ROCOCO AND NEOCLASSICISM:REVOLUTION IN THE 18TH CENTURY

Chapter 23

In the last chapter we determined…

The Baroque period should be governed by:

Emotion (Counter-Reformation)

Observation (Optics)

Reason (Rene Decartes)

This leads to this week’s question.

Guiding Question(s)…

What is Revolution? What precipitates Revolution? How do art, literature, music serve the

purpose of Revolution?

We will look at this question primarily through political venues. Religious questions are becoming less frequent.

Guiding Historical Events

Industrial Revolution American Revolution

Continental Congress French Revolution

National Assembly Bastille Day

Scientific Revolution Women’s Revolution Emanicpation “Revolution”

WHAT LEADS TO THE NEED FOR REVOLUTION?

Rococo Period When Louis XIV dies,

the aristocrats become the power players In its wealth, this

aristocracy prefers to commission lavish, fanciful and carefree arts

It intentionally rejects the seriousness of the Baroque Age

The Rococo period describes this preference From the words rocaille,

(pebble or shell) and barocco

FRANÇOIS DE CUVILLIÉS, Hall of Mirrors, the Amalienburg, Nymphenburg Palace park, Munich, Germany,

Salon Society

Hosted by wealthy women

High society meetings of discussion and art

GERMAIN BOFFRAND, Salon de la Princesse, with painting by CHARLES-JOSEPH NATOIRE and sculpture by J. B. LEMOINE, Hôtel de Soubise, Paris, France, 1737–1740.

Salon Society Women Prefer the following kinds of paintings:

Watteau’s Pilgrimage to Cythera, 1717

Fragonard’s The Meeting, 1771

Frivolous subjectLush gardensSoft, pastel colors

Fête galantes depicting an outdoor party

and Boucher’s Bath of Diana, 1742

Female nudity justified in mythological scenes

Diana here NOT the huntress but a sensual, pampered woman

This is really a scene of aristocratic living—luxurious colors, curvilinear lines of the female form through sedentary lifestyles and plush dinners

Industrial Revolution

Manufacturing and Mass Production/

Distribution

CONSEQUENCES:

Rift arises between poor and wealthy classes

Family structure changes—parents now leave home for work

Watt Steam Engine and Wedgwood ceramic vase

Industrial Revolution made technological advances in use of IRON. Why? It is both practical and aesthetic—replaces heavy and expensive stone materials and can mimic the pattern of Roman architecture, as seen in Coalbrookdale.

Abraham Darby III, Severn River Bridge, 1779, Coalbrookdale, England

Revolutions of Europe 1705—1809

The lavishness of the Rococo indulgence and the rift in classes caused by the Industrial Revolution lead to revolutions throughout Europe and the bourgeoning US colonies

The US in 1800

With Revolution comes a new style to support the cause--

NeoclassicismRococo Neoclassicism

Essentially rubenistes Lush landscapes with

pastel colors Frivolous subjects for

entertaining women

Essentially poussinistes

Classical subjects with primary colors

Civic subjects for revolutionaries Greco-Roman themes

will be used to arouse the sympathies of French Revolutionaries

But why return to the Classical?

Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Reflections on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and Sculpture (1755)______________________________________________________________________________

“The only way for us to become great, or, if this be possible, inimitable, is to imitate the ancients.

...In the masterpieces of Greek art, connoisseurs and imitators find not only nature at its most beautiful but also something beyond nature, namely certain ideal forms of its beauty, which, as an ancient interpreter of Plato teaches us, come from images created by the mind alone...

... The first development of the Greeks was influenced by a mild and clear sky; but the practice of physical exercises from an early age gave this development its noble forms... These exercises gave the bodies of the Greeks the strong and manly contours which the masters then imparted to their statues without any excess.

...The general and most distinctive characteristics of the Greek masterpieces are, finally, a noble simplicity and quiet grandeur, both in posture and expression. Just as the depths of the sea always remain calm however much the surface may rage, so does the expression of the figures of the Greeks reveal a great and composed soul even in the midst of passion.”

Polykleitos, Spear Bearer (Doryphoros), Roman copy after original bronze of c. 450-440 BCE

Archeological digs at Pompeii bring about a fetish for the Greco-Roman—woman begin wearing toga-like , muslin gowns and decorated their homes with replicas of Italian cities. We see this idealizing in writing of the time, as seen below.

This Neoclassical dress can be seen in contemporary paintings

ÉLISABETH LOUISE

VIGÉE-LEBRUN, Self-Portrait

DAVID, Madame Récamier

Greco-Roman originals will inspire Neoclassical content, as seen belowApollo Belvedere, Roman copy of a

Greek original

MENGS, Parnassus, 1760-61, Villa Albani, Rome

In subsequent presentations, you will learn more about: Social Criticism of Hogarth, an English

painter

Global Revolutions occurring in the 18th century

These presentations will prepare you to incorporate the information in the assignments and assessments for the week