The
Enlightenment: Part Two
1.
(Detail Agrippina Landing at Brundisium with the Ashes of Germanicus,oil
on canvas, 1768, Benjamin West, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven,
Connecticut)
2.
(Detail of number 1)
3.
(Detail of number 1)
4.
(Detail of number 1)
5.
(Detail of number 1)
6.
Eighteenth-century artists and philosophers concerned themselves with
the attainment of larity and orderliness. (Repeat view of whole ofnumber
1)
7.
This desire for an orderly universe reminds us of the Renaissance. (The
Delivery of the Keys, fresco, c. 1482, Pietro Perugino, Sistine Chapel,
Vatican City, Rome, Italy)
8.
The values of the Renaissance-admiration for order…(The Annunciation,
fresco, c. 1440-1450, Fra Angelico, San Marco, Florence, Italy)
9.
…and inspiration from classical antiquity-were also very important to
the artists of the Age of Enlightenment. (St. Sebastian, oil on canvas, Andrea Mantegna, c. 1431-1506, The Louvre, Paris,
France)
10. The Enlightenment is a direct outgrowth
of the scientific inquiry into the physical world in the Renaissance.
This is an anatomical study by Vesalius, a Renaissance scientist. (Detail from
page of anatomical studies by Andreas Vesalius, 1514-1564, courtesy
of Mrs. L.B. McCandless, Greenwich, Connecticut)
11.
In Rembrandt's Anatomy
Lesson, the gentlemen are looking at an open volume of an anatomy text at the foot of a cadaver.
(Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, oil on canvas, 1632, Rembrandt,
Mauritshuis, The Hague, Holland)
12.
It is identified as one written by Vesalius. (Detail from number 11)
13.
Thus, Rembrandt, a 17th-painter, illustrates the continuity of the scientific interests of the Renaissance with
those of the 18th-century.(Detail from number 11)
14.
The spirit of scientific inquiry in the Enlightenment reached extreme
limits when an elegant 18th-century lady kept a cadaver in her carriage
to study anatomy in her spare moments. (Detail from Entrance to Arras
of Louis XIV and Marie-Therese, Adam Frans van der Meulen, 1632-1690, Museum of the Chateau at Versailles, France)
15.
To Enlightenment artists, the Renaissance served as model and formula. Raphael was particularly respected. (Detail,
The
School of Athens,fresco, 1510-1511, Raphael, Vatican Museums,
Vatican City, Rome, Italy)
16.
His classical subjects and use of geometric perspective and symmetry appealed to the system-loving intellects of
the Enlightenment.(Marriage
of the Virgin, c. 1504, Raphael, Brera Museum, Milan, Italy)
17.
The spirit of the Enlightenment, in its balance and symmetry, is reflected
in Newton's third law, which says that to every action there is always opposed an equal reaction. (Detail
from A Woman Holding a Balance, oil on canvas, c. 1664, Jan Vermeer, National
Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Widener Collection)
18.
It is no coincidence that Montesquieu, an 18th-century philosopher, called for a symmetrical government of checks
and balances! (Portrait of Montesquieu, painting, 18th century, anonymous
French Versailles, France)
19.
This was the logical outcome of faith in man's reason and of the reaction against the unbalanced, powerful, absolutist
monarchies of Europe. (Portrait of Louis XV, as a boy at 5,
oil on canvas, 1715, Hyacinthe Rigaud, Museum of the Chateau at Versailles,
France)
20.
The political and scientific ideas of the Enlightenment were discussed and debated in the fashionable salon, the 18th-century
equivalent of the modern cocktail party. (Detail from The
Concert at Sans Souci, 18th-century painting, courtesy of The Bettmann
Archive)
21.
(An English Tea at the Home of the Prince of Conti, painting, 1766, Michel Barthelemy Ollivier, The Louvre, Paris,
France)
22.
(The Concert, engraving by A.J. Duclos, after a drawing by Augustin de Saint-Aubin, c. 1773, Kunstsammlungen der Veste,
Coburg, Germany)
23.
(Detail,
A Game of Hot Cockles, oil on canvas, c. 1767-1773, Jean-Honore Fragonard, National Gallery of Art,
Washington D.C., Samuel H. Kress Collection)
24.
(Detail from Queen Christine of Sweden and Her Court, Pierre Dumesnil,1698-1781,
Museum of the Chateau at Versailles, France)
25.
The salons were conducted by well-known ladies like Madame de Pompadour. (Portrait of Mme. De Pompadour, oil
on canvas, 1759, Francois Boucher, The Louvre, Paris, France)
26.
In her salon, the brilliant gathered to hear Voltaire's wit…(Voltaire
at his desk, maquette in cut stone, 18th-century, anonymous, Municipal Museum, St.-Germain-en-Laye, France)
27.
…or to listen while the child Mozart played the piano…(Detail from
number 21)
28.
…or to chat with that delightful American, Benjamin Franklin, who succeeded
particularly in charming the ladies. (Detail from Franklin at the Court of France, 1778, engraving by W.O.
Geller, 1830, courtesy of the Yale University Library, New Haven, Connecticut)
29.
Some painters of the 18th-century, like Watteau and Fragonard, illustrated
the decadence of the aristocracy,…(Embarkation
for Cythera, oil on canvas, 1717, Jean-Antoine
Watteau, The Louvre, Paris, France)
30.
…as they danced and flirted away their lives in the years before the Revolution. (Detail from Bal Masque at the Galerie
des Glaces, from an engraving by Charles Nicolas Cochin le jeune,
Bibliotheque Nationale,Paris, France)
31.
(Detail from number 29)
32.
(Detail from Mannikin, oil on canvas, 1791-1792, Francisco de Goya, Prado, Madrid, Spain)
33.
(The Enchanter, oil on copper, Jean-Antoine Watteau, 1684-1721, Museum, Troyes, France) or his The
Charms of Life.
34.
(Concert Champetre, Jean-Baptiste Pater, 1695-1736, Beaux-Arts Museum, Valenciennes, France)
35.
However, many of the intellectuals and artists of the period held an
increasing interest in the middle and working classes. (Ladies with Water Jugs, Francisco de Goya, 1746-1828)
36.
These painters, like Chardin, avoided the frivolous, decorative style of the Rococo. They chose instead clear and
simple compositions,…(The
Kitchen-maid, oil on canvas, 1738, Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin,
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., Samuel H. Kress Collection)
37.
…selecting charming middle-class children as their subjects…(The
House of Cards, oil on canvas, c. 1738, Jean-Baptiste-Simeon
Chardin, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Andrew
Mellon Collection)
38.
(The Young
Governess, oil on canvas, c. 1739, Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, National Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C., Andrew Mellon Collection)
39.
(Boy with Top, oil on canvas, Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, 1699-1779, The Louvre, Paris, France)
40.
…or a carefully arranged domestic still-life, like this one. (Still Life, oil on canvas, c. 1755, Jean-Baptiste-Simeon
Chardin, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., gift of Chester
Dale)
41.
The longing for simplicity which these works reflect was a reaction to the pomp of the court. (The Kitchen table, oil
on wood, Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, 1699-1779, The
Louvre, Paris, France)
42.
Jean Jacques Rousseau was to have great influence, even on Queen Marie Antoinette, in his writings advocating the simple,
country life. (Portrait of Marie Antoinette, oil on canvas, c.
1783, attributed to Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, National Gallery of
Art, Washington, D.C., Timken Collection)
43.
The Queen had a country village imported and assembled on one corner of the grounds at Versailles. (Hamlet at Versailles,
general view of façade, Richard Mique and Hubert Robert, c. 1780)
44.
There she and her court could play at being shepherds and milkmaids.
(Detail of number 43)
45.
They could dress informally and behave naturally, without having to assume the artificial manners of the court.
(Detail of number 43)
46.
The 18th century interest in Nature may be traced back through European history in an uninterrupted flow, at least to
the Middle Ages. (The Fete at Rambouillet, oil on canvas, c. 1780,
Jean-Honore Fragonard, Calouste Gulbenkian foundation, Lisbon, Portugal)
47.
(The Flight into Egypt, 1308-1311, Duccio, Cathedral Museum, Sienna, Italy)
48.
(The Flight
into Egypt, c. 1500, Vittore Carpaccio, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Andrew Mellon Collection;
with overlay)
49.
(The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, 1583-1587, Jacopo Tintoretto, Scuola
de San Rocco, Venice, Italy; with overlay)
50.
However, 18th-century artists, as artists of all periods, looked upon nature in their own way. (Mountain
Landscape with a Bridge, oil on canvas, c. 1785, Thomas Gainsborough,
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Andrew Mellon Collection)
51.
The view of nature held in the 18th-century is reflected both in Marie Antoinette's farmhouse, which expresses the
longing for a simple, innocent country life, and…(Another general
view of number 43)
52.
…in these complex hedges, with their suggestions that man is able to control the world through Reason. (View of gardens
at Versailles, 1667-1688, Andre Le Notre)
53.
During the Renaissance, artists sought to control their world through the use of perspective. (Draftsman drawing lute,
perspective study, woodcut, 1525, Albrecht Durer)
54.
This pursuit of an orderly, mathematical universe comes to full flower with the scientific theories of Newton on one
hand…(View of number 53 with overlay of Newton's formula)
55.
…and these clipped hedges on the other. (Another view of number 52)
56.
This ordering of nature reached an amusing extreme in the garden mazes and labyrinths on the estates of the nobility.
(Gardens of the Chateau at Villandry, Villandry, France)
57.
Not all mazes were in gardens, however. The love on intellectual puzzles
in the 18th-century could also be found in the complex musical compositions
of the times. (Detail from Portrait of Louis du Bouchet, Marquis de Sourches, and His Family, by Francois-Hubert
Drouais,1727-1775, Museum of the Chateau at Versailles, France)
58.
An example of this is the chamber music composition called, "The Musical Offering." It was written
by Johann Sebastian Bach for King Frederick the Great. (Score page from "The
Musical Offering" )
59.
Frederick was King of Prussia and played the flute rather well. He composed a flute theme and gave it to Bach,
asking him to write some variations on it. (Detail from The Concert at
Sans Souci, 18th-century painting, courtesy of The Bettmann Archive)
60.
Bach, like Diderot, had an encyclopedic mind. He used all kinds of musical
language to write his "Musical Offering." (Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach, E. Haussman, courtesy of the
Francis G. Mayer Art Color Slide Company)
61.
He began with Frederick's flute theme…(Score page from "The Musical
Offering")
62.
(Score page from "The Musical Offering")
63.
He then proceeded to write 13 different units; each one a variation on this same theme; each one with the same basic
melody;…(Bach with score of "The Musical Offering")
64.
…but each one quite different from every other. They are a series of brilliant intellectual inventions. (Bach with
score of "The Musical Offering")
65.
Let us listen again to Frederick's theme, which opens "The
Musical Offering," and then see what
Bach does with it. (Whole of number 59). Clich here
for a webpage from which you can open several passages from this piece.
66.
(Same as number 59)
67.
This music is built like the rounds we all sing, but is much more complicated. (18th-century orchestra group,
engraving, courtesy of the Bettmann Archive)
68.
(Engraving of 18th-century musicians)
69.
Musicians describe these techniques with words like fugue, canon, or ricercar. The word fugue means chase, and we
can hear the melody being chased by the same melody, only played a little
later, and by a different instrument. (Detail from La Musique,
Jacques-Francois Courtin, 1672-1752, Musee Dobree, Nantes, France)
70.
(Engraving of 18th-century musicians)
71.
The word canon means rule or law. The whole composition is a skillful
use of musical rules in a variety of ways. (Same as number 70)
72.
(Same as number 70)
73.
Bach's love of musical structure, his scholarship, his encyclopedic ambition, all combine to identify him as a man
of the Enlightenment. (Same as number 60)
74.
Just as nature had been a constantly recurring theme in European history, so the interest in classical antiquity
appears again and again. (Burning of Rome, Hubert Robert, 1733-1808,
New Museum, Le Havre, France)
75.
In the arts, classicism during the 18th-century meant the attainment of the highest standard of beauty. (Temple in Ruins,
drawing, Hubert Robert, 1733-1808, Beaux-Arts Museum, Lille,
France)
76.
Thomas Jefferson was an architect as well as a farmer and politician.(Portrait
of Thomas Jefferson, oil on canvas, American)
77.
He designed the University of Virginia…(Façade of Rotunda, University
of Virginia, begun 1817, Thomas Jefferson, Charlottesville, VA)
78.
…with the buildings of ancient Rome in mind. (Façade of the Pantheon, A.D.,120-124, Rome, Italy)
79.
The statehouse of Virginia, at his suggestion, was modeled after a Roman temple…(Façade of State house of Virginia,
1785-1792, Thomas Jefferson, Richmond, Virginia)
80.
…called the Maison Carree. Jefferson said of the building that he could sit gazing whole hours at the Maison Carree,
like a lover at his mistress. (The Maison Carree at Nimes, built
in 16 B.C. by Roman architects; painting by Hubert Robert, 1733-1808,
in the collection of The Louvre, Paris, France)
81.
This is an office building, designed by a French architect of the 18th-century. (Façade, The Director's Pavillion,
Salt Mines at Arc-et-Senans, 1773-1775, Claude-Nicholas Ledoux)
82.
And this is a temple in Italy, built during the 5th century B.C. (View of Temple of Ceres, 5th century B.C., Greek
architect, Paestum, Italy)
83.
The ancients were important in the politics of the Enlightenment as well. The philosophers of the Enlightenment
were dissatisfied with their political situation-a corrupt and all-powerful
monarchy. (The Family of Charles IV, oil on canvas, 1800, Francisco
de Goya, Prado, Madrid, Spain)
84.
They looked to Greece and Rome, especially Republican Rome, for the model of a better government. (View of Roman
forum, showing Arch of Titus, c. A.D. 81 and Colosseum, dedicated in
A.D. 80)
85.
We have seen that the men of the Enlightenment had great confidence in
their ability to reason out their problems. (The
Skater, Gilbert Stuart, 1755-1828, National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C., Andrew Mellon Collection)
86.
And we have talked of Montesquieu, with his opposition to absolute monarchy, and his suggestion of a government
of checks and balances.(Print of Liberty with Balances, 19th-century,
American, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)
87.
King Louis XV said, in 1766: "The supreme authority is vested in my
person alone, the legislative power is mine, public order stems from
me-I am its highest representative." (Portrait of Louis XV, Carle
van Loo, 1705-1765, Museum of the Chateau at Versailles, France)
88.
However, Jean Jacques Rousseau, in his Social Contract, observed about conditions
in the 18th-century that "Man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains." (A Peasant Carrying
the Burden of the Clergy and Aristocracy on His Back, engraving, 1789, Musee
Carnavalet, Paris,France)
89.
And he continued by suggesting that the best kind of government should be based upon an agreement between
the people and the ruler-the people giving the ruler his power in exchange
for his promise to do their will, (The
Oath of the Tennis Court, sketch for the painting, c. 1789, Jacques-Louis David, Museum of
the Chateau at Versailles, France)
90.
In 1775 the "shot heard 'round the world" was fired. The American Revolution was to have an electrifying effect
on the Europe of the absolute monarchies. (A Battle of the Revolutionary
War, print, 19th century, American)
91.
What the Americans had done-and done successfully-was to shift the responsibility for government to the shoulder
of all the citizens.(Declaration of Independence, oil on canvas,
1786-1794, John Trumbull,Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven,
Connecticut)
92.
American state constitutions and the Declaration of Independence were translated into French. (Facsimile of the Declaration
of Independence)
93.
We hold these truths to be self-evident…(Detail from 91)
94.
Nous tenons ces verites pour evidentes…(Detail from number 89)
95.
…That all men are created equal…(Detail from number 91)
96.
…que tous les hommes naissent egaux…(Detail from number 89)
97.
…that they are endowed…with certain unalienable rights…(Detail from number 91)
98.
…qu'ils possedent certains droits inalienables…(Detail from number 89)
99.
…that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.(Detail
from 91)
100.
…parmi lesquels nous comptons la vie, la liberte, et la quete du
bonheur. (Detail from number 89)
101.
The paintings of Jacques-Louis David were to have special meaning for Frenchmen, inspired by the Americans. (Portrait
of Jacques-Louis David, oil on canvas, c. 1815, Georges Rouget, National
Gallery of Art,Washington, D.C., Chester Dale Collection)
102.
He chose subject matter from Greek and Roman history. (The
Death of Socrates, 1787, Jacques-Louis David, The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, Wolfe Fund, 1931)
103.
Appropriate to the time, his paintings carried a propaganda message.(Detail
from number 102)
104.
Finished in the crucial year 1789, this painting entitled The Lictors Bringing Back to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons
suggests…(The
Lictors Bringing Back to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons, oil
on canvas,1789,Jacques-Louis David, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford,
Connecticut)
105.
…that if this Roman consul could make the supreme sacrifice of condemning his own treacherous sons to death,…(Detail
of Brutus from number 104)
106.
…then Frenchmen should also make great personal sacrifices for the causes of liberty, fraternity, and equality.
(Detail of women from number 104)
107.
The political philosophy of the Enlightenment was given inflammatory purpose by David. (Repeat of number 104)
108.
In his Oath
of the Horaces, painted in 1784, the subject was again from Roman antiquity. (Oath of the Horaces, oil on
canvas, finished 1785, Jacques-Louis David, The Louvre, Paris,
France, photograph courtesy of La Phototheque Europeeme: Giraudon)
109.
The three brothers pledge to fight and to die for freedom and the Roman Republic. (Detail from number 108)
110.
The women weep at the thought of their patriotic sacrifice. (Detail from
number 108)
111.
No Frenchman could mistake the message! (Repeat of number 108)
112.
The Age of Enlightenment had begun basking in the glories of King Louis
XIV's Court. (Detail, Ceremony in the King's Chambers, Francois Marot,
1666-1719, Museum of the Chateau at Versailles, France)
113.
But in its love and luxury,…(Porcelain room, decorated with black laquer, 18th-century, Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna,
Italy)
114.
…its fascination with science,…(Balloon Ascent, engraving from Opuscoli, Agostino Gerli, published in 1785
by Stamperia Reale, Parma, Italy)
115.
…its pursuits of the world of ideas, it forgot to listen to the cries of the common man-for equality and justice.
(Detail from Portrait of Queen Marie Leczinska, oil on canvas, c. 178,
Jean-Marc Nattier, Museum of the Chateau at Versailles, France)
116.
The Age of the Enlightenment ended in dismay-with the rising up on violence of the new forces for reform-for REVOLUTION!
(Liberty Leading the People against he Barricades,
oil on canvas, 1830, Eugene Delacroix, The Louvre, Paris, France)
This
video is available in the Curriculum Resources section of the Kennedy Library
under Call Number Vid.C H629T Pt. 6.