Chapter 28

The Enlightenment and its Legacy:Art of the Late 18th through the

Mid-19th Century

Scientific Art & NeoClassicism

Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, 12e

Napoleonic Europe 1800-1815

Characteristics of NeoClassical Architecture

1. Revisions of classical principles to include contemporary living requirements.

2. Sources – Palladio & Jones

3. Symmetry, balance, composition, order

4. Greek/Roman columns

5. Pediments over entrances & windows

6. Domes

7. Interior layout symmetrical

8. Room themes from ancient world or colorsFrom Barron’s AP Test Prep book

Innovations in NeoClassical Architecture

1. Cast iron used in substructure of buildings for strength and economics.

2. Classicists eschewed visible cast iron until Coalbrookdale bridge, made aesthetically pleasing. (family of ironworkers needed to transport materials across river – built the bridge.)

From Barron’s AP Test Prep book

Characteristics of NeoClassical Painting

1. Mythological/Biblical scenes with modern context

2. Retelling of story to emphasize modern idea (Oath of Horatii – exemplum virtitus)

3. Subtexts referring to people, situations, or political states

4. Symmetrical compositions, linear perspective, carefully constructed backgrounds

5. Invisible brushwork, clear details

From Barron’s AP Test Prep book

Innovations in NeoClassical Painting

1. Evolution of scientific art of the Enlightenment

2. Standard to give modern portraits ancient clothes & pose

3. Epic contemporary events with modern accuracy (Death of General Wolfe)

From Barron’s AP Test Prep book

Characteristics of NeoClassical Sculpture

1. Realistic likeness

2. Realistic figural poses in contemporary clothing

3. Classical allusions are secondary

4. White marble, no paint

From Barron’s AP Test Prep book

Innovations in NeoClassical Sculpture

1. More widespread use of bronze (more economical for 1st time)

2. Marble still widely used – believed to be preferred medium of ancients.

3. Importation of Elgin Marbles, installed into NeoClassically designed British Museum.

From Barron’s AP Test Prep book

Fig 28-8William Hunter, Child

in Womb; from Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus, 1774.

British Library.

Figure 28-9 JOSEPH WRIGHT OF DERBY, A Philosopher Giving a Lecture at the Orrery (in which a lamp is put in place of the sun), ca. 1763–1765. Oil on canvas, 4’

10” x 6’ 8”. Derby Museums and Art Gallery, Derby, Derbyshire.

Figure 28-10 ABRAHAM DARBY III and THOMAS F. PRITCHARD, iron bridge at Coalbrookdale, England (first cast-iron bridge over the Severn River), 1776–1779.

100’ span.

Figure 28-11 JEAN-BAPTISTE GREUZE, The Village Bride, 1761. Oil on canvas, 3’ x 3’ 10 1/2”. Louvre, Paris.

The Taste for the Natural• Examine the philosophy of Jean-Jacques

Rousseau, in contrast to Voltaire, his interest in the ‘natural’ as opposed to the ‘artificial,’ and artistic expression of these ideas.

• Understand the different styles of the “natural” in France, England, the United States, and in Italy.

• Examine choices of ‘ordinary’ life, the natural world, and sentimentality as subjects in art.

The Natural Taste in France

• Examine the subject matter and formal elements in the “natural taste” in France.

Figure 28-12 JEAN-BAPTISTE-SIMÉON CHARDIN, Grace at

Table, 1740. Oil on canvas, 1’ 7” x 1’ 3”. Louvre, Paris.

Figure 28-13 ÉLISABETH LOUISE VIGÉE-LEBRUN, Self-Portrait, 1790. Oil on canvas, 8’ 4”

x 6’ 9”. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

The Natural Taste in England

• Examine the issues of morality, satire, and narration in visual art in England.

Figure 28-14 WILLIAM HOGARTH, Breakfast Scene, from Marriage à la Mode, ca. 1745. Oil on canvas, approx. 2’ 4” x 3’. National Gallery, London.

The English Grand Manner Portrait

• Examine the English Grand Manner portrait as an expression of the natural taste in Rococo form.

Figure 28-15 THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH, Mrs. Richard

Brinsley Sheridan, 1787. Oil on canvas, approx. 7’ 2 5/8” x 5’ 5/8”. National

Gallery of Art, Washington (Andrew W. Mellon Collection).

Figure 28-16 SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, Lord Heathfield, 1787. Oil on canvas, approx. 4’

8” x 3’ 9”. National Gallery, London.

Natural Taste in the United States

• Examine the American taste for “downrightness” and plainness in art.

Figure 28-17 BENJAMIN WEST, The Death of General Wolfe, 1771. Oil on canvas, approx. 5’ x 7’ National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (gift of the Duke of Westminster,

1918).

Figure 28-18 JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY, Portrait of Paul Revere, ca. 1768–1770.

Oil on canvas, 2’ 11 1/8” x 2’ 4”. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (gift of Joseph W., William B.,

and Edward H. R. Revere).

Italian Natural Taste and Tourism

• Understand the concept of the “Grand Tour” and the expression of the “picturesque” in art.

Figure 28-19 ANTONIO CANALETTO, Basin of San Marco from San Giorgio Maggiore, ca. 1740. Oil on canvas. The Wallace Collection, London.

Revival of Classicism

• The discovery of Herculaneum and Pompeii created an interest in classical art.

• The formal elements of classical art were revived in 19th century art and architecture.

• Neoclassical art and architecture existed in France, England, and in the United States.

• Classical and mythological subject matter were adapted in Neoclassical art.

Neoclassical Art in France

• formal elements of classical art and their revival in 19th century.

• adaptation of classical and mythological subject matter.

Figure 28-20 ANGELICA KAUFFMANN, Cornelia Presenting Her Children as Her Treasures, or Mother of the Gracchi, ca. 1785. Oil on canvas, 3’ 4” x 4’ 2”. Virginia

Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond (the Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund).

Figure 28-21 JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID, Oath of the Horatii, 1784. Oil on canvas, approx. 11’ x 14’. Louvre, Paris.

Figure 28-22 JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID, The Death of Marat, 1793.

Oil on canvas, approx. 5’ 3” x 4’ 1”. Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts

de Belgique, Brussels.

Figure 28-23 JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID, The Coronation of Napoleon, 1805–1808. Oil on canvas, 20’ 4 1/2” x 32’ 1 3/4”. Louvre, Paris.

Napoleon at the St. Bernard Pass, 1801. Oil

on canvas, 246 x 231 cm. Kunsthistorisches

Museum, Vienna

The Death of Socrates, 1787. Oil on canvas, 130 x 196 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Intervention of the Sabine Women, 1799. Oil on canvas, 385 x 522 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris

French Neoclassical Architecture

• Examine classical revival in architecture as an expression of French power and glory.

Figure 28-24 JACQUES-GERMAIN

SOUFFLOT, the Panthéon (Sainte-

Geneviève), Paris, France, 1755–1792.

Figure 28-25 PIERRE VIGNON, La Madeleine, Paris, France, 1807–1842.

Fig 28-25

Figure 28-26 ANTONIO CANOVA, Pauline Borghese as Venus, 1808. Marble, life-size. Galleria Borghese, Rome.

Fig 28-21

Neoclassical Art and Architecture in England

• Understand classical elements of art and architecture, Palladian influence, and their revival in 19th century England.

Figure 28-27 RICHARD BOYLE (earl of Burlington) and WILLIAM KENT, Chiswick House, near London, England, begun 1725. British Crown Copyright.

Figure 28-27 Alternate ViewPrincipal Facade with entrance gate

© 2005 Saskia Cultural Documentation, Ltd.

Fig 28-27

Figure 28-28 JOHN WOOD THE YOUNGER, the Royal Crescent, Bath, England, 1769–1775.

Figure 28-29 JAMES STUART, Doric portico,

Hagley Park, Worcestershire, England, 1758.

Figure 28-30 ROBERT ADAM, Etruscan Room,

Osterley Park House, Middlesex, England, begun 1761. Victoria and Albert

Museum, London.

The Neoclassical in the United States

• Examine Neoclassical as the national style in art and architecture in the United States in the early 19th century.

Figure 28-31 THOMAS JEFFERSON, Monticello, Charlottesville, United States, 1770–1806.

Figure 28-32 Drawing of view of Washington, 1852, showing BENJAMIN LATROBE’S Capitol (1803–1807) and MAJOR L’ENFANT’S plan (created in 1791)

of the city.

Figure 28-33 EDMONIA LEWIS, Forever Free, 1867. Marble, 3’ 5 1/4” x

11” x 7”. James A. Porter Gallery of Afro-American Art, Howard University,

Washington, D.C.

Figure 28-34 ANTOINE-JEAN GROS, Napoleon at the Pesthouse at Jaffa, 1804. Oil on canvas, approx. 17’ 5” x 23’ 7”. Louvre, Paris.

Figure 28-35 ANNE-LOUIS GIRODET-TRIOSON, The Burial of Atala, 1808. Oil on canvas, approx. 6’ 11” x 8’ 9”. Louvre, Paris.

Figure 28-36 JEAN-AUGUSTE-DOMINIQUE INGRES, Apotheosis of Homer, 1827. Oil on canvas, approx. 12’ 8” x 16’ 10 3/4”. Louvre, Paris.