find out if they have money to move and start the school • They were never given the ok so Smibert went to Boston • This painting is nt a conversational piece • Group portrait brought by the idea of a broke period o Dynamic energy, painting in space o Figures are not in a straight line o If you connect their heads the line goes backwards and forward in space o People are grouped around a table (back and forth in space) o Arranged the figures with a sense of dynamic energy

Paul Revere, coffee set, silver, 1793

• Decorative arts • Useful and beautiful, functional and ascetically valuable • What is neoclassical about his work? o Lines on the handles, fluting (form that has linear lines cut into it that form graceful lines that lead your eyes up and down it) o S- curve o Uses the urn o Symmetrical, practical, geometric shapes, simple yet refined

attributed to John Rose, Beaufort County, S.C., The Old Plantation, c. 1785-1790

• Differentiated between white landscape and black landscape • Watercolor drawing- initially anonymous artist but now is John Rose- he is the plantation owner • Intimate and personal depiction of the black landscape o You can see their dwellings in the corners but in the back/ distance of the image, you can see the white landscape o There is a very large house (plantation) and also some others and then a cluster of slave dwellings as well o Implies some slaves lived far from their owners o Allowed them to have a little more movement around the plantation than we may presume they may have had o To communicate, practice traditional arts, be with their families o Included in the image: Drumming, instruments • Gathering together, dancing, celebrating a ceremony (unclear what is going on) • Cultural retention: people retain and reproduce certain aspects of their familiar culture • Allows them to maintain a sense of strength and community in the face of extraordinary adversity

John Singleton Copley, Paul Revere, oil on canvas, c. 1769

• Displayed illusionism like before but also other functions • He was a silversmith and an engraver • 6 years away from the event that makes him so famous ("the British are coming") • What is the setting? What is important to convey? o Holding silver with the engraving tools o Casual, dressed in clothing unlike anything we've seen before (common clothing) o Fingers are dirty- typical of a silversmith o Shown in the process of working o Extremely unusual: frank, immediate, ordinary workman but he is represented with a sense of dignity and displaying his work with high value • What is taking place? o Copley positions the viewer 'on the other side of the table' perhaps we are in conversation on the other side of the table- as if that is our silver • Hand positioned in a way very similar to Wheatly- up to his temple, a man of learning and education o A thinking man • He was a part of a group called the sons of liberty- a group that came together in Boston, NY, Philly to basically protest British taxes • Stamp act in 1765 leads to the formation of sons of liberty o British starts taxing to regain their fortune from the 7 years war o Taxed all paper that could've been stamped with the British crown- writing paper, playing cards, legal document (will, deed, etc.) o Americans refused to use the stamped paper and they got the stamp act overturned o This is after a series of riots and group actions o Colonists begin to recognize themselves as people that will fight for their rights as Englishmen bc they had no representation in parliament

John Trumbull, The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, 31 December 1775, oil on canvas, 1786

• Getting symbols of the order • History painting • Carved out a career making history paintings that celebrated great moments in the founding of the US • Envisions a role of artists as "participants in making America o Most important role is explicitly political • An American general wanted to rally support among the Colonists to uprise against the British reign.. it was a terrible failure and he was killed o Considered the first martyr of the American Revolution • What does this resemble? The death of General Wolf o Body positioning o Similar use of color and texture to move you through the picture o Inclusion of Native American figures • People in the painting tell you how to respond: awe, concern, apprehension

Benjamin Franklin, Magna Britannia: her Colonies Reduc'd, engraving, 1766

• Key word: Stamp Act, allegory • Small, easily handled and passed around • He believed the Stamp Act was an extremely negative act so he used his skills to produce a small engraving to critique the Stamp Act • Not a lot of writing is on this • Political dismemberment- England will remain and become whole despite the loss of their limbs • What was he trying to express? Female figure with her arms and legs missing o Colonists are unable to move forward o Britain takes away their ability to trade o Ultimate point: Britain itself will be hurt by the stamp act, trade with the colonies will come to a halt o How does he achieve this? He takes a female figure (allegorical) that represents Britain, he dissects the arms and legs to suggest the fate of trade • Limbs are labeled with NY, Penn, Virginia- represents the physical removal, the colonies being cut off • Immobilized GB • Use of allegory to critique and attempt to create a political change

Harriet Hosmer, Zenobia in Chains, marble, 1859

• Keyword: "The Marmorean Flock" • Subtractive • Marble- what classical sculpture was made of • Went to Italy because o Couldn't get your hands on marble in the US (for the material) o So you would have access to original classical sculptures, models to work from o Training

Westover, built by William Byrd II, Charles City County, Va., 1730-34

• Keyword: Georgian architecture o Period during the reign of King George • Southern living space • Symmetrical, balance • Modeled on principles of reason and rationality • Front door was important, lavish o Door is modeled upon the pattern book o Pediments (on top of the door) • Pinapples are included- represent hospitality o Why are they important- first impression? • Ceremonial space for the elite white visitors that went there • Symbolic space, space of inbetween-ness (outside vs. inside world) • Plantation • see: William Salmon, Palladio Londonesis, London, 1734 o He relied on things called pattern books- design books that were created in London and circulated around o This is an example of a pattern book

Joseph Blackburn, Isaac Winslow and his Family, oil on canvas, 1755

• Keyword: conversation piece • Marketed himself as straight from London • Could make New Englanders look like they were straight from London • See for reference: Arthur Devis, James Family, o/c, 1751 o Family piece: around the 1750s= became fashionable o Represented families in informal poses, often outdoors o Idea: to represent the family as if they are in a conversation; friendly dialogue o Popular for the NE middle class • People in portraits were often represented as British middle class as opposed to being aristocrats o Informal, relaxed o Clothing: displays what they can afford- they can import lace, fine silk, etc. o Social status is displayed through clothing o Mr. Wallace pulling jacket open showing off clothes o His round stomach: he is well fed- is this exaggerated? o It could be, being larger was a display of wealth, some people even put on strap on stomachs and liked to emphasize larger calves o Their 2 kids was also a display of wealth o Young girl on the right- holding back her dress, has fruit hidden o Why? She would very soon come into a young woman "bearing fruit" will become fertile soon and bear children • Emblem

John Singleton Copley, Mrs. Ezekiel Goldthwait (Elizabeth Lewis), oil on canvas, 1771

• Keywords: illusionism, likeliness • Sensory paintings- She looks like shes reaching to grab a peach (hand hovering) o Copley is conveying a sense of touch o We can feel what she is reaching for, we can feel the table top, etc. • Mark above her eye (blemish) o Individuality o If an abundance of detail is included you may be persuaded that what is being displayed is authentic, real o A scene/ character exists o Personal and narrative details to show it exists and the painting displays the truth

Samuel Jennings, Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences, oil on canvas, 1792

• Linking politics and art through the concept of allegory • In the wake of the Rev many artists engaged in the search for a national visual language (iconography) o Convenient and easily legible for expressing political American ideas o Democracy • Figure of Liberty- allegory of American independence o In this image- she appears as a white, young woman, almost always dressed in a neoclassical gown (think back to Rome) and she always carries a long staff and at the very top there is a Phrygian cap o Cap that slaves wore in ancient Rome when they were given their freedom o This cap appears all over the place in American art • Painting suggest everything that Liberty/ the US has for the American people o Emblems of arts and sciences are represented o Painters pallet, top of a column, musician instrument, bust of a philosopher, telescope, books (emblematic of learning and education) • Liberty is offering all of this to black American citizens • Relationship between an allegorical figure and figures bowing down before her • In the background a group of African Americans are dancing around o It was a painting with an unequal power struggle o And it was hopeful and optimistic painting o It was ordered by a group of Quakers in Philly- they owned slaves o They were one of the groups promoting abolitionism around the end of the war o Within this context: it promotes the gradual abolition of enslaved Africans in the US o Eventually black Americans will enjoy the same opportunities that White Americans will enjoy • Allegory: allegorical figure and it communicates a message (allegorical liberty)

Gilbert Stuart, George Washington (The Athenaeum Portrait), oil on canvas, 1796

• Most represented figure in the political world at this time • NOT just in the US • Hugely loved, but he was a reluctant sitter for paintings • He has wooden teeth- perhaps a reason he has a stony face expression in his portraits • Portraits: commemorated the fact that he was a national leader, political figures, he embodied certain characteristics as the national leader that could be imitated by other citizens o It was understood that portraiture was a means of communicating those ideas o Ex: virtue, strength, modeled upon an ancient Roman figure Cincinnatus • Who was a humble farmer and everyone wanted him to become a figure in Roman politics but he refused until later • George Washington refused to serve as a "king" of the US for a little while

John Singleton Copley, Nicholas Boylston, oil on canvas, 1767

• Not nearly as wealthy as this image expresses • Social fiction, authenticating narrative • Displayed what they want the display to the outside would not necessarily the life he lived • Extravagant gown • In his home- not wearing a wig • Background shows his profession- boats, land- he is a merchant • Holding ledgers- he is a businessman • Light and shadow is used to display a sense of 3D volume • Copley would model his portraits based upon "celebrity culture" o "photo altering" - Copley was the son of the man that owned the ships from the Boston Tea Party (the ships the 'rebels'//'patriots' through the tea overboard • He has an advocator for American Independence • Caught between his loyalist family (loyal to England) • And his patrons that were fighting for American Independence • Tried to act as a negotiator between these two groups • Left the colonies all together

Anonymous (Scipio Morehead?), Phillis Wheatley, 1773, engraved frontispiece from Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects (London, 1773)

• She was an enslaved woman, her master went to London and brought her with him o She could read and write classical literature and she produced a book of poems that were sold in London • Portrait: what is significant about the choice she made with her pose and the setting o She has a pen and paper- displaying her education, o Book= emblem of classical learning and education o She is showing herself in the act of writing o She is sitting pointing her finger up to the top of her head (the site of knowledge), she is looking up (looking to something in the distance) • Unusual for women to be displayed in this way (pointing up to their temples, pointing to their knowledge, their brains)

Peter Harrison, architect, Touro Synagogue, Newport, R.I., 1759-63

• Still exists today- oldest consistently operated Synagogue today • Located near a deep harbor, on a water front • Classically trained English protestant architect designed this Synagogue • Outside and inside is designed from neoclassical elements o Columns o Symbolism is represented in the architecture itself o Covenant- where written laws in Hebrew are o The entire alter is symmetrical, balanced, geometric (represented in neoclassical ways) • He relied on things called pattern books to develop his design

William Rush, Comedy and Tragedy, pine, 1808

• Subtractive process • Wood • Sculpture as allegory: represent comedy and tragedy • High relief sculpture • Carve the wood away to create these elaborate figures

enslaved African's drum from Virginia, c. 1645 (keyword: Akan [Nigeria])

• There is no direct record of from enslaved African Americans in colonial history • How do we know about this object? It was collected at a very early moment in colonial history • Entered the collections of the British museum • The very people that are holding the institution of slavery are also collecting extraordinary objects of enslaved history and culture • Cultural retention • Object that allowed them to participate in dancing, music, ceremonies, etx.

Paul Revere, The Bloody Massacre, hand-colored engraving, 1770

• Third way in which print makers expressed the Revolution • Tries to persuade any viewer that Britain is on the wrong side of the argument • Inaccurate depiction of the actual events o Shows British troops shooting innocent people in Boston that are unarmed o Deliberately meant to persuade Bostonians against British in the wake of the Boston Massacre • see: Henry Pelham, The Fruits of Arbitrary Power, or the Boston Massacre, engraving, c. 1770 o Revere very often he copied and plagiarized images that come over o Pelham created the image first but then Revere found it and published it first