7.
By the end of the 18th century, America and Europe were caught up in the passions of the Revolution which
were to end three centuries of absolute monarchy. (The Battle of
Bunker's Hill, 6/17/1775, painted, 1786, John Trumbull, Yale University
Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut)
8.
The Enlightenment grew out of the Age of Louis in the 17th century…(Ceremony
in the King's Chambers, Francois Marot, 1666-1719, Museum of the Chateau of Versailles,
France)
9.
…and led to the era of the Revolutions at the end of the 18th century. (Taking
of the Bastille, painting, 18th century, anonymous French, Museum of the Chateau at Versailles,
France)
10.
To understand the Enlightenment as a style of life and of art, we must understand its heritage and foundation-in the
Baroque. (Marie
de'Medici
Arriving at Marseilles,
oil on canvas, 1622-1625, Peter Paul Rubens, The Louvre, Paris, France)
11.
The grandiose Baroque style of the 17th century-its flamboyance and drama…(Detail of number 10)
12.
…gave way, in the 18th century, to the lighthearted Rococo. (The Bathers,
oil on canvas, before 1756, Jean-Honore' Fragonard, The Louvre, Paris, France)
13.
(Spring, oil on canvas, 1730s, Nicolas Lancret, The Louvre, Paris, France)
14.
(The Peep Show, porcelain, 1760s, Mennecy factory, French, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut)
15.
(Main façade, Palace of Queluz, 1758, Mateus Vicente, near Lisbon, Portugal)
16.
(The Nest, oil on canvas, commissioned 1737, Francois Boucher, The Louvre, Paris, France)
17.
Rococo art was decorative-the last phase in a long history of artistic embellishments for the nobility.
(Interior, foyer to King's room, Wurzburg Palace, 1720-1744, Balthaser
Neumann, Wurzburg, Germany)
18. It was an expression
of the refined tastes of the aristocracy. (Group portrait, oil on canvas, 1756, Francois-Hubert,
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Samuel H.
Kress Collection)
19.
To these people, life was beautiful and gay. They wanted more than anything to enjoy themselves…(A Game
of Blind Man's Bluff, oil on canvas, c. 1791, Francisco de Goya,
Prado, Madrid, Spain)
20.
…to give pleasure to their friends,…(The
Picnic After the Hunt, oil on canvas, c. 1740, Nicolas Lancret,
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Samuel H. Kress Collection)
21.
…and to collect the luxurious objects which made them feel gay, rich, and important. (Interior, royal suite
showing Rococo furniture, Schonbrunn Palace, 1696-1750,
Johann Fischer von Erlach, Vienna, Austria)
22.
(Necessaire with thimble, pen, made of tortoiseshell, gold, enamel, c.1773,
French, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
23.
(Interior of the Hall of Mirrors at the Amalienburg, 1734-1739, Francois de Cuvillies, Nymphenburg
Palace, Germany)
24.
(Tea Merchant and Lady, porcelain, 18th century, Meissen factory, German, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford,
Connecticut)
25.
(Gift table from Salon de la Pendule, Chateau de Versailles, 18th century, French, Versailles, France)
26. However, the Rococo style represents
only one aspect of the 18th century art. Some of the most important
ideas of the time were not expressed by the Rococo style. (Venus
consoling Love, oil on canvas, 1751, Francois Boucher, National
Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Gift of Chester Dale)
27.
Instead, these ideas could be found expressed in the geometric, rigidly symmetrical, and formal plans of
the palaces and gardens of Europe. (Façade
of upper Belvedere Palace, 1700-1723, Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt, Vienna, Austria)
28.
(View of the Orangerie at Versailles, designed by Andre Le Notre; executed by Mansart; painting by
Jean Cotelle, 1642-1708, Museum of the Chateau of Versailles, France)
29.
(View from the formal gardens, Bowood House, 1760s, the Adam Brothers, Wiltshire, England)
30.
(Bird's eye view of the Chateau and Gardens of Marly, painting by Jean-Baptiste Martin, 1659-1735,
Museum of the Chateau at Versailles, France)
31.
(View across garden, Wurzburg
Palace, 1720-1744, Balthasar Neumann, Wurzburg, Germany)
32. The artistic father for these
splendid palaces and gardens was the greatest palace of the 17th century-Versailles.
(Perspective view of the Chateau de Versailles, oil on
canvas, 1668, Pierre Patal, Museum of the Chateau at Versailles, France)
33.
Louis XIV made Versailles into a splendid stage for his personal theatrical production-the absolute
rule of France. (Detail from the tapestry Louis XIV Entering Dunkirk,
from the series of tapestries of the History of the King, 17th century,
Gobelins factory, Museum of the Chateau at Versailles, France)
34. Dazzling in their vastness, the
palace and grounds were planned in such a way that King Louis seemed to be
imposing geometric order upon his world. (Façade of Chateau, seen across
Parterre d'Eau, Versailles, France, chateau 1669-1685, by J.H.
Mansart and Louis Le Vau, gardens 1667-1688, by Andre Le Notre)
35.
(View of gardens with chateau in distance, 1667-1688, Andre Le Notre, Versailles,
France)
36.
(Interior of Galerie
des Glaces, Chateau de Versailles, designed by J.H.
Mansart, decorated by Charles LeBrun, begun 1668, Versailles, France)
37.
The buildings,
fountains, and garden paths all spread outward from the center in precise and measured harmony.
(View of gardens at Versailles, 1667-1688, Andre Le Notre)
38.
In every foot of their
manicured hedges, the grounds of Versailles express the idea that man controls
his world through reason and intellect. (Another view of number
37)
39.
What greater control over nature could man demonstrate than this? It is a
garden of tropical orange trees…(Detail of number 28)
40.
…all planted in pots, so that they could be brought indoors in cool weather. (Detail of number 28)
41.
This, indeed, was man creating an orderly universe. (The Orangerie today, Versailles, France)
42.
Versailles is a combination of two great intellectual and artistic traditions: the splendor and dramatic
scale of the 17th century,…(Another view of number
37)
43.
…along with the geometric order of that century. (View of gardens and chateau at Versailles, chateau 1669-1685
by Mansart and Levau, gardens 1667-1688 by A. Le Notre)
44.
The reign of Louis XIV represents the triumph of absolute monarchy. His success was so dazzling that all
the princes of Europe wanted to imitate him. (Portrait of Louis
XIV, marble sculpture Antoine Coysevox, 1640-1720, Church of Notre Dame,
Paris, France)
45.
Gorgeous palaces and gardens were built throughout France, Germany, and England. (Façade, Schonbrünn
Palace, 1695-1749, Johann Fischer von Erlach, Vienna, Austria)
46.
(Façade, Nymphenburg Palace, 1663-1723, Enrico Zucalli and G.A. Viscardi, Munich, Germany)
47.
(Façade, Amalienburg, 1734-1739, Francois de Cuvillies, Nymphenburg Palace, Munich, Germany)
48.
(Oblique view, garden façade, Wurzburg
Palace, 1720-1744, Balthasar Neumann, Wurzburg, Germany)
49. The aristocracy of
all of Europe spoke French and followed French customs and dress. (Figure of man,
porcelain, 1746, modelled by J.J. Kaendler of the Meissen factory,
German, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut)
50.
They sponsored whole armies of artists who could make gorgeous objects like those they had seen at Versailles. (Detail
from tapestry of King Louis XIV visiting the Goblins Factory,
from series of tapestries of the History of the King, c. 1665,
Gobelins factory, Gobelins Museum, Paris, France)
51.
(Detail from 50)
52.
(Detail from 50)
53.
(Detail from 50)
54.
(Whole, tapestry of King Louis XIV visiting the Gobelins factory)
55.
Let us go back in time, to look at the two major traditions and styles of the 17th century. The Baroque
vision of the world expressed itself with an art that was dramatic, flamboyant, dynamic,...(The
Adoration of the Shepherds,
c. 1612-1614, El Greco, Prado, Madrid, Spain)
56.
…stupendous in scale,…(Baldachino, bronze, 1624-1633, Gianlorenzo Bernini, St. Peter's Vatican City,
Rome, Italy)
57.
…and filled with restless, swirling, curving and diagonal forms. (Fall
of
the Damned,
1620, Peter Paul Rubens, Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany)
58. Another face of Baroque art in
the 17th century was turned toward a world of calm intellect and order.
(Landscape with Mill, oil on canvas, Sebastian Bourbon, 1616-1671, Museum
of Art, Rhode Island, School of
Design)
59.
On the left
is the painter Peter Paul Rubens. And on the right is another painter, Nicolas Poussin. What
do these two self-portraits show us about the Baroque age? (left:
Self-portrait, oil on canvas, c. 1638-1640, Peter Paul Rubens, Kunsthistorisches
Museum, Vienna; right: Self-portrait, oil on canvas, 1650,
Nicolas Poussin, The Louvre, Paris, France)
60.
Rubens uses sweeping circles and eclipses to generate a sense of action in his composition. (Portrait
of Rubens)
61.
Poussin, on the other hand, fills his background with vertical and horizontal lines. (Detail of
Self-portrait by Poussin, number 59)
62.
He sets himself against rectangular picture frames, thereby giving his composition an orderly, geometric
appearance. (Same as number 61)
63.
In this Baroque landscape, the sky is filled with a stormy turbulence. The land is dramatically shadowed
by the threatening clouds. (The Cemetery, oil on canvas, c. 1660,
Jacob van Ruisdael, Dutch, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit,
Michigan)
64.
Poussin's world is populated by the heroes and buildings of classical Greece and Rome. (Detail, St. John
on Patmos, oil on canvas, c. 1645-1650, Nicolas Poussin, The Art
Institute of Chicago, A.A. Munger Collection)
65.
His landscapes are calm, reasonable, and orderly. (Detail from number 64)
66.
Is this not nature succumbing to the artist's rationale control? (Whole of
number 64)
67.
It was the dramatic and flamboyant in the Baroque…(Detail from the Presentation
of the Portrait, oil on canvas, 1622-1625, Peter Paul Rubens, The Louvre, Paris, Franco)
68.
…which developed into the Rococo style. (Detail from Venus
Consoling Love,
oil on canvas, 1751, Francois Boucher, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., gift of Chester
Dale)
69.
On the other hand, the world view of intellect and order was also carried on into the Age of Enlightenment.
(The Draftsman, oil on canvas, 1737, Jean-Baptiste-Simeon
Chardin, Kaiser-Friedrich Museum, Berlin, Germany)
70.
During the 17th century, great discoveries in the sciences opened up new areas of knowledge. Galileo,
the astronomer, built a telescope in 1609. (Galileo displays his telescope)
71.
With it he could see that the planets had substance, like the earth, and that the stars were much farther
away than man had thought. (Reflecting telescope, engraving
from Encyclopedie ou Dictionnaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts,
et des Metiers, edited by Diderot and d'Alembert, published 1751-1780 by
Briasson and others, Paris, France)
72.
Isaac Newton explained all movement, on earth and in the heavens, according to a mathematical formula.
(Portrait of Isaac Newton, engraving by W.T. Fry, after a painting
by Kneller, courtesy of The Bettmann Archive)
73.
In this way, the rigid order of a mathematical proof was imposed on human existence. (View of Versailles,
France)
74.
The 17th-century scientists made discoveries. It was for the 18th-century writers, known as philosophers,
like Denis Diderot,…(Portrait
of Denis Diderot, Dmitri Gregoriovitch Levitzki, 1735-1822, Museum of Art and History,
Geneva, Switzerland)
75.
…Jean Jacques Rousseau,…(Portrait of Rousseau, marble bust, Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1741-1828, Musee
Lambinet, Versailles, France)
76.
…and Voltaire, to popularize the difficult theories of the scientists. (Voltaire, marble bust, 1778, Jean-Antoine
Houdon, National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., Widener Collection)
77.
The philosophies made the new marvels of science understandable and exciting for everyone. (Detail, The
Swing, oil on canvas, c. 1765, Jean-Honore Fragonard, National Gallery
of Art, Washington, D.C., Samuel H. Kress Collection)
78.
One of the most significant accomplishments of the philosophes was the publishing of an encyclopedia. Denis
Diderot was the editor. (Title page from the Encyclopedie ou Dictionnaire
Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts, et des Metiers, edited by Denis
Diderot and J.L. d'Alembert, published 1751-1780 by Briasson and
others, Paris, France)
79.
He gathered articles on every subject, written by experts, thus creating in his 34-volume encyclopedia
a collection of all the knowledge of the time. (Page from
the Encyclopedie showing man operating press, engraving)
80.
The encyclopedia was important as a reference work. (Page from the Encyclopedie showing birds classified
according to bill shape, engraving)
81.
It was important because it expressed throughout its pages belief that all knowledge was within man's grasp
and that, with knowledge, man could create a better world for himself.
(Study, oil on canvas, c. 1769, Jean-Honore Fragonard, The
Louvre, Paris, France)
82.
Men of the Enlightenment were dissatisfied with traditional ideas and religions. They rejected what they
felt to be the old religious superstitions…(Detail from Queen
Christine of Sweden and Her Court, Pierre Dumesnil, 1698-1781, Museum
of the Chateau at Versailles, France)
83.
…and filled their need for faith with a profound belief in the perfectibility of man through Reason. (Joseph
Bonnier de la Mosson, oil on canvas, 1745, Jean-Marc Nattier,
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Samuel H. Kress
Collection)
84.
The confidence of 18th-century man was boundless. Never before or since has there been such a widespread
and profound belief in man and his ability to make progress towards
a better life. (Self-portrait, pastel, c. 1750-1760, Maurice Quentin de
la Tour, Musee de Picardie, Amiens, France)
85.
The Enlightenment faith in reason and perfection is reflected in one ofthe
most significant movements in the arts-called Academicism.
(Detail from The Drawing School in the Academy,
engraving by B.L. Prevost from original by C.N. Cochin the Younger,
1763, Courtauld Institute, London, England)
86.
Academicism included a respect for authority. Artists and architects relied upon rules and principles
that were rigidly enforced by the heads of the academies in England and France.
(A Painter's
Studio, oil on canvas, c. 1800, Louis-Leopold
Boilly, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., gift of Chester
Dale)
87.
Poussin was such an academic authority under Louis XIV. His Shepherds in Arcadia shows the contrived composition…(Shepherds
in Arcadia, oil on canvas, either 1639-1640 or 1642-1643,
Nicolas Poussin, The Louvre, Paris, France)
88.
…and classical subject matter which were so highly regarded by the
academic painters of the 17th
and 18th centuries. (Detail from number 87)
89. Obviously, the most important
yardstick for the French academics was the art of classical antiquity-the
art of the ancients. (Imperial pocession, portion of frieze around the Ara
Pacis, marble sculpture, Roman, 13-9 B.C.)
90. The civilization of the Greeks
and Romans was looked upon as a model…(Detail from number 89)
91. …and was translated into formulas
for art. (Detail from number 87)
92. Nature was seen mainly through
the eyes of classical reason and order. Pont du Gard, oil on canvas, c. 1787,
Hubert Robert, The Louvre, Paris, France)
93. Joshua Reynolds, a famous English
painter of the 18th century, wrote: "We must have recourse to the ancients
as instructors…"(Self-portrait, Joshua Reynolds, 1723-1792, collection
of R.J. Hines)
94. …It is from a careful study of
their works that you will be able to
attain the real simplicity of nature."
(View of the Coliseum, Giovanni Paolo Pannini, c. 1692-1765, Beaux-Arts Museum,
Algeria)
95. We have seen that 18th-century
aristocrats encouraged a love of luxury. (Couple in hunting dress, porcelain,
1755, Chelsea factory, English, Collection of Judge I. Untermeyer)
96. To satisfy them, artists created
works of beauty and gaiety in the Rococo style. (Detail of ceiling decoration
from Salon de la Princesse, Hotel de Soubise, Paris, France, c. 1735-1740,
Germain Boffrand)
97. (China cabinet designed by Thomas
Chippendale the Elder, 1718-1779, engraving from The Gentleman and Cabinet
Maker's Director, published 1754, London, England)
98. (Interior of the Salon de la
Pendule, Versailles, c. 1738, French, photograph courtesy of Lauros-Giraudon)
99. (Group, Lady and Gentleman, porcelain,
c. 1780, Viennese factory, collection of Dr. F. Altman)
100.
(Plasterwork in White Salon, Wurzburg Palace, 1744, A. Bossi, Wurzburg,
Germany)
101.
But we have also talked of the 18th-century faith and orderliness…(The White
Table Cloth, oil on canvas, c. 1737, Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, The Art
Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. L.L. Coburn Memorial Collection)
102.
…and in reason, above all. (Detail from La Musique, Jacques-Francois Courtin,
1672-1752, Musee Dobree, Nantes, France)
103.
Eighteenth-century philosophers viewed the world as a perfectly working machine,
like a fine clock. (18th-century clock from Salon de la Princesse, Hotel de
Soubise, Paris, France)
104.
They looked upon God as a kind of watchmaker in the sky, overseeing the complex
workings of His orderly creation. (18th-century clock from Salon de la Pendule, Versailles, France)
This video is available in the Curriculum
Resources section of the Kennedy Library under Call Number Vid.C H629T Pt.
6.
