Encountering the Enlightenment: Philosophy, Science

1
Chapter 28

• Encountering the EnlightenmentPhilosophy,
  Science Society

2
Artistic developments in the 17th century

• Baroque   Grandiose scale   Dramatic
  theatricality   Elaborate ornateness
• Art of absolute monarchs   Louis XIV  
  Charles I
• Rococo      Court style      Graceful,
  delicate      Emphasis onlightness    and
  curvilinearforms
• Reaction against Baroqueart of Louis XIV
• Began in France, popularin Germany

3
Beginnings and Endingsco-existent artistic
styles

• Artistic movements do not begin and end on
  specificdates
• Renaissance style continues into 16th century in
  parts ofEurope, especially England.
• Mannerism does not eliminate Renaissance art.
• Baroque art does not end with the introduction of
  Rococo.
• The Enlightenment does not end the Rococo.
• Older styles continue to be popular long after
  theintroduction of a new style.
• Some styles compete during the same time period
  -e.g.classicism vs. romanticism in the early
  19th century.

4
What happened in the 17th century?

• Increase in scientific investigation.
• Establishment of ideas about individualrights
  and responsibilities.
• Autocratic monarchs and governmentscriticized by
  writers and theorists.
• Rise of social philosophical investigationinto
  how humans learn, reason, act, andbelieve.

5
Changes in Ideas

• Medieval and Renaissance thought relied on belief
  in an all-powerful designing and controlling
  deity.
• All aspects of life were controlled by God,
  angels, saints, and demons
• Explanations for events centred on divine will.
• The Enlightenment sought empirical explanations
  for events.
• Individual actions or natural causes (not related
  to God), were seen to shape the world.
• Scientific investigation eliminated much belief
  inspirits, demons, angels, etc.

6
John Locke (1632-1704)

• Empiricism the experience of the senses in
  pursuit of knowledge rather than intuitive
  speculation or deduction.
• Mind at birth is a tabula rasa, a blank slate
  upon which experience imprints knowledge.
• Revolution was a right, often an obligation, in
  the face of tyranny. All persons are born good,
  independent, and equal.
• Attacked the theory of divine right of kings.
  Natural right of individuals to life, liberty and
  property.
• Duty of the government to protect these rights.
  Believed in the rule of the majority.

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Individual rights some people are more equal
than others

• Lockes ideas of rights belonged to men, not
  towomen.
• Lockes ideas did not apply to non-Europeans(such
  as Native Americans or Black slaves).
• Lockes ideas did not apply to Catholics.
• Lockes ideas helped to fuel the American
  andFrench Revolutions.
• Lockes ideas contradicted Christian
  (bothProtestant and Catholic) dogma -no original
  sin.

8
Other important Enlightenment figures

• Voltaire (1694-1778) attacked the power and
  corruption of monarchs and church leaders.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) author of The
  Social Contract and Emile, influences
  constitutions and education.
• Denis Diderot (1713- 1784) creator of the
  Encyclopaedia.Knowledge and reason are the basis
  for progress.
• Adam Smith (1723-1790) Author of The Wealth of
  Nations, inspires modern liberalism and
  free-market capitalism.
• Thomas Paine (1723- 1809) author of The Rights
  of Man.

9
Mary Wollstonecraft, 1759-1797

• Author of A Vindication of the Rights of
  Women(1792).
• Friend of William Blake, Henry Fuseli, andThomas
  Paine.
• First feminist author and thinker of the
  18thcentury.
• Obvious debts to Locke and Paine she went
  onestep further in advocating equal rights for
  womenunder the law (equality of education
  andopportunity).

10
Individual Rights

• Individual rights for men advocated by Locke
  in17th century.
• Individual rights for women advocated
  byWollstonecraft in 18th century.
• Revolution for rights in America 1776-1785.
• Revolution for rights in France 1789-1796.
• In the end, only free, white men got the rights
  theysought.
• Ideas about world, rights, and God did not
  changeovernight!

11
The shift from theocratic to empirical reasoning

• Medieval Renaissance society was theocratic or
  God-based.
• Lockes ideas advocated empirical knowledge of
  the world
• The 1700s saw the rise of experimental science
  based onhypothesis, test and verification.
• Myth, superstition and tradition were not
  eliminated, butthe middle classes and some
  members of the aristocracychanged their ways of
  thinking.
• These changes are reflected in the art of the
  time - both inneoclassicism and in romanticism
  in radically differentways.

12
28-1 Houdon, Bust of Voltaire

• Marble, life-size portrait ofVoltaire in old
  age.
• Sense of realism.
• Link to ancient Romanworks-the portrait bust.
• Voltaire worked tirelesslyagainst the ancien
  régimein France.
• One of several busts andsculptures of Voltaire
  byHoudon, who also sculpteda bust of Benjamin
  Franklin.

13
28-3 Joseph Wright of Derby (1763-65)Philosopher
giving a lecture at the Orrery

• Orrery a mechanical device used to demonstrate
  the workings of thesolar system with a lamp as
  the sun.
• Dramatic lighting - invests science with
  intensity of  Baroque religiousor historical
  painting.

14
28-4 Coalbrookdale Bridge

• Built 1776-1779 by Abraham Darby III and Thomas
  F. Pritchard.
• First iron bridge, but it is built using
  wood-working techniques.
• Its cast iron armature creates an arch over the
  Severn River.

15
Coalbrookdale
16
28-5 Antonio CanalettoBasin of San Marco from
San Giorgio Maggiore

• Represents Venice,1740
• Views of the citywere popular assouvenirs
• No mass-producedprints yet, socityscapes
  andlandscapes becamepopular for tourists a
  new phenomenonof the era.

17
28-6 Greuze The Village Bride 1761

• Peasantsromanticized aspure and good.
• Rise inpopularity of theroman
  (novel)spurssentimentalsubject matter

18
28-7 Chardin Grace at Table (1740)

• Chardin-same generationas Watteau.
• Investigated the poetryof the commonplace
• Related to Voltairesideas about the
  innategoodness and piety of thepoor
• Marks the establishmentof tropes or
  standardcharacters and themes.

19
28-8 Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun Self Portrait 1790

• Most famous for portraitsof Marie-Antoinette
  andher children.
• Portrays herself here inpost-revolutionaryclothi
  ng, simpler and morehumble.
• Self-portrait represents thevirtuosity of  this
  artist,shows many brushes andher palette.
• She was a member of theAcadémie Française.

20
28-9 William Hogarth Marriage à la Mode

• Satirist of 18thcentury society inEngland, who
  usedcartoon-like images.
• Critique here ofmarriage.
• Obvious reference to
• current ideas e.g.the decadence of
  thearistocracy.

21
William Hogarth (1697-1764)

• Gin Lane and Beer Street Etching and Engraving,
  1751.

22
28-10 GainsboroughMrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan

• The wife of a famousplaywright of
  theRestoration.
• Set in a landscape similarto those used by
  Watteau.
• Note the simplicity of  herdress, hair, pose,
  etc.
• She represents the goodwoman, the loyal wife.

23
28-12 Benjamin WestThe Death of General Wolfe

• Painted 1771, 12 yearsafter the event in
  whichthe defeat of the Frenchin 1759
  transfersCanada to Britain.
• The heros death inguise of classicalpainting
  of death ofCaesar.
• Wolfe died in battle,but not so cleanly
  orheroically as this imagerepresents.

24
28-13 John Singleton CopleyPortrait of Paul
Revere (1768-1770)

• Interest in depictingthe skilled workingman,
  validation ofindividual effort.
• Emphasis on eyes,thoughtfulness.
• Note the reflection intable top, also inteapot.

25
28-14 Angelica KauffmannCornelia Presenting Her
Children As Her Treasures (1785)

• Kauffmann was afounding member ofthe British
  RoyalAcademy of Fine Arts.
• The Neoclassicalstyle.
• Moral and civicpurpose women asmothers serve
  state asmakers and trainers offuture leaders.

26
Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825)

• Neoclassical style the new classicism
  thatemphasized ancient texts, events, subject
  matterfor paining.
• Studied in Rome.
• Rejected Rococo artificiality.
• He first allied himself with the French
  Revolution(1789-1798), but later became court
  painter forNapoleon Bonaparte.
• Very effective propagandist in his art.

27
Jacques-Louis DavidOath of the Horatii (1784)

• Stage setting
• Story of conflict andsacrifice
• Note the triangularcomposition
• Based on mythicbinary oppositionsmen and
  women,strong and weak,active and passive

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28-16 David, The Tennis Court Oath 1791

• Records an event during the French Revolution
  (1789-1796), establishmentof the National
  Assembly. (Jefferson watches it from the balcony)
• Study for larger work not completed because of
  instability of government.

29
28-17 David, Death of Marat 1793

• Marat was a leader inthe Revolution
• Assassinated byCharlotte Corday in1793.
• Part of propagandacampaign of Jacobinparty
  (David was amember of theJacobins) against
  thoseopposed toRevolution.

30
28-18 David, The Coronation of Napoleon
31
28-18 David, The Coronation of Napoleon

• Painted 1805-1808, followingthe event in 1804.
• David had been imprisonedfor his political
  alliances.
• After his release, Davidbecame the
• first painter of the Empireunder Bonaparte, who
  seizedpower after the fall of theJacobin party
• Napoleon saw himself as anew Charlemagne.

32
28-19 The Panthéon, Paris (1755-1792)

• Also known as the Churchof Sainte Geneviève.
• Architect Soufflot.
• Begun 1 under Louis XVIcompleted during
  theFrench Revolution.
• Inspired by Roman ruinsin Syria.
• Dome recalls that of St.Peters, Rome
  façademimics Pantheon inRome.

33
28-21 Antonio CanovaPauline Borghese as Venus
(Completed 1808)

• Villa Borghese, Rome.
• Practically unknown topublic, kept in
  privateapartments of Paulineshusband
• Depiction of her asVenus was a
  scandalhowever, the goddess ofLove was how
  Paulinesaw herself.
• Note how the fabric ofthe couch stretches
  withher body weight.

34
Excavation of Herculaneum and Pompeii

• Begun 1748, reveals two ancient Roman cities
  buried by eruption of Mount Vesuvius, 79 CE.
• Preservation of intact painting, sculpture,
  architecture leads to romanticisation of ancient
  Rome
• Publication of books of engravings and drawings
  showing ruins.
• Inspiration for painters from buildings and
  frescoes on walls
• Inspiration for sculpture, furniture, silver,
  pottery and interior design.
• Export of ancient treasures to Britain and
  France.
• Starts a mania for all things reek or Roman!

35
28-26 Thomas Jefferson, Monticello

• Made of brick and wood,designed by
  Jeffersonafter his return fromFrance and
  completed in1806.
• Jefferson read all of
• Palladio visitedRomantemple MaisonCarrée, in
  Nîmes, France.
• His home has someaffinity with PalladiosVilla
  Rotunda (22-56).

36
28-28 Horatio Greenough,George
Washington,1832-1841

• Completed long after thedeath of Washington.
• Neoclassical style imitationof Zeus by Phidias.
• This was a controversialdepiction seen by many
  asover the top at the time.
• Suggested fate throwing itin the Potomac.
• Collision of Ideology andReality.

37
Neoclassicism and Romanticism

• Romanticism.
• Rejection of reason infavour of emotion
• Age of Sensibility 1750-1780 started trend
  towardinterest in emotion ratherthan intellect
• Re-awakening interest inMiddle Ages and
  Gothicart and architecture -Gothic revival.

• Neoclassicism
• Reliance on ancientmodels.
• Importance of Pompeiiand Herculaneum.
• Emphasis on historypainting, especiallyancient
  history.
• Fueled by Englightenmentinterest in rationalism.

38
Neoclassicism and Romanticism
Romanticism.PassionEmotionSensibilityNatur
al HumansympathySubjectivity
andIntuitionMiddle Ages and Gothic

• Neoclassicism
• Reason
• Intellect
• Rationality
• Calculation of courtlysocieties
• Objectivity
• Ancient Greece andRome

39
28-29 Antoine-Jean GrosNapoleon in Pesthouse at
Jaffa 1804

• Stylistically differentfrom David!
• Romanticism notNeoclassicism!
• Fascination with theNear East
• Napoleons attemptat damage controlafter trying
  to kill alldisease-strickenFrench soldiers.

40
28-30 Girodet-Trioson Burial of Atala, 1808

• Based on a novel byChateaubriand.
• Views of NativeAmerican life - thenoble savage.
• Influence ofChristianity.
• Tragic love.
• Romanticism.

41
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

• 1780-1867
• Studied in Davids studio
• Rejected Davids style, believing he wascloser
  to a true Greek style of painting, onethat was
  purer than Davids.
• Adapted the flatness and linearity found inGreek
  vase painting to painting in oils.
• He was a master of the controlled line,precise
  definition of shapes and forms.

42
28-32 Ingres, Grande Odalisque

• Neoclassical ideal Combination of exotic, erotic
  and classical -Orientalism in full force.
• This painting was completed in 1814- holds no
  hint of Napoleonic Wars.

43
28-33 Ingres, Sketch of Paganini

• Virtuoso violinist
• Line is key
• Strong outlinecreatessense ofstability
• Accurate rendering ofthe features of
  theviolinist

44
Two Sketches of Paganini

• Left Ingres, Neoclassical Right Delacroix,
  Romantic

45
28-35 Henry Fuseli, The Nightmare 1781

• Fuseli was a Swissartist who workedin England.
• Member of RoyalAcademy of Art(founded 1768).
• Illustrates theRomantic attitudetoward night,
  sex,and myth.

46
28-36 William Blake, Ancient of Days, 1794

• Hand-coloured etching.
• Blake believed he wasinspired by visions of
  spiritssent by God.
• Representation of God theFather.
• Imposition of architecture/geometry on the
  world.
• Note the depiction ofenergy/force in the
  swirlingcolours used by Blake.

47
28-38 Francisco GoyaThe Family of Charles IV

• Contemporary of Davidwho rejected
  rationalNeoclassicism in favourof an appeal to
  emotion.
• Portrait of the SpanishRoyal Family.
• Inspired by Velazquez butfar less flattering
  theyappear satirized as acollection of
  halfwits,adulterers andauthoritarian rulers.

48
28-39 Goya, The Third of May 1808, 1814

• Napoleon invadedSpain and Portugal,aided by
  Ferdinand VII,son of Charles IV.
• Goya shows the resultof resistance toNapoleons
  forces, themassacre of Spanishcitizens, both
  rebels andthe innocent.

49
28-41 Géricault Raft of the Medusa 1818-1819
50
28-44 Delacroix, The Death of Sardanapalus,1826

• Orientalism
• Narrative story of ancientKing who ordered all
  of hispossessions destroyedafter loss in
  battle.
• He set fire to his palaceand went up in flames
  withit
• Delacroix depicts thedespotism and crueltyof
  the orient, not itsexotic beauty.

51
20-45 Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People

• Set in Revolution of1830 painted
  almostimmediately after theevent.
• Allegorical the womanrepresents liberty
  theboy, the working classpoor the top hatted
  manon students/middleclasses.
• Dead and dying in front.

52
28-49 Caspar David FriedrichCloister Graveyard
in the Snow, 1810

• German landscape - aRomantic view ofGothic
  ruins (c.f.Wordworths TinternAbbey)
• Monks in foreground
• Unification of naturewith emotion
• Transcendence oflandscape depicts
  thepicturesque/sublime -reflects
  Kantsaesthetics.

53
28-50 John Constable, The Haywain, 1821

• Industrial Revolution inEngland
  changedlandscape.
• Traditional farminglifestyle becamemythologized
  bypainters and poets (e.g.Shelley)
• Elimination of smallscale farms and farmersby
  commercial farmingthey move to the newfactory
  cities.

54
28-51 J.M.W. Turner, The Slave Ship, 1840

• Abolitionistsentiment is growingworldwide.
• Stories of atrocitiescirculate in Europe
• Slave ship captainthrows dead anddying
  cargooverboard
• Based on historicalevent.

55
The Hudson River School

• Begun by Thomas Cole about 1825.
• Artists sought to depict uniquely American
  subject matter.
• Dramatic landscape was what America had to offer.
• Landscapes were largely from New England and the
  Hudson River Valley.
• Panoramic landscapes combined with moral messages
  fromcontemporary literature.
• Second generation of HRS artists traveled to
  the American west and to South America to search
  for untainted, pure landscapes  asAmerica was
  getting too crowded.

56
28-52 Thomas Cole, The Oxbow,  1836

• Combination ofnature and humanityartist is
  miniscule inthe landscape.
• Focus on thepicturesque valorizeslandscape,
  nature,visions of the divinein the natural
  world
• Influence of  Englishand GermanRomanticism.

57
28-53 Albert Bierstadt 1868Among the Sierra
Nevada Mountains, California

• Views of theromanticized westernfrontier.
• Purity of nature.
• Divine light diffusesfrom the heavens.
• Manifest Destiny.
• No humans, no war.
• Irony he got there byrailway!

58
2854 Frederic Edwin ChurchTwilight in the
Wilderness 1860s

• Romantic view of the landscape - wide-angle lens
• Church sought pure unaltered land.
• Elimination of conflict from workno war.
• Coincides with  Darwins Origin of Species.

59
28-55 Winslow HomerVeteran in the New Field, 1865

• Subtle references to Civil War
• Veteran returns to idyllic farming scene
• Death present in use of single blade scythe
  (grim reaper figure)
• Intersection of human with landscape is peaceful.

60
28-60 The Crystal Palace, London

• Designed by Joseph Paxton, 1850-1851
• Intended as main building of the Great Exhibition
  of 1851
• English Imperial power is at its apex
• Shows to the world  the superiority of English
  industry, design, commerce,and  technology.

61
Photography Writing with Light

• First photograph produced 1827continues to be
  exposed and darkens to obscurity.
• Photographic process required two elements
• Use of chemical tocreate image on paper
• Use of fixative toprevent image fromcontinuing
  to develop
• 1839 Daguerre discovers how to fix an image
  (stop the action of the light) -his work called
  the daguerreotype.
• 1835 Talbot produces calotype with a negative,
  allowing picture to be produced more than once
  His process not refined until 1844 but proved the
  more economical and lasting of the two.

62
28-61 Draped Nude

• Photographer Durieuand the artistDelacroix
  worked tocreate photographic art
• What is the logicalsubject matter
  ofphotography? Thesame as art!
• Draped nude, classicalsubject matter

63
28-62 Daguerre, Still Life in Studio, 1837

• One of the earliestdageurreotypes.
• Daguerre patentedhis process.
• Nature seen asreproduced intruthful way.

64
28-64 Nadar, portrait of Delacroix, c. 1855

• Modern print fromoriginal negative.
• Pose he hides hishands.
• Conveys strength,upper class pretensions
• Wet plate technologyrequired more effort,but
  yielded moreintense effects.

65
28-65 OSullivan, Harvest of Death, Gettysburg

• Photography from U.S.Civil War - not the
  firstwar in photographs asoften claimed
  (CrimeanWar, 1854 was).
• Prints made on the spot.
• Apparent reportage -as ifyou are there
•  Important to rememberphotography could be-and
  was- staged

66
Nadar, Sarah Bernhardt
67
Curtis
68
Wright
69
Ansel Adams
70
Ansel Adams
71
Dorothea Lang