The Arts During the Enlightenment

Baroque (Mid/Late) 1600-1725 Characterized by ornate detail Architecture of the period is exemplified by the palace of Versailles and by the work of Bernini in Italy Major composers include Vivaldi, Bach, and Handel Caravaggio and Rubens are important baroque artists http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6NRLYUThrY

Neoclassical 1700’s-1800’s Drew inspiration from the classical arts of ancient Greece and Rome - In some ways a reaction against excess of previous styles - Order, reason, balance and simplistic elegance were central themes - Art often showcases Enlightenment interest in science and social issues - Portraits emphasize energy, optimism, individuality

Asmus Jacob Carstens

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Jacques-Louis David

Music Franz Joseph Hayden, father of symphony, 1732-1809 Breaks from traditional and more ornate forms, introduces the sonata and the symphony Symphony: an elaborate musical composition for full orchestra, typically in four movements, at least one of which is traditionally in sonata form Sonata: a composition for an instrumental soloist, often with a piano accompaniment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLjwkamp3lI

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756-1791 Produced over 600 works, set a new standard for elegance and originality. “posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years.”- Haydn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcpM0yN7p0c

Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827 Following in the Neoclassical style of Mozart, worked in his shadow Eventually became a key figure in starting the Romantic movement (reaction against enlightenment and rationalism) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Slk60_5xVuI

Enlightenment Literature Enlightenment era authors many of the features of modern novels Wide middle class appeal Samuel Johnson writes the first widely accepted and comprehensive dictionary, 1755 Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded is published in 1740. The first English novel Tells the story of a maidservant turned victim, mistress, and lover of her nobleman master (all very scandalous)

Johnathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal”, 1729 It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great town, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads and cabbin-doors crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in stroling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants who, as they grow up, either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country, to fight for the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes. I think it is agreed by all parties, that this prodigious number of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of their mothers, and frequently of their fathers, is in the present deplorable state of the kingdom, a very great additional grievance; and therefore whoever could find out a fair, cheap and easy method of making these children sound and useful members of the common-wealth, would deserve so well of the publick, as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation….

I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection. I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust.

OH Yes…. There’s much more. I do therefore humbly offer it to publick consideration, that of the hundred and twenty thousand children, already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one fourth part to be males; which is more than we allow to sheep, black cattle, or swine, and my reason is, that these children are seldom the fruits of marriage, a circumstance not much regarded by our savages, therefore, one male will be sufficient to serve four females. That the remaining hundred thousand may, at a year old, be offered in sale to the persons of quality and fortune, through the kingdom, always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump, and fat for a good table. A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends, and when the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned with a little pepper or salt, will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially in winter…. -Juvenalian satire and an example of one of the kinds of literature being distributed in the coffee houses of Enlightenment England.