Neoclassicism and History Painting

What are the proper subjects of large scale paintings? important scenes from history scenes from The Bible mythological scenes

Gustave Courbet Burial at Ornans oil on canvas, approx. 10’ x 20’ This work by Courbet was intended as a “history” painting, but the subject of this painting is the burial of a lower middle class person….not a hero…the public was outraged by Courbet’s audacity….

Jacques-Louis David The Oath of the Horatii 1784 Oil on canvas, 330 x 425 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris

This work is an excellent example of Neoclassicism. Why? Essentially. This image represents a made-up event. Louis XVI (and France’s minister of the arts Count d’Angiviller) believed that art should improve public morals. What is this image meant to teach he viewer? Note: it was the Sons of Horace—the Horatii (Rome) versus the Curatii (Alba); the women have conflicting ties: one is a sister of one of the Curatii but is married to a Horatii, one is engaged to a Curatii….

Benjamin West The Death of General Wolfe 1770 Oil on canvas, 152,6 x 214,5 cm

West made this image about a decisive battle fought at Quebec City in 1759 almost ten years later. What is West trying to argue about the British army to England in The Death of General Wolfe? What has West deliberately altered to dramatize the moment and create a sense of heightened response in the viewer? Answers: Wolfe has sacrificed himself for the good of the state—for Britain in it’s battle for territory against the French Answers: Wolfe dies in the middle of the entire British army (not under a tree with a few attendants); Wolfe dies under a dramatic sky that (in a moment of pathetic fallacy) seems dark with grief (and the smoke from the battle); West throws in a Native-American to add an element of the “exotic” even thought the Native-Americans fought on the French side…

John Trumbull The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker’s Hill, June 17, oil on canvas

John Trumbull The Death of General Warren Trumbull made this image about a decisive battle fought at Breed’s Hill in 1786 almost ten years later. What is Trumbull trying to argue to a new country—a fledgling democracy-- in The Death of General Warren? For what was this painting intended to be used? How has Trumbull deliberately structured the scene to dramatize the moment and create a sense of heightened response in the viewer? How many important personages are crammed in this scene? Is this work Neoclassical in nature?

John Singleton Copley Samuel Adams c Oil on canvas March 5, 1770—the Boston Massacre (really a street fight between colonial ruffians and British soldiers); the day after, Adams demanded that Governor Hutchinson—the representative of the crown—remove all British troops from the city of Boston. This image was painted shortly after the event. What is Copley trying to argue to the colonialists?

Jacques-Louis David The Death of Marat 1793 Oil on canvas, 162 x 128 cm approx 5’ x 4’ A supreme example of both Neoclassicism as well as history painting…Why?

Jacques-Louis David Head of the Dead Marat 1793 Pen, black and brown ink, 270 x 210 mm Musée National du Château, Versailles

Jacques-Louis David The Death of Socrates 1787 A supreme example of both Neoclassicism as well as history painting…Why?

Portraits Neoclassical or Romantic?

Jacques-Louis David Portrait of Antoine-Laurent and Marie-Anne Lavoisier 1788 Oil on canvas, 256 x 195 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York This work portrays one of the ideals of the Enlightenment: have faith in reason and empirical knowledge; after her marriage to Antoine-Laurent, Marie-Anne soon became interested in his scientific research and began to actively participate in his laboratory work; the majority of the research effort put forth in the laboratory was done by both together—and despite all this, Marie-Anne still was able to remain decorative….

Jacques-Louis David Portrait of the Marquise d'Orvilliers 1790 Oil on canvas, 131 x 98 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris

Jacques-Louis David Portrait of Madame Adélaide Pastoret Oil on canvas, 130 x 97 cm Art Institute, Chicago

Jacques-Louis David Madame Raymond de Verninac Oil on canvas, 145 x 112 cm

Jacques-Louis David Madame Récamier 1800 Oil on canvas 173 x 244 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris

Élisabeth Vigee-Lebrun Portrait of Anna Pitt as Hebe 1792 Oil on canvas, 140 x 100cm The Hermitage, St. Petersburg Hebe is the goddess of youth; she is the daughter of Zeus and Hera. Is this a Neoclassical painting?

Joshua Reynolds Mrs. Musters as Hebe 1785 Oil on canvas, 239 x 144,8 cm Hebe is the goddess of youth; she is the daughter of Zeus and Hera. Is this a Neoclassical painting?

Joshua Reynolds Lady Elizabeth Delmé and her Children Oil on canvas, 239 x 147 cm Is this a Neoclassical painting? Is it a Romantic painting? Is this a “good mother” painting?

Élisabeth Vigee-Lebrun Self-Portrait with Her Daughter, Julie 1786 Oil on wood, 105 x 84 cm Is this a Neoclassical painting? Is it a Romantic painting? Is this a “good mother” painting?

Élisabeth Vigee-Lebrun Marie Antoinette with Her Children 1787 oil on canvas Is it a Romantic painting? Is this a “good mother” painting? Is this a “history” painting?

Thomas Gainsborough Mr. and Mrs. Andrews

Thomas Gainsborough Mr. and Mrs. William Hallett (The Morning Walk) 1785 Does this work emphasize one of the new values of the Enlightenment: the emphasis on nature and the natural as a source of goodness and beauty?

Romanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18 th century in Western Europe. In part, it was a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature, and was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature, but can be detected even in changed attitudes towards children and education. The movement validated strong emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as trepidation, terror, horror and awe—especially that which is experienced in confronting the sublimity of untamed nature and its picturesque qualities, both new aesthetic categories. Romanticism

In European painting, led by a new generation of the French school, the Romantic sensibility contrasted with the neoclassicism being taught in the academies. In a revived clash between color and design, the expressiveness of color, as in works of Turner, Gericault, and Delacroix, was emphasized in the new prominence of the brushstroke and impasto and in the artist's free handling of paint, which tended to be repressed in neoclassicism under a self-effacing finish. In literature—among others—Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Blake, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, and John Keats. Romanticism

To come…genre painting…and wacky Fuseli…not the pasta…. Important Artists still to come…. William Hogarth Joseph Wright John Henry Fuseli Jean Baptiste Greuze