Montgomery Township School District



NEOCLASSICISM

1780-1820

I. INTRODUCTION

A. The Times Were Changing

1. The French Revolution and the Fall of the Old Regime

2. The Rise of Napoleon

B. Renewed interest in the Classics

1. Grand Tour was popular throughout the 18th century

• A major trip to Italy that included visiting several cities

• A sign of your culture and affluence

• Eventually included a trip to Greece

2. Pompeii and Herculaneum were discovered in 1748

• They began to be included among the Italian cities to visit during the Grand Tour

• People began wanting their homes to be decorated like rooms from Pompeii (ex. Etruscan Room from Osterley Park House in Middlesex, England – G-822- compared to G-261 Third-Style Pompeian frescoes

3. Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768)

• Becomes first modern art historian

• Writes History of Ancient Art (1764) and is a major proponent of a return to the values of classical art

• “To take the ancients for models is our only way to become great … Their masterpieces reveal not only nature in its greatest beauty, but… certain ideal beauties of nature which… exists only in the intellect.” From J.J. Winckelmann’s “Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and Sculpture (1755)

C. Neoclassicism

1. Tone: calm, rational, orderly

2. Subjects: the history and mythology of ancient Greece and Rome, heroic figures of the 18th and early 19th centuries

3. Technique: heavy emphasis on the use of line, highly finished in appearance

4. Role of art was to be morally uplifting, inspirational, reflecting a new mood of self-sacrifice

II. JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID

A. Brief Biography

1. Born in Paris. Talent recognized at an early age.

2. Won the Prix de Rome. During his stay in Italy, David visited the excavations at Pompeii and was overwhelmed by the beauty of what he saw.

3. Returned to Paris in 1780 and soon established himself as the embodiment of the social and moral reaction against the frivolity and self-indulgence of the Rococo period

4. Soon recognized as the greatest painter of the Neoclassical movement

5. David was an active supporter of the French Revolution. He was a member of the National Convention and voted to send Louis XVI to the guillotine.

B. Oath of the Horatii (G-816) (11 feet by 14 feet)

1. Based on a Roman play

2. The story: Rome is at war with Alba Longa and the dispute is to be settled by mortal combat between two sets of brothers: The Horatii of Rome and the Curatii of Alba Longa.

3. David shows the dramatic moment when the Horatii swear their allegiance to the State and a readiness to die on its behalf

• David himself said: “Those people of heroism and civic virtue presented to the eyes of the people will electrify the soul and sow the seeds of glory and loyalty to the fatherland.”

4. The figures on the right include:

• Sabina (dressed in white and to the right) sister to the Curatii and wife of one of the Horatii

• Camilla – betrothed to a Curatii brother. (Camilla is destined to be murdered by her own brother for lamenting the death of her betrothed)

• In the darkness, the wife of Horatius (the father) comforts her grandchildren

5. The story has a moralizing message of self-sacrifice

6. Note the highly finished qualities of the painting

7. Note the understanding of human anatomy but also how David idealized the figures

8. Note the use of Roman architecture in the background – round arches and columns

9. Note the orderly composition – the main figural groups are each framed by the three arches

C. Death of Socrates

1. Plato wrote his Apologies that Socrates (his teacher) was accused and convicted by the Athenian Assembly for corrupting the minds of the young through his teachings. Socrates was offered a choice of renouncing his beliefs or being sentenced to death for treason. Faithful to his convictions and obedient to the law, Socrates chose to accept his sentence.

2. David was inspired by the moral beauty of the story.

3. Characters

• Socrates – does not even consider the possibility of fleeing (Note the chains are broken and on the floor) Instead he chose this moment to teach one last lesson. Socrates raised his arm to emphasize a final point while simultaneously reaching for the poison. Socrates, thus embodies the idea that duty to the state must be put before any personal consideration.

• Plato – a young man at the time. Portrayed as an older man seated at the foot of the bed, lost in thought.

• Apollodorus – leaning against the wall, overcome with grief

• Crito – sits beside his teacher showing great respect

D. Death of Marat (G-817) (5 feet 3 inches by 4 feet 1 inch)

1. What happened?

• Marat was a leader during the French Revolution. He was known as a “Friend of the People.”

• He was murdered in his bathtub on the evening of July 13, 1793 by a woman named Charlotte Corday, who was a member of a rival faction.

• David had known Marat and had just visited him the day before. Marat had a skin disease that caused him to have to take long baths in cool water and wear a vinegar soaked turban.

• The Revolutionary government asked David to be in charge of Marat’s funeral as well as paint a picture immortalizing their lost leader.

2. The Painting

• Although David’s picture was based on observation, he amended reality to create a portrait of a new revolutionary martyr.

• Note that David has ignored Marat’s badly disfigured features. Instead, he places Marat in a graceful and heroic pose against a stark background setting that actually bore no resemblance to Marat’s tastefully decorated bathroom.

• The dying Marat holds a blood-stained letter containing Charlotte Corday’s unscrupulous appeal to his personal kindness. Corday used this plea to gain access to his apartment. The note which Marat was in the process of writing concerns an offer of money to a soldier’s widow – an example of Marat’s charitable work.

• Note the juxtaposition of the quill pen and knife on the floor

• And finally, doesn’t Marat’s pose remind you of Michelangelo’s Pieta? Marat’s head is gracefully inclined and his slack arm hangs limply by his side.

E. Trouble!

1. David was divorced from his wife.

2. The Reign of Terror ended when Robespierre himself was executed.

3. David fell from power and was almost executed himself. Instead, he was imprisoned.

4. His ex-wife was able to secure his release.

5. Self-Portrait

6. David painted other portraits – Portrait of Madame Seriziat

7. David has lost his revolutionary cause and needed a new cause to serve.

F. Napoleon

1. The meteoric rise of Napoleon Bonaparte

2. David was rejuvenated. He had a new hero to portray!

3. Portrait of General Bonaparte

4. Napoleon Bonaparte Crossing the Saint Bernard Pass (1801)

5. Coronation of Napoleon and Josephine (In the Louvre, 20 feet by 30 feet) Gardner 818

• What is happening? December 2, 1804

• Who is in the scene?

• Napoleon

• Pope Pius VII

• Josephine

• Napoleon’s mother

• David

• Napoleon’s sisters

• His generals

G. What happened to…?

1. Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815

• Exiled to Saint Helena for the rest of his life

2. David fled to Brussels, Belgium, where he lived out the rest of his days.

III. JEAN AUGUSTE DOMINIQUE INGRES

A. Background

1. Won a grand prize in drawing from the Academy and became a student of David

2. Won the Prix de Rome and was admitted to the Academy

3. Lived in Italy for 25 years and greatly admired Raphael

4. Champion of Classicism but his work sometimes shown elements of Mannerism and Romanticism

5. As times and artistic styles changed, Ingres viewed himself as the preserver of Classicism

B. Napoleon on His Imperial Throne (9 feet 6 inches by 5 feet 3 inches)

1. Ingres, like his teacher David, was commissioned to paint portraits of Napoleon

2. Note the highly finished qualities of the painting. It is very realistic.

3. Napoleon’s throne sits atop a step suggesting that he possesses a higher status than the viewer.

4. Use of symbols to glorify Emperor Napoleon

• Eagle – Attribute of the supreme Roman god Jupiter. It was adopted as the Roman insignia and was later used to represent the Holy Roman Empire and the United States. Signs of the zodiac on the edge of the carpet refer to Jupiter’s kingdom in the sky.

• Laurel crown – remember that the laurel tree is sacred to Apollo. Only those worthy of honor could wear a crown of laurel leaves.

• Frankish bees – symbols of industry

• Royal scepter – a staff held by a person in authority especially a monarch or emperor. The scepter held by Napoleon symbolized French authority.

• Hand of justice – a scepter belonging to Charlemagne

• Charlemagne’s sword.

5. Napoleon is the leader who was depicted most frequently during the late 18th – early 19th centuries

C. Apotheosis of Homer (1827) (G-826) (12 feet 8 inches by 16 feet 10 ¾ inches)

1. Apotheosis – the crowning moment of a figures in which they can rise heavenward

2. The Idea – inspired by Raphael’s School of Athens

3. Composition – note the use of triangles or pyramidal arrangement of figures

4. Who is who?

• Homer being crowned by Fame or Victory

• At Homer’s feet are two women who personify the Iliad (with a sword) and the Odyssey (with an oar)

• Other noteworthy “sovereign geniuses” include Apelles (on the left wearing a blue robe) and holding Raphael’s hand. Shakespeare is in the group on the lower left. Poussin, champion of French Classical painting, is in the lower left pointing toward Homer.

• To the right, Phidias, sculptor of Athena Parthenos, hands his hammer and chisel to Homer. Ingres also included Plato and Aristotle in the group. In the lower right, Ingres painted famous French playwrights and philosophes, such as Voltaire

5. As a work of art, Apotheosis of Homer embodies the characteristics of Neoclassicism

• A hit at the Salon of 1827

• Ingres emphasized the use of line, the painting is highly finished

• Realistic yet idealized

• High subject matter – the apotheosis of a major influence on Classicism

• Orderly, logical arrangement – pyramidal configuration

D. Grande Odalisque (1814) (G-827) (2 feet 11 inches by 5 feet 4 inches)

1. A departure from Neoclassicism – an exotic subject

• An odalisque is a woman who lives in a Turkish sultan’s harem

• Exotic subject matter became popular with the rise of Romanticism, Europeans were becoming increasingly interested in non-European subject matter. Note the peacock feather fan and turban

• Elongation of the back (One critic remarked that it looks as if she has one too many vertebrae) – a Mannerist characteristic

2. Grand Odalisque was not popular with the critics

• Painted before Apotheosis of Homer

• Critics initially regarded Ingres as a rebel because his painting deviated from classicism

• Jacques-Louis David disliked the painting and said that he didn’t teach Ingres to do that

• By 1820’s, critics had accepted Ingres as a champion of Neoclassicism

3. Neoclassical elements

• Highly finished appearance

• Emphasis on line, tremendous detail

• A traditional recumbent nude with references back to Renaissance masters like Giorgione and Raphael (face of Grande Odalisque similar to Raphael’s La Fornarina)

IV. ANGELICA KAUFFMANN

A. Background

1. Born in Switzerland, studied in Italy, and lived and worked in England

2. Very successful professional career. Specialized in history paintings and portraits.

3. A student of Sir Joshua Reynolds (first president of Royal Academy in Great Britain, remember his painting Lord Heathfield) as well as a founding member of the Royal Academy

B. Cornelia Presenting Her Children as Her Treasures (aka Mother of the Gracchi) (ca. 1785) (G-815) (3 feet 4 inches by 4 feet 2 inches)

1. Offers a good example of Kauffman’s interest in classical subjects with prominent heroines

2. Cornelia is the daughter of the great Roman general Scipio Africanus and widow of the great Roman politician Titus Gracchus

3. A lady visitor has just ostentatiously shown off her fine jewelry and haughtily requested that Cornelia show hers.

4. Cornelia then proudly presents her children with these famous words: “These are my most precious jewels.”

5. The moral message is clear: The future welfare of the Republic depends upon such model maternal modesty and commitment to virtue

6. Cornelia’s two boys (Gaius and Tiberius) became very famous Roman leaders and reformers during the 2nd century BCE.

V. AMERICAN ARTIST: BENJAMIN WEST

A. Background

1. First American-born painter to win international acclaim

2. Left the colonies and spent his entire career in England.

3. Famous for his battle scenes. Became 2nd president of the British Royal Academy. Official painter to King George III.

4. Buried in Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London.

B. The Death of General Wolfe (1770)

1. Scene depicting the Battle of Quebec in 1759

2. Entire battle in background of the painting

• English boats unloading their cannon in early morning at extreme right; cannon put in place in center distance at midmorning; battle at left with Quebec cathedral breaking through the smoke

3. Very short battle, French in disarray and running from the battle scene

4. French colors captured at left and brought to General Wolfe before his death

5. Wolfe died of sniper shots to the wrist, groin, and side

6. Wolfe died nearly alone, but in the painting he is surrounded by friends and admirers

7. Wolfe’s unflattering looks, his cleft chin, his large eyes, his small mouth and upturned nose are minimized as he glances heavenwards

8. Compositional arrangement in thirds similar to a triptych, triangular arrangements reflect the influence of Renaissance painting

9. Wolfe is bathed in a pool of light; he resembles Jesus after being taken down from the cross. Wolfe’s pose is also similar to Dying Gaul and Michelangelo’s Pieta

10. Native American helps set the scene as the Americas and contemplates the consequences of Wolfe’s victory

11. Great innovation in portraying Wolfe in contemporary military uniform rather than Roman robes

C. ETS Practice questions

1. Both paintings (Death of Marat and The Death of General Wolfe) show an event from

A. Ancient history

B. Medieval history

C. The Bible

D. The artists’ own times

2. Death of Marat commemorates a figure involved in the

A. Italian independence movement

B. French Revolution

C. American War for Independence

D. Seven Years’ War

3. Both artists assumed the viewer’s familiarity with earlier depictions of

A. The Annunciation

B. The Deposition

C. Imperial rulers

D. Genre scenes

4. An innovative aspect of The Death of General Wolfe is the

A. Contemporary dress of the figures

B. Lighting effects used

C. Use of continuous narration

D. Combination of various perspective systems

VI. ANOTHER AMERICAN PAINTER: JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY

A. Background

1. Trained in Massachusetts Bay Colony

2. Left for England at the suggestion of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Benjamin West (he submitted a sample to them, they recognized his talent but deemed his technique “hard” and suggested he spend time in Europe to develop a more fluid style

3. Copley spent a year in Italy studying Renaissance painting and classical art)

4. Paintings have directness and faithfulness to visual fact – “downrightness” and plainness were qualities noticed by visitors to America during the 18th and 19th centuries

B. Portrait of Paul Revere (1770)

1. When the painting was painting, Revere had not yet become the famous figure of the American Revolution

2. Shown at his profession – silversmith

3. Amazing details – the reflections on the wood are treated with as much attention as Revere’s body

• The teapot

• The leather engraver’s pillow

4. It is as if he has paused from examining his work to make eye contact with the viewer

5. Reddish light reflected in Revere’s eyes brings great focus on his eyes

6. Informal moment (similar to Thomas Gainsborough’s portraits)

7. The plainness and down-to-earth character of the painting make it American

C. Samuel Adams (ca. 1770 – 1772)

1. Portrait contains a forceful and direct gaze, engaging the spectator in a confrontation head on

2. Figure is portrayed up close to the picture plane

3. Rich colors with a concentration on reflective surfaces

4. Meticulous handling of paint – a highly finished painting

5. Adams is pointing in an animated way at the Massachusetts charter; confronting the Massachusetts governor over the Boston Massacre; powerful gesture

D. Watson and the Shark (National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.)

1. An amazing story and an amazing painting

2. Reflects the influence of West’s The Death of General Wolfe

3. Copley had probably never seen a shark alive or dead (may have had access to a set of shark jaws)

4. Copley was not familiar with the setting – Havana, Cuba

5. Drew from a variety of sources – engravings of works by Rubens, Raphael’s Saint George Slaying the Dragon

VII. ANTONIO CANOVA and NEOCLASSICAL SCULPTURE

A. Introduction

1. One of the most esteemed sculptors of the Neoclassical period

2. Called the “Phidias of our time.”

3. Famous for sculptures based on classical mythology as well as portraits of people as classical characters

B. Three Famous Sculptures

1. Pauline Borghese as Venus (G-820)

• Sister of Napoleon Bonaparte

• Highly finished appearance

• Idealized Pauline Borghese. She appears as Venus holding the apple in her hand

• The wooden base once contained a mechanism that caused the sculpture to rotate. The roles of artwork and spectator were thus reversed: it was the sculpture that moved whilst the spectator stood still

• Due to his wife’s questionable reputation, Prince Camillo Borghese, the work’s official patron, kept the sculpture hidden in the Villa Borghese. Relatively few people were allowed to see it – and then only by torchlight!

2. Cupid and Psyche

• The Story of Cupid and Psyche

• Psyche was the most beautiful mortal woman. Venus became insanely jealous and ordered Cupid to make her fall in love with the vilest man.

• Unexpectedly, Cupid fell in love with Psyche and married her. But Psyche became lonely because her husband only came to visit her at night, and told her that she must never look at him or their unborn child would not be an immortal.

• Psyche, egged on by her envious sisters, held a lamp up to Cupid as he slept. He awoke and fled from her.

• Psyche searched for him everywhere eventually coming to the palace of Venus. Venus immediately forced her to complete a series of difficult tasks.

• Inspired by a painting found at the Roman ruins of Herculaneum; Psyche has fainted after opening the vase that Venus commanded her not to open

• Cupid revives her with a kiss. Cupid took her to Mount Olympus where Jupiter made her an immortal. Cupid and Psyche had a child named Voluptas or “pleasure.”

• Canova adeptly handled the issue of multiple views as well as the use of negative space

3. Perseus with the Head of Medusa (at the Met)

• Highly polished, smooth appearance

• Idealized classical hero

• Head of Medusa is hollow to relieve stress on statue’s arm

VIII. JEAN-ANTOINE HOUDON

A. Background

1. Houdon was a French sculptor famous for his portraits

2. His subjects were usually great men who were his contemporaries (late 18th century)

3. Work was also popular in U.S. – ex. Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, George Washington

B. Examples

1. Voltaire Seated

• 18th century French Enlightenment philosophe; famous for championing people’s rights to freedom of speech; a heroic 18th century figure who “fought the system”

• Depicted as a Roman philosopher – toga, veristic qualities, Roman headband to mask his baldness

• Compare to Bust of Louis XIV by Bernini

2. George Washington

• Houdon stayed with Washington to understand him better for the full-length portrait

• Portrayed Washington as a country gentlemen (a Virginian aristocrat)

• Roman symbolism – a fasces (a bundle of rods carried by a senator) and a plow (story of Cincinnatus – like Cincinnatus, Washington set aside his country life to serve his state)

IX. EDMONIA LEWIS

A. Interesting life

1. Daughter of a Chippewa Native-American woman and African-American man

2. Attended Oberlin College – first college to grant degrees to women

3. Worked her way to Italy be selling portrait busts and medallions in the Neoclassical style; she lived in Rome

B. Forever Free, 1867

1. African-American man stands in contrapposto with an idealized body

2. Right hand rests on a woman, left hand raised showing a broken manacle (chains)

3. Original title was Morning of Liberty – sculpted four years after Emancipation Proclamation – sculpture makes an abolitionist statement in the Neoclassical style

X. NEOCLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE

A. Review

1. Classical architecture

• Symmetry

• Order and balance

• Porticoes (porch with roof supported by columns)

• Rotunda – dome on top of a drum ex. PANTHEON

2. Renaissance influence

• Palladio’s Villa Rotonda and his Four Books of Architecture (Jefferson owned a set)

B. Neoclassical Architecture in England

1. Chiswick House

• Built by Lord Burlington

• Demonstrates influence of Palladio (rotunda and portico)

• Classical elements

• Sparked the Neoclassical revival in architecture in England

2. Doric portico, Hagley Park, Worcestershire (1758) (G-822)

3. Etruscan Room from Osterly Park House, Middlesex, England

• Designed by Robert Adam (archaeologist who explored Diocletian’s Palace at Split)

• Roman-style design that resembled ruins of Diocletian’s Palace at Split and Third-Style Pompeian painting

C. Thomas Jefferson and Neoclassical Architecture in U.S.

1. What style of public architecture

• U.S. needed a new style of architecture to reflect its democratic government

• New style should be dignified and command respect

• New style should express the Enlightenment’s ideals of reason and order

2. Jefferson’s influences

• Roman temple in France (G-268)

• Descriptions and paintings of Pantheon in Rome

• Palladio’s books on architecture

3. Examples of Neoclassical architecture designed by Jefferson

• Key point – Neoclassical was called the FEDERAL STYLE in U.S. (used for federal buildings)

• Virginia State Capitol, Richmond

• Rotunda of University of Virginia

• Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia

• Monticello was Jefferson’s home; similar to Villa Rotonda

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