TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR



16

THE AGE OF REASON

1700–1789

Teaching Strategies and Suggestions

THE INSTRUCTOR CAN BEGIN THE AGE OF REASON WITH A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW THAT DESCRIBES THE WEST IN 1700, TREATING SUCH MATTERS AS THE POLITICS (KINGSHIP, ABSOLUTIST OR LIMITED), ECONOMICS (MERCANTILISM), SOCIETY (ARISTOCRATIC AND HIERARCHICAL), RELIGION (STATE CHURCHES AND LEGALIZED INTOLERANCE), EDUCATION (PIECEMEAL, RANDOM, AND ELITIST), AND CULTURE (BAROQUE AND SOON TO BE ROCOCO). THIS SUMMARY WILL ENABLE STUDENTS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE PROGRAM OF THE PHYSIOCRATS AND PARTICULARLY THE PHILOSOPHES WHO WANTED RADICAL CHANGES IN WESTERN SOCIETY AND CULTURE. THE INSTRUCTOR CAN NEXT INTRODUCE THE ENLIGHTENMENT, USING A SPIRIT OF THE AGE APPROACH THAT SETS FORTH THIS CULTURAL MOVEMENT’S GOALS AND GUIDING IDEALS, INCLUDING SCIENTIFIC METHODOLOGY, MATHEMATICAL REASONING, AND HEALTHY SKEPTICISM. THE INSTRUCTOR, USING THE PATTERNS OF CHANGE APPROACH, CAN BRIEFLY DESCRIBE THE INFLUENCES THAT HELPED TO SHAPE THE ENLIGHTENMENT MENTALITY, SPECIFICALLY THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION, GRECO-ROMAN CLASSICISM, AND THE RENAISSANCE. A HANDOUT LISTING KEY FIGURES BY COUNTRY AND THE MAJOR CONTRIBUTION OF EACH IS A GOOD DEVICE FOR DEMONSTRATING TO STUDENTS THAT THE ENLIGHTENMENT WAS TRULY AN INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT AS WELL AS FOR FAMILIARIZING THEM WITH THE LEADING PHILOSOPHES AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS.

The instructor can use a Standard Lecture to establish the Enlightenment’s historical setting, focusing briefly on major historical events affecting the great powers (England, France, Prussia, Austria, and Russia) and to a lesser extent the almost-great powers (the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain) and showing especially the differences between England with its limited monarchy and growing middle class and France with its absolute monarchy and its resurgent aristocracy. This information is vital for students because these events were determining factors in the rise of the Rococo and Neoclassical styles. With the Reflections/Connections approach, the instructor can then show how the Rococo reflected the French and, to a lesser extent, the Austrian aristocracy and how, in England, it led to a backlash by Hogarth, who ridiculed the excesses of this style in his satiric paintings. Similarly, it can be shown how the Neoclassical style was in part a response to the philosophes’ criticism of eighteenth-century politics and culture and how, after appearing in about 1770, this style was quickly adopted by progressive spirits across the West. The instructor can employ Slide Lectures blended with a Comparison/Contrast approach to set forth the differences between the Rococo and Neoclassical styles. The Comparison/Contrast approach can also be used to treat literary developments in France and England, and a Music Lecture is essential to illustrate the riches of Rococo and Neoclassical music.

An excellent conclusion can be achieved using a Historical Summary—following the topics laid down in the opening lecture—to describe the agenda of the philosophes in 1789, touching on such matters as politics (government by the consent of the governed), economics (laissez faire), society (natural rights, including freedom and equality), religion (Deism, natural religion, and religious tolerance), education (the universal panacea as a problem solver), and culture (Neoclassicism). Time permitting, the instructor can conduct a Discussion, encouraging students to identify those aspects of contemporary life that are direct outgrowths of Enlightenment habits of thought, such as representative government, public school systems, free trade, and religious freedom. The instructor can also show that contemporary rights movements, such as those for African Americans, women, the disabled, and gays, have their roots in the struggle for rights that began as an academic discussion by the philosophes in the Enlightenment.

Lecture Outline

I. Historical Overview

A.Four trends of the age

1.Concentration of political power in

the great states

2. The resurgence of the aristocracy

3. The political eminence of the middle class

4. The Enlightenment

B. Reaction against the Baroque

1. The Rococo style

2. The Neoclassical style

II.The Enlightenment

A.Influences

1. Greco-Roman world

2. The Renaissance

3. The Scientific Revolution

B. Its geographic boundaries

C. The philosophes and their program

1. Definition of the philosophes

2. Representative thinkers

3. Their ideals

4. Their program

D.Deism

1. Metaphor of a clockwork universe

2. Impact

E. The Encyclopédie

1. Origins

2. The project

3. The editorship of Diderot

F. The Physiocrats

1. Definition

2. Critique of mercantilism

3. Their doctrines

4. Adam Smith and his advocacy of a

free-market economy

III. The Great Powers During the Age of Reason

A.Less turbulent than 1600s

B.Society: continuity and change

1. Growing urbanization of society

2. Continuation of a traditional,

hierarchical society

3. Subordinate role for women

4. Conditions of black slaves in Europe’s

overseas colonies

C. Absolutism, limited monarchy, and

enlightened despotism

1. Last great age of kings

2. France: the successors to the Sun King

a)Louis XV and Louis XVI

(1)Gathering sense of drift

(2)Society and culture

(3)Decline abroad

(4)Domestic problems at home

b)France at a crossroads in 1789

3. Great Britain and the Hanoverian kings

a)The ideal state of the philosophes

b)The early Hanoverians: George I

and George II

c)George III

(1)Conflict between Crown and Parliament

(2)The American Revolution

4. Enlightened despotism in central and

eastern Europe

a)Survey of the lesser states of Europe

b)Prussia: Frederick II

(1)His reforms

(2)Commitment to Enlightenment values

c)Austria: Maria Theresa and Joseph II

(1)Their reforms

(2)Their contrasting involvement with

Enlightenment ideas

d)Russia: Peter the Great and Catherine the Great

(1)Their reforms

(2)Relationship to the Enlightenment

IV. Cultural Trends in the Eighteenth Century:

from Rococo to Neoclassical

A.The Rococo style in the arts

1.The origin of the Rococo

2. Its geographical boundaries

3. Rococo painting

a)Watteau

(1)Style characteristics

(2)Departure from Cythera

(3)The Sign for Gersaint’s Shop

b)Boucher

(1)Style characteristics

(2)Nude on a Sofa

c)Vigée-Lebrun

(1)Style characteristics

(2)Marie Antoinette and Her Children

d)Fragonard

(1)Style characteristics

(2)The Lover Crowned

4.Rococo interiors

a)Aspects of the style

b)Boffrand and the “Salon de la Princesse”

in the Hotel de Soubise, Paris

c)Neumann and the Kaisersaal in

the Residenz, Würzburg

5. The English response

a)Style characteristics

b)Hogarth

(1)The art market

(2)Marriage à la Mode series

B. The challenge of Neoclassicism

1.Origins

2. Neoclassical painting

a)Vien and the Académie de France in Rome

b)David

(1)Style characteristics

(2)Oath of the Horatii

(3)The Death of Socrates

3.Neoclassical architecture

a)Adam

(1)Style characteristics

(2)Kenwood House, London

b)Soufflot

(1)Style characteristics

(2)The Pantheon, Paris

C. Political philosophy

1.Background

2. Alternatives to absolutism

a)Montesquieu and The Spirit of the Laws

b)Rousseau and The Social Contract

D.Literature

1. Mission: to liberate consciousness

2. French writers: the development of new forms

a)Montesquieu: The Persian Letters

b)Rousseau: The Confessions

c)Voltaire

(1)Essay on Customs

(2)Candide

3.Neoclassicism and English literature

a)The English setting

b)Pope

(1)His style

(2)Essay on Man

c)Gibbon: History of the Decline

and Fall of the Roman Empire

4. The rise of the novel

a)Characteristics

b)Samuel Richardson

(1)Theme: love between the sexes

(2)Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded

(3)Clarissa

c)Henry Fielding

(1)Theme: satiric adventures

(2)Tom Jones

5.Music

a)Rococo music

(1)Style galant

(2)The harpsichord and the pianoforte

(3)Couperin

(4)Rameau

b)Classical music

(1)Characteristics

(2)The sonata form and its impact

(3)Haydn

(4)Mozart

V.The Legacy of the Age of Reason

Non-Western Events

1700–1789

In Africa, between 1730 and

1800, the states of Lunda,

Luba, Oyo, Benin, and

Asante prospered and

became empires; collapse

of Kongo, Ngola, and

Mwenemutapa, largely a

result of contacts with

Europeans; Kumasi, the

capital of Asante, called a

“garden city” by

foreigners; revival of Islam

in West Africa, 1725;

Asante civilization at

zenith, 1721–1750;

Dahomey, a state built on

the slave trade, the most

rigidly controlled state of

the eighteenth century;

Portuguese driven from

their stronghold in

Mombassa by a combined

African-Arab army, 1728;

earrings, anklets, pendants,

and armbands fashioned

from gold and bronze

In China, Manchu dynasty,

1644–1912; greatest extent

of empire, 1760; Emperor

K’ang-hsi, 1661–1722,

instituted competitive civil

service examinations; a

Chinese version of an

Enlightened Despot; Tibet

brought into China’s orbit,

1720; Emperor Ch’ien-

lung, 1736–1796, a patron

of Jesuit painters and

architects; Jesuits Guiseppe

Castiglione and Jean-Denis

Attiret design Yüan-ming-

yüan, the complex of

pavilions and park in

Beijing; the Altar of

Heaven, a Manchu

restoration in 1754 of the

1421 original; height of

Manchu civilization but

also the beginning of the

dynasty’s decline;

emergence of secret

societies, such as the White

Lotus, that were hostile to

the Manchu dynasty;

reduction of slavery, 1730;

the visual arts flourished;

new method of taking census,

in 1741—estimated

population of 140 million;

The Dream of the Red

Chamber, China’s

only great novel of

manners; Chinese fashions

exported to Europe,

including Chinese-style

gardens, pagodas,

pavilions, lacquer, sedan

chairs, incense, and

porcelain; translations of

Chinese thought and

literature by Jesuits make

their way into the West;

in 1715, the Jesuit

missionary Castiglione

arrived in China, influenced

Chinese painting; the

Summer Palace of Emperor

Ch’ien Lung, designed by

Jesuits; revival of Neo-

Confucianism; study of

mathematics, astronomy,

and geography increased;

dictionaries compiled;

works of Chinese literature

and history compiled

for Emperor Ch’ien-lung,

numbering 36,000 volumes

In Himalayan region, in

Nepal, end of Malla

dynasty and founding of

Gurkha dynasty, 1768–

present; in Tibet,

Lamaistic state, 1450 to 1950s

In India, Mogul Empire,

1526–1858; failure in

warfare leads to foreign

control, as in the rise of

the British East India

Company, 1757–1858, and

the taking of Madras by

France, 1746; weak Mogul

authority freed local

Muslim rulers; rise of

indigenous regional

powers, such as the Sikhs

(Punjab), Rajputs

(Rajasthan), and Marathas

(West India)

In Japan, Edo, or Tokugawa

period, 1615–1867; Japanese

isolation, 1637–1854; an

opening in the bamboo

curtain, as the shogun

allowed Western books to

be imported, leading to

Japanese knowledge of

Western science, especially

medicine, 1720; death of

Ogata Korin, painter of

Tale of Ise and other screens

with iris and red and

white plum trees, 1716;

performance of The Love

Suicides at Sonezaki by

the puppet theater of

Chikamatsu Monzaemon

at Osaka, 1720—the first of

several domestic dramas

based on actual incidents,

which reflect the growing

power of the middle class;

Yokai Yagu, poet, 1702–

1783; popular form of

entertainment for middle-

and lower-class patrons;

Toyokuni (1769–1825) and

Shunsho (1726–1792), ukiyo-e

painters who specialized in

portraits of Kabuki actors;

Tales of the Rainy Moon,

by Akinari Ueda, containing

supernatural stories from

China and Japan, 1767;

Hokusai, 1760–1849, artist

famous for woodblock

prints and landscapes;

Harunobu, 1724–1770, the

earliest master of the

multicolored print in

Japan; Sharaku, woodblock

artist, noted for caricatures

of actors, late eighteenth

century; Edo (Tokyo)

destroyed by fire, 1772; in

1800, Edo had population

of 1 million, making it

probably the world’s

largest city at the time;

literary rate in Japan

during the Tokugawa

Shogunate was highest in

Asia, 45 percent for males,

15 percent for females;

Kitagawa Utamaro, painter,

1753–1806; Okyo, painter,

1733–1795

In India, French lands ceded

to Britain, 1763

In Indochina, in Siam,

Emerald Buddha Chapel,

Bangkok, 1785

In Mesoamerica, translation of

Popul Vuh, the sacred book

of the Quiché Indians of

Guatemala, 1701–1721

In Muslim world, in

Afghanistan, the Barkzai

dynasty, 1747–1929; in

Persia, collapse of the

Safavid dynasty under

invasion, 1736; war and

chaos follow until Zand

dynasty established, 1750–1794

In Native North America, French

lands in Canada ceded to

Britain, 1763

In Polynesia, Dutch explorer

Roggeveen discovers

Easter Island, 1722

learning Objectives

To learn:

1. The goals and the ideals of the Enlightenment as well as the leading philosophes and their contributions to this cultural movement

2. The influences on the Enlightenment, especially Greco-Roman Classicism, the Scientific Revolution, and the Renaissance

3. The meaning and significance of Deism and its relationship to the Scientific Revolution

4. The role played by the Encyclopédie in the Enlightenment

5. The reasons that both the Physiocrats and Adam Smith encouraged laissez-faire economics instead of mercantilism

6. The condition of Europe in 1700 and the historical changes that occurred between 1700 and 1789, particularly in England, France, Prussia, Austria, and Russia (the great powers) and to a lesser extent in the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal (the almost-great powers)

7. How the Rococo style reflected its origins in France and Austria, where aloof aristocracies dominated society, and how, in England, Hogarth satirized this style in paintings that appealed to middle-class patrons

8. How the Neoclassical style was, in part, a rebellion against the frivolity of the Rococo style and, in part, a reflection of devotion to Greco-Roman values, especially love of country and virtuous behavior

9. How seventeenth-century England and France, two of the age’s leading political powers, represented two contrasting approaches to monarchy and the impact this difference had on artistic and literary developments

10.The characteristics of the Rococo, along with leading exponents of this style and their contributions

11.The characteristics of Neoclassicism, along with leading exponents of this style and their contributions

12.The new ideas that originated in the political philosophy of Montesquieu and Rousseau and their later influence

13.The characteristics and leading composers of Rococo music

14.The defining role played by Haydn and Mozart in originating Classical-style music and their major contributions to this style

15.The historic “firsts” of the Age of Reason that became part of the Western tradition: the emergence of the middle class as a potent force for change; the literary form of the novel; in music, the sonata form and the symphony; a democratizing tendency in culture; a progressive view of history; the principle of government by consent of the governed; and the beliefs that the least amount of state interference in the lives of citizens is best and that all people are created equal

16.The role of the Age of Reason in transmitting the heritage of the past: making the idea of absolutist government an indefensible concept, renewing democratic ideals, reviving and adapting Classical principles and forms to new conditions in the Neoclassical arts and architecture and Classical music, making the civilization of Rome and its fate a comparative model for Western states, continuing the new science and applying its methodology and principles to the Enlightenment, and modifying the Baroque into the Rococo style

Suggestions for Films, videos, and cd-roms

“The Abduction from the Seraglio”: Mozart in Turkey. Films for the Humanities, 89 min., color.

The Age of Reason. Films for the Humanities, 53 min., color (music).

Art: A Question of Style. Films for the Humanities, 30 min., color (David and Friedrich contrasted).

The Enlightenment: Keeping the Fire Burning. Films for the Humanities, 50 min., color (Spanish literature).

Haydn. Films for the Humanities, 25 min., color.

Hume. Films for the Humanities, 44 min., color.

Thomas Jefferson. PBS, 3 hrs. on 2 videos.

The Jewel in the Crown. Films for the Humanities, 53 min., color (War of Austrian Succession).

London: The Musical Capital. Films for the Humanities, 53 min., color.

Mozart: A Genius in His Time. Films for the Humanities, 53 min., color.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Retreat to Romanticism. Films for the Humanities, 25 min., color.

Stuart and Georgian London: 1667–1830. Films for the Humanities, 20 min., color.

Voltaire and Jefferson: The Sage of Ferney and the Man from Monticello. Films for the Humanities, 23 min., color.

Suggestions for MUSIC

Couperin, François. Concerts Royaux (4). Claire, See, Moroney, Ter Linder, Harmonia Mundi. 901151 [CD].

Haydn, Franz Joseph. Quartets (6) for Strings, Op. 50. Juilliard String Quartet. CBS M2K-42154 [CD].

———. The Seasons (Oratorio). Mathis, Jerusalem, Fischer-Dieskau, Marriner, St. Martin’s Academy & Chorus. Philips 411428-2 PH2 [CD].

———. Symphonies (104). Marriner, St. Martin’s Academy. Philips 6768003 PSI.

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Don Giovanni. Arroyo, Te Kanawa, Freni, Burrows, Wixell, Ganzarolli, Davis, Royal Opera. Philips 6707022 2.

———. Piano Music. Barenboim. Angel CDC-47384 [CD].

———. Mozart’s Greatest Hits. Cleveland Orchestra. CBS MLK-39436 [CD].

Rameau, Jean Philippe. Les Boreades (suite); Dardanus (suite). Bruggen, Orchestra of the 18th Century. Philips 420240-2 PH.

———. Les Indes Galantes: Airs et Danses. Herreweghe, Chapelle Royale Orchestra. Harmonia Mundi 1028.

Suggestions for Further Reading

Anderson, M.S. Europe in the Eighteenth Century. Rev. ed. London: Longman, 1987. Extensively revised and rewritten to reflect recent research since the 1961 edition. In the Longman General History of Europe series, this is a useful work for the student who wants a solid overview of a complex period.

Blanning, T.C.W., ed. The Eighteenth Century: Europe, 1688-1815. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Up-to-date anthology in which the authors take a topical rather than chronological approach. Excellent.

Braham, A. The Architecture of the French Enlightenment. London: Thames and Hudson, 1980. A scholarly study that will challenge the advanced student—fully illustrated.

Chartier, R. The Cultural Origins of the French Revolution. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1991. An essay on a hotly debated issue regarding the origins of the French Revolution from the “bottom up” on such topics as the public sphere, the publishing industry, and popular culture; not a survey but an interpretative work.

Crow, T. Painters and Public Life in Eighteenth-Century Paris. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1985. A groundbreaking study on the public sphere and art, which the serious student will find rewarding.

Darnton, R. The Business of Enlightenment: A Publishing History of the Encyclopédie. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Belknap Press, 1979. The biography of a book—a study of how this influential compendium of knowledge was written, organized, and published in spite of much opposition.

Dolan, B. Ladies of the Grand Tour: British Women in Search of Enlightenment and Adventure in Eighteenth-Century Europe. New York: HarperCollins, 2001. Fascinating addition to our knowledge about the Grand Tour. The book reveals that adventurous bourgeois and aristocratic women could find a degree of freedom on the continent that was less available to them in England, albeit at some risk.

Gay, P. The Enlightenment: An Interpretation. Vol. 1: The Rise of Modern Paganism, Vol. II: The Science of Freedom. New York: Knopf, 1966–1969. A brilliant interpretation of the Enlightenment from a liberal point of view.

Goodman, D. The Republic of Letters: A Cultural History of the French Enlightenment. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994. Attends well to the role of literary women.

Gunther-Canada, W. Rebel Writer: Mary Wollstonecraft and Enlightenment Politics. DeKalb, IL; Northern Illinois University Press, 2001.

Irwin, D. Neoclassicism. New York: Phaidon, 1997. Excellent survey that also includes a discussion of Neoclassicism’s manifestations in the arts since 1830.

Lee, S. David. New York: Phaidon, 1999. A detailed and thorough account of David’s career as the leading Neoclassical painter.

Mellers, W. The Sonata Principle. New York: Schocken, 1969. Insightful discussion of the defining role played by the sonata principle in music composition between 1750 and 1900.

Minor, V.H. Baroque and Rococo: Art and Culture. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1999. Good at historically contextualizing these stylistic eras, this survey also includes coverage of women artists, town planning, domestic interiors, and landscaping.

Munck, T. The Enlightenment: A Comparative Social History, 1721-1794. London/New York: Edward Arnold, 2000. Excellent study of how Enlightenment ideas became disseminated among ordinary people.

Outram, D. The Enlightenment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. A superb, accessible analysis that places the Enlightenment in the context of early industrialization, encounters with non-Europeans, and changing social norms.

Scott, H. M., ed. Enlightened Absolutism. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1990. Prefaced by essays on the general topic of Enlightened Absolutism, this is a country-by-country approach, noting reformers and their programs.

Spencer, S., ed. French Women and the Age of Enlightenment. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984. A set of essays that helped pave the way for future studies relating women to the Enlightenment.

Woloch, I. Eighteenth-Century Europe: Tradition and Progress, 1715–1789. New York: Norton, 1982. In the Norton History of Modern Europe series, this topical survey covers such issues as the social orders, crime and punishment, population shifts, poverty, and religious thought and organization.

IdentificationS

Enlightenment

philosophes

Deism

Physiocrats

Rococo style

fête galante

rocaille

Neoclassical style

style galant

pianoforte

Classical style (in music)

sonata form

symphony

concerto

sonata

key

tempo

mood

scher

Windows on the World Background

HISTORY

AFRICA

West Africa Ghana. Asante state centered in modern south Ghana; ruled by an Asasntehene, or king; capital at Kumasi. Traded slaves to British and Dutch for firearms. Under Opoku Ware (r. 1764–77), state reached widest extent.

AMERICAS

Latin America Brazil. Growing unification of country; rule by governor general; capital Bahia (Salvador), to 1763, and Rio do Janeiro, after 1763; rising Luso-Afro-Indian culture; unified by Portuguese language, patriarchal family structure; rural society; sugar economy; tobacco, cattle, cotton, and coffee. Viceroyalty of Peru. Reforms by new Spanish (Bourbon) dynasty reduced the viceroyalty in size and initiated economic decline; lost its northern lands and thriving port of Guayaquil (now in Ecuador) and its southern lands, including Potosí silver mines. Indian revolt led by Tupac Amaru II (ca. 1742–1781).

Native North America Plains. Three main divisions of Sioux: Santee, Yankton, and Teton; in 1650, Sioux driven from Lake Superior area, where they farmed and hunted, by Ojibwa people; Teton and Yankton moved onto the plains and adopted a new lifestyle, marked by nomadic hunting of buffalo and other big game; lived in teepees (a Sioux word); men made war on horseback and collected scalps and horses; women made embroideries of porcupine quills and beads; the sun dance, the chief tribal festival.

ASIA

China Ch’ing Dynasty. Thriving economy; painting, printmaking, and porcelain manufacture flourished. Toleration of Roman Catholic missionaries.

India Mogul Dynasty. Between 1757 and 1800 officials of British East India Company assumed political power and began to treat India as a conquered rather than acquired country. British power, though veiled, was real. British cultural influences: Indian troops trained in the British manner; English became popular; translations of works, such as Bhatavad Gita into English.

Japan Edo period. The few remaining daimyo (250 in 1800) lived in castles on their land and were forced to keep second residences in Edo and to spend alternate years there; this system kept down rebellion, left the daimyo financially weak, and resulted in thriving post towns and huge growth in Edo. After 1638, Nagasaki was only Japanese city open to foreigners, mainly Dutch.

CULTURE

AFRICA

West Africa Ghana Golden Stool. This symbol of the Asante State is said to have descended from heaven at a time of political crisis. Asante kings were enthroned on the Golden Stool.

AMERICAS

Latin America Brazil Daniel. The statue of Daniel was part of a courtyard gallery devoted to 12 Hebrew prophets, sculpted by Aleijadinho, an African-Portuguese artist. Daniel is represented as a gentle man with a tamed lion crouched beneath his hand. Viceroyalty of Peru. Church of Santiago. This church, at Pomata, Peru, (ca. 1690–1722), is one of the earliest examples of the mestizo, which means mixed descent from European and native Indian stock, reflects its blend of Spanish and indigenous forms and motifs. The Church of Santiago’s façade has a massive appearance that is somewhat lightened by the wall surface around the portal area being divided into a two-story set of compartments, framed by columns of local origin, that serve as niches for religious sculptures.

ASIA

Japan Edo period. Segawa Tomisaburo II as Yadorigi, Ogishi Kurando’s Wife. This print depicts the male actor Segawa Tomisaburo II in costume as Yadorigi, a female character in a Kabuki play. Sharaku, probably an actor himself, was one of the most famous ukiyo-e painters, making fewer than 160 works, chiefly portraits of actors. He typically painted close-up views of his subjects and showed them in poses revealing their ways of acting. All of his works produced in one year (1794). Taku Koshibyo (Confucian Temple). This temple at Taku City is a fine example of Edo period architecture. Made of wood, it was built in the Japanese Zen Buddhist style and with a few Chinese features, such as the curving gable portico and wooden arch.

personal perspective background

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Letter to Wortley, 25 March 1744

Lady Mary (1689–1762), as her generation called her, knew that her letters represented her claim to future fame. Having sampled Madame de Sévignè’s correspondence, she confided to a friend: “I assert, without the least vanity, that [my letters] will be full[y] as entertaining forty years hence.” She was also a poet and essayist, but her fame rests today on her prodigious letter writing. Lady Mary began to write letters when she first married Lord Edward Wortley Montagu, and she continued to write letters throughout her unconventional life. Living at a time when it was difficult, if not dangerous to be a free spirit, she lived apart from her husband for about twenty years, four of which were spent in the papal state of Avignon, France. Such behavior could have marginalized her, but Lady Mary had the support of an understanding husband and powerful social connections in England and abroad. None of her letters were published during her lifetime. An unauthorized selection of her letters first appeared in 1763, the year after her death, and were acclaimed across Europe. The complete letters were not published until 1965–67.

Discussion/Essay Questions

1.Identify and explain the four trends that characterize the Age of Reason.

2.Discuss the most important characteristics of eighteenth-century European society. How were they reflected in the arts?

3.What were the leading goals, ideals, figures, and contributions of the Enlightenment to the Western tradition?

4.How did the Greco-Roman tradition, the Scientific Revolution, and the Renaissance influence the Enlightenment?

5. How would you characterize Mary Wollstonecraft’s version of feminism? What were her key concerns, and what solutions did she propose?

6.Define Deism. What were its intellectual origins?

7.What were the characteristics of the Encyclopédie? What ideals of the Enlightenment can be found in it?

8.What was enlightened despotism? Where and why did it develop in the eighteenth century? Discuss the successes and failures of this political system, focusing on one of the enlightened despots discussed in the textbook.

9.Identify the characteristics and leading figures of the Rococo style of art. Why did Hogarth respond negatively to this style?

10.Using a specific painting from each style, compare and contrast the Rococo with the Neoclassical artistic style.

pare and contrast the architecture and interior designs of the Rococo and Neoclassical styles.

12.What influences helped to bring about the Neoclassical style? What were its characteristics?

13.Why did most of the philosophes reject absolutism and support an alternative form of government? Compare the alternative types of government preferred by Montesquieu and Rousseau.

14.How did English society influence the rise of Neoclassicism in literature? Focus on the writings of Alexander Pope and Edward Gibbon.

15.Discuss the rise of the novel in eighteenth-century England. What conditions encouraged its development, who were the first novelists, and what were their themes?

16.What innovations occurred in music during the Age of Reason?

17.How does Classical music differ from Rococo music? Explain the role played by the sonata form in the evolution of the Classical style.

18.Discuss the contributions of Haydn and Mozart to Classical music.

19.In what way did the Enlightenment lay the foundations of the modern world?

20.What were the three most significant developments in the Age of Reason? Explain.

Multiple-Choice Questions

1.Enlightenment thinking favored:

a. traditional Catholic beliefs

b. pietistic feelings

*c. scientific methodology (p. 431)

d. Thomist theology

2.True or false? During the Age of Reason, there was a decline in the power of the aristocracy. (F, p. 436)

3.The Enlightenment owed intellectual debts to all of the following EXCEPT:

a. the discoveries of the Scientific Revolution

b. the secular values of the Greco-Roman world

c. the humanism of the Renaissance

*d. the religious doctrines of Christianity (p. 432)

4.The Enlightenment was essentially produced in:

a. Italy

b. Scotland

*c. France (p. 433)

d. Great Britain

5.The philosophes called for all of these reforms EXCEPT:

a. religious toleration

b. public education

*c. women’s suffrage (pp. 433-434)

d. a rational system of justice

6.Which of the following was a position advocated by Mary Wollstonecraft?

a.She opposed all forms of hierarchy.

b.She endorsed natural rights for women.

c. She urged that women be educated the same as men.

*d. All of the above. (p. 434)

7.Deism was based on:

a. Adam Smith’s economic theory

*b. Isaac Newton’s model of the universe (p. 434)

c. Mozart’s compositions for piano

d. Leibniz’s philosophical writings

8.A central tenet of Deism is that:

a. Jesus Christ is the savior of humanity.

*b. God created the universe and set the laws of nature in motion and thereafter never again interfered in human and natural affairs. (p. 434)

c. God reveals himself in the human heart.

d. God expresses himself in the human feelings.

9.The Encyclopédie was:

*a. a monumental work of seventeen text volumes and eleven books of illustrations (p. 435)

b. sponsored by the French authorities

c. edited by Voltaire

d. dedicated to the high culture of the arts and humanities

10.Another name for laissez-faire economics is:

a. the guild system

*b. free trade (p. 435)

c. mercantilism

d. a government-run system

11.How did the philosophes spread their ideas?

a.in official publications of the French state

b.at the court of Louis XV

*c.in private and public discussions and debates (p. 435)

d.in churches

12.The originators of laissez-faire economics were:

a. Voltaire and Rousseau

*b. the Physiocrats and Adam Smith (pp. 435-436)

c. Diderot and Montesquieu

d. the Enlightened Despots of the eighteenth century

13.During the Age of Reason, which class bore the heaviest tax burden?

a. the aristocracy

b. the middle class

*c. the peasants (p. 436)

d. the urban working class

14.French women contributed to the Enlightenment mainly through:

a. writing books and articles

b. teaching school

*c. presiding over salons (p. 436)

d. lectures and debates

15.This state, as a limited monarchy, became the ideal model for many philosophes:

*a. Great Britain (p. 438)

b. France

c. Sweden

d. Spain

16.The Empress Maria Theresa of Austria:

a.was one of the most ardent supporters of the Enlightenment

b.ruled over an empire that included only Austrian Germans

*c.attempted to reform her government and army (p. 438)

d.never had the support of her people, who held her in contempt

17.The outstanding example of enlightened despotism in the Age of Reason was:

*a. Austria under Joseph II (pp. 438-439)

b. Russia under Peter the Great

c. France under Louis XVI

d. Great Britain under George I

18.The originator of the Rococo style in painting was:

a. Hogarth

*b. Watteau (p. 439)

c. Fragonard

d. Boucher

19. Watteau specialized in this subject:

a. domestic interiors

*b.the antics of the aristocracy (p. 440)

c. portraits

d. still lifes

20.This painter’s works were famous for their unabashed sexuality:

a. Watteau

b. Hogarth

*c. Boucher (p. 441)

d. David

21.Which was NOT a prominent design element in Rococo interiors?

a. mirrors

b. chandeliers

*c. religious images (pp. 443-444)

d. rocaille

22.A splendid example of a Rococo interior is the:

a. Library of Kenwood House, London

*b. “Salon de la Princesse” in the Hôtel de Soubise, Paris (p. 444)

c. Hall of Mirrors in Palace at Versailles

d. auditorium of the Pantheon, Paris

23.Which technological innovation is associated with Hogarth’s art?

a. He was the pioneer of the lithography process

*b. He was the first artist to run off multiple engravings of his paintings (p. 445)

c. He was the progenitor of drypoint

d. He was the originator of prints in newspapers

24.Which is NOT correct regarding Hogarth’s Marriage à la Mode series?

a. It is anti-Rococo in style.

b. It is a satirical view of a loveless marriage made for money.

c. It appealed to the values of England’s Protestant middle class.

*d. It was commissioned by King George II. (p. 445)

25. True or false? One of the origins of the Neoclassical style was the archeological excavations at Pompeii. (T, p. 446)

26. True or false? The paintings of Boucher and Fragonard were early examples of Neoclassicism. (F, passim).

27.Which painting style was established by Jacques-Louis David?

a. Romanticism

b. Rococo

*c. Neoclassicism (p. 446)

d. Orphism

28.Neoclassicism was characterized by:

a. frivolous subjects

*b. disciplined perspective (p. 447)

c. weightless floating images

d. an undercurrent of eroticism

29.Neoclassical architecture relied on the ideals of:

a. grandiosity and monumentality

*b. proportion and simplicity (Fig. 16.15, p. 448)

c. abstraction and nonrepresentation

d. airiness and lightness

30.In politics, Voltaire:

a. was a democrat

*b. supported enlightened despotism (p. 449)

c. advocated limited monarchy

d. was an exponent of socialism

31.Rousseau’s democratic ideas reflected his origins as a citizen of:

a. the nation-state of England

b. the world

*c. the city-state of Geneva (pp. 449-450)

d. the Holy Roman Empire

32.Montesquieu’s most enduring idea in The Spirit of the Laws is that:

a. governments should be based on the consent of the governed.

b. governments are created to protect property.

*c. separation of powers prevents governments from becoming tyrannical. (p. 449)

d. natural rights are inalienable.

33.According to Rousseau’s The Social Contract:

a. the people collectively personify the state.

b. obedience to the laws of the state makes the citizens moral.

c. the state grants civil rights to the citizens.

*d. all of the above (p. 449)

34.Which writer’s intensely personal autobiography foreshadowed Romanticism?

a. Montesquieu

b. Diderot

c. Voltaire

*d. Rousseau (p. 450)

35.True or false? Voltaire was a great controversialist who supported unpopular causes. (T, p. 451)

36.Voltaire’s chief aim in Candide was to satirize the:

*a. philosophy of optimism (p. 451)

b. institution of monarchy

c. practice of arranged marriages

d. legal system of France

37.English Neoclassical writers and their readers shared these values:

a. lightheartedness and love of luxury

b. formality and courtliness

*c. good taste and moral and religious values (p. 451)

d. free-spiritedness and unconventionality

38.Pope’s optimism in Essay on Man was satirized by:

a. Montesquieu in the Persian Letters

*b. Voltaire in Candide (p. 451)

c. Gibbon in History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

d. Rousseau in The Confessions

39.True or false? Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire reflected the Enlightenment’s belief that history should be philosophy teaching through example. (T, p. 451)

40.What new literary form was developed in the Age of Reason?

*a. the novel (p. 452)

b. the epic

c. the sonnet

d. the philosophic dialogue

41.Eighteenth-century novelists generally wrote about:

a. famous historical events

b. legends or fables

*c. true-to-life individuals (p. 452)

d. glamorous personages

42.Which of the following was a technique used by English novelists to make their works realistic?

a. They followed their characters over the course of minutely observed time.

b. They focused on the lives of ordinary men and women.

c. They used a narrative voice that was appropriate to the setting.

*d. All of the above. (p. 452)

43.The plot of Fielding’s The History of Tom Jones is a:

a. sentimental domestic drama

*b. robust comedy and adventure tale (p. 453)

c. tragic situation brought on by fate

d. legendary tale of a famous highwayman

44.The perfect instrument for Rococo music was the:

a. violin

b. trumpet

*c. harpsichord (p. 453)

d. organ

45.The music of Couperin is a perfect counterpart to the:

a. paintings of David

b. poems of Alexander Pope

*c. art of Watteau (p. 453)

d. architecture of Robert Adam

46.Which of the following was characteristic of Classical music?

a. emphasis on form and structure

b. widespread reliance on the sonata form

c. use of clear, simple harmonies

*d. all of the above (p. 453)

47.All of the following were contributions by Mozart EXCEPT:

*a. new musical forms (p. 454)

b. religious works

c. instrumental music

d. operas

48.In The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart presents a:

a.study of the impact of a mythical hero on history

b.brief one-act opera on the role of women in Austrian society

*c.humorous account of how the lower class can outwit the upper class (p. 455)

d.Romantic opera that plays on the theme of rejected love

49.Which of the following expressed the new power of the middle class during the Age of Reason?

a. the paintings of Hogarth

b. most of the writings of the philosophes

c. the English novel

*d. all of the above (passim)

50. Which of the following is a legacy of the Age of Reason?

a. The emergence of the middle classes as a potent force for change.

b. The belief that human nature is bascially good.

c. A strong challenge to absolutist governments.

*d. All of the above. (p. 455)

PRIMARY SOURCES IN READINGS IN THE WESTERN HUMANITIES, VOL. I

Immanuel Kant, Selection from “Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?”

Denis Diderot, Selections from Encyclopédie

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Selection from Confessions

Voltaire, Selections from Candide

Alexander Pope, Selections from An Essay on Man

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