Chapter Eleven

Europe and America, 1700-1800

Prepared by Kelly Donahue-Wallace

Randal WallaceUniversity of North Texas

Gardner's Art through the Ages, Concise Edition by Fred Kleiner

RococoDates and Places: • 1715 to 1780• France and England

People:• Aristocrats• Urban townhouses• Social intercourse,

cultivation of good taste• Royal art academies

ANTOINE WATTEAU, Pilgrimage to Cythera, 1717. Fig. 11-

3.

RococoThemes:• Fete galante • Leisure of the upper

classes• Ornament

Forms:• Small and delicate• Pastels• Feathery brushwork

CLODION, Satyr Crowning a Bacchante, 1770. Fig. 11-

5.

RococoExample:

• Interiors totally designed

• Rocailles

• Organic, playful, moving decoration

• Proper setting for entertaining guests

FRANCOIS DE CUVILLIÉS, Hall of Mirrors, early 18th century.

Fig. 11-2.

Rococo

ANTOINE WATTEAU, Pilgrimage to Cythera, 1717. Fig. 11-3.

RococoExample:

• Fete galante

• New category of painting

• Color for decorative effect, Rubeniste

• Light and airy

• Elegant sophistication

• Sensuality and sexuality

ANTOINE WATTEAU, Pilgrimage to Cythera, 1717. Fig. 11-

3.

The EnlightenmentDates and Places: • 1700-1800 • Western Europe

People:• Replace faith with

reason• Scientific, empirical

approach• Philosophes• Positivism

ÉLISABETH LOUISE VIGÉE-LEBRUN, Self-Portrait,

1790. Fig. 11-8.

The EnlightenmentThemes:• Nature and naturalness • Grand tour• Genre

Forms:• Empirical observation• Classicizing approach• Narrative clarity

ANTONIO CANALETTO, Riva degli Schiavoni, Venice, ca. 1735–1740. Fig. 11-

13.

The EnlightenmentExample:

• Illustrates interest in science and rationality

• Industrial Revolution transforms Europe

• Demonstration of mechanical solar system

• Observers embody Enlightenment age

JOSEPH WRIGHT, A Philosopher Giving a Lecture at the

Orrery, ca. 1763–1765. Fig. 11-6.

The EnlightenmentExample: • Interest in natural,

uncorrupted state • Influence of Rousseau• Domestic scenes of

simple people• Moral instruction• Sentimental

JEAN-BAPTISTE-SIMÉON CHARDIN, Saying Grace,

1740. Fig. 11-7.

The Enlightenment

WILLIAM HOGARTH, Breakfast Scene, from Marriage à la Mode, ca. 1745. Fig. 11-9.

The EnlightenmentExample:

• English painter and printmaker

• Satire of modern life

• Moralizing story of misbehaving upper class

• Narrative sequence like theater

• Comment on poor taste

WILLIAM HOGARTH, Breakfast Scene, from Marriage à la Mode, ca. 1745. Fig. 11-9.

The EnlightenmentExample: • Interest in the natural • More intimate portrait

type, reveals personality• Some Rococo pretense• Grand manner portraiture

= refined, elegant portraits, large scale, symbolic setting, low horizon

THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH, Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan,

1787. Fig. 11-10.

The blue boy 1970, Thomas Gainsborough

The Enlightenment

BENJAMIN WEST, Death of General Wolfe, 1771. Fig. 11-11.

The EnlightenmentExample:

• Hero represented like Christian martyr

• History painting plus modern realism

• Founder of Academy of Art in Philadelphia

BENJAMIN WEST, Death of General Wolfe, 1771. Fig. 11-

11.

The EnlightenmentExample:

• American directness

• Lack of pretense for hero

• Embodies humble values of early America

JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY, Portrait of Paul Revere,

ca. 1768–1770. Fig. 11-12.

The EnlightenmentExample: • Grand tour painting • Souvenir of travels• Marker of intellectual

curiosity• Illustrates importance of

ancient Greece and Rome for Enlightenment thinkers

• Drawn on site, painted (and improved) later

ANTONIO CANALETTO, Riva degli Schiavoni, Venice,

ca. 1735–1740. Fig. 11-13.

NeoclassicismDates and Places: • Late 18th century• France, England, US

People:• Admiration for antiquity • Harmony and

rationality• Model of civilized

society: civic virtue and self-sacrifice

ANGELICA KAUFFMANN, Cornelia Presenting Her

Children as Her Treasures, or Mother of the Gracchi, ca.

1785. Fig. 11-14.

NeoclassicismThemes:• Ancient history• Modern history• Portraits

Forms:• Classical forms• Balanced compositions• Idealized figures

JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID, Death of Marat, 1793. Fig. 11-16.

Neoclassicism

JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID, Oath of the Horatii, 1784. Fig. 11-15.

NeoclassicismExample:

• Ancient Roman story

• Self-sacrifice

• Pose and gesture communicate state of mind

• Triangular composition

• David celebrates perfect forms of Greeks

JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID, Oath of the Horatii, 1784. Fig. 11-15.

NeoclassicismExample: • Neoclassicism adopted

as style of new American nation

• Evoke Republican Rome to communicate political philosophy

• Translated into local materials: wood, brick

• Jefferson studied Palladio

THOMAS JEFFERSON, Monticello, 1770–1806. Fig. 11-17.