1. 18th Century
Art in Europe
and the
Americas
(1700’s)
• Rococo
• Neoclassicism
• A little Romanticism
2. A little WESTERN history
• Early 1700’s – weath and power are super concentrated to the
elite (owned and controlled everything)
• Europe conquers the rest of the world basically – struggles as
colonies develop, establish trading stations, new settlers, new
languages, new government, new religions (move over, indigenous
people!)
• Tried to make the “new world” as much like the “old world” as
they could
• Late 170o’s- Industrial revolution (includes manufacturing, politics,
etc.) – ALL white men deserve equal rights an opportunities!
• THE ENLIGHTENMENT = optimistic view that humanity and its
institutions can be reformed, even perfected! - new ideas about
humanity, reason, nature, and God
• “Philosophes” – rejected the idea that humans are here to serve
God or the ruling class- We are born to serve ourselves, darn it!
• Free yourself from political and religious shackles! If you pursue
your own happiness, you will encourage the happiness of others!
RATIONAL thoughts.
3. • Enlightenment thinkers said nature is
rational and good!
• We can harness nature and use it for our
benefit (industry!)
BEFORE the Enlightenment, Europe went
through a post-Baroque phase called……
4. ROCOCO!
• Rococo = French word“rocaille” (pebble/shell) and
Italian word “barocco” (baroque)
• Rococo art looks like ornate shells/pebbles (and “fried
spinach” as my professor used to say)
• Heavy interest in aristocratic “taste” in art – French
Royal Academy dictates what good artistic taste is in
Paris
• Less interest in royalty than Baroque, more interest in
aristocratic society = lavish townhouses for upper class
• Rococo architecture attempts to unite many styles
• “fete galante” – term for typical Rococo painting in
which we see aristocracy in leisurely activities
• We see some satirical painting
5. ROCOCO Architecture:
• No straight lines!
• Sophisticated, stylish, elegant, graceful, refined
• Undulations, curves, dynamic movement
• Marriage of painting, architecture, and sculpture –
all blended together and unified
• No stained glass (prefer clear white light to
illuminate all their fancy details)
• Sculptures everywhere! No empty spaces! MORE IS
MORE!
7. • Designed for prince-bishop of Wurzburg
• Oval room
• White and gold color scheme, delicate curved
forms – Rococo to the max!
Painting in
next slide
8. The Marriage of the Emperor Frederick and Beatrice of
Burgundy, By: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, fresco, 1751-52
9. • Looks like a play on a theater stage
• Painted stucco curtains reveal fancy costumes and
gorgeous setting of this imperial wedding
• Heroic figures, behaving like true royals
• Pale colors, cascading drapery = Rococo!
10. Church of the
Viernehnheiligen
By: Johann Balthasar Neumann
(same architect - imperial hall)
Germany, 1743-72
•Undulating forms,
complex arrangement of
curved shapes
•Towers have complicated
curved designs
•Delicate arched windows
11. Interior
• No straight lines! Mix of curves and ovals interlocking
• Light pastel colors
• Painting, sculpture, and architecture blended into a frothy spectacle
13. ROCOCO Painting….
• Again, no straight lines (even curved frames!)
• Figures “spill” out of frames
• Erotic, sensual, appealing (curves!)
• Playful scenes of love, romance, and sexual themes
• Figures are often slender, clothed in shimmering
fabric
• Outdoor scenes are rich with plant life, Arcadian
• Pastel colors
• More paintings for private display (not as much
public display as Baroque
• “Fete galante” – term for aristocracy chilling out in
garden settings (we’ll see a lot of these)
14. The Return from Cythera by: Jean-Antoine Watteau
1717-1719, oil on canvas
15. •Right: woman listens to a proposition by a pilgrim carrying a handbook
on love, a stick, and a flask
•Venus overlooks scene with flowers
•Dreamy boat with flying cupids
•Asymmetrical composition, light and dreamy atmospheric perspective
16. • Iridescent colors, shimmering fabrics
• Slender, delicate figures
• Arcadian landscape
• Fete galante (remember what that means?)
• Inspired by a play AND by the “Mona Lisa”
18. The Meeting
Jean-Honore Fragonard
1771-1773
Oil on canvas
• Commissioned by Louis
XV’s mistress, Madame
du Barry, to decorate her
chateau
• Secret meeting between
a young couple
• She looks over her
shoulder to make sure
they’re not being
watched, clutches the
letter he sent her to
arrange the meeting (how
scandalous!)
19. • Free and lavish
brushwork
• Bright colors
• Lush landscape
• Elaborate
costumes
• Painting has
sculpture and
architecture
elements in it
(marriage of all
three!)
20. The Swing
Jean-Honore Fragonard
1766, oil on canvas
• Woman on swing with
patron in lower left with a
perfect view up her skirt
• Swinging flirtatiously,
kicks off her shoe at
statue of Cupid (what a
tease!)
• Cupid is making the
“shhhh” gesture (either
telling the woman to stop
being so bold, or acting as
a symbol of their secret
love)
• Unsuspecting man
(bishop?) swings her from
behind (bet you didn’t see
him at first!)
21. • Small figures in lush garden setting
• Atmospheric perspective
• Puffy clouds, plentiful flowers, curves everywhere!
23. Self-Portrait
Marie-Louise-Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun
1790
Oil on canvas
• She did many self-
portraits (40, all
idealized)
• Painting a portrait of
Marie Antoinette –
paints her from memory
like a boss (M.A. was
killed during French
Revolution) – M.A. looks
at the artist with
admiration and kindness
• Lush fabrics
• Inspired by Rubens’s
portraits
24. Marie Antoinette and Her Children
Marie-Louise-Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun
1787, oil on canvas
• Marie Antoinette had a bad
reputation (immoral,
irrational, frivolous, etc.) –
This painting was done to
counteract that image
• Represented as the
“mother of France” (empty
cradle represents her
recently deceased child)
• Future king of France on
right (stands apart,
independently – strength
even at an early age)
25. • Scene is in Versailles (see
the Hall of Mirrors behind
her on the left?)
• Throwback to High
Renaissance triangular
composition, like works by
Raphael (Holy Family
below)
26. Apotheosis of the Pisani Family
Giambattista Tiepolo
1761-1762
Fresco in the Villa Pisani, Italy
•Members of Pisani
family float to heaven
with heavenly beings
•Real people combined
with allegories and
personifications
•Painted and sculpted
figures mixed
•Curved, elaborate frame
(figures spill over frame)
27. •Limitless space- heaven just keeps going and going
•Forms spiraling upwards
•Beautiful light, pastel colors
•Di sotto in su (“seen from below”)
28.
29. A word about the British…
•Early 1700’s, freedom of expression in
literature and the arts (ie: “Gulliver’s Travels”)
•Incorporated satire into paintings – usually a
series of paintings to tell a story
•Paintings often transferred to prints for mass
distribution
•Themes: exposing political corruption, spoofs
on modern life
•The grandfather of political cartoons
•William Hogarth, what a jokester
30. The Breakfast Scene from Marriage a la Mode
William Hogarth
1745, oil on canvas
31. •One in a series of six
•Turned into prints
later
•Satire: aristocratic
English society, people
try to buy their way
into it
32. •Just got married, already fooling around with others
•Husband has been out all night (the dog sniffs out the other woman)
•Broken sword on floor (maybe lost a fight, symbol of sexual
inadequacy)
33. •Wife has been playing cards all night, lost a fortune in the blink of an eye. The steward’s
expression shows he’s fed up with her! – holds unpaid bills
•Chair on floor – violin player made a quick exit when husband got home! Oooo, scandal!
34. Blue Boy
Thomas Gainsborough
1770, oil on canvas
•Painted over 700 portraits
•Influences: Watteau and van
Dyke
•Similar to van Dyke in coloring
and pose
•Solidly modeled figure
•Aristocratic, elegant, tasteful
•Color-coordinated
•The son of Gainsborough’s
friend (who was not an
aristocrat, but an ironworker)
36. •Cool blues contrast
against storm sky
•Some say Gainsborough
set out to prove that blue
could be the central color
in a portrait
•Sold as prints, very
popular
•UK sold it to USA in
1920’s for 640K (that’s
about 8.5 million today)
37. Sarah Siddons
Thomas Gainsborough
1785, oil on canvas
•An actress
•Aristocratic appearance,
fashionable clothing
•Straightforward – no
hidden meaning/symbols
•Bold profile
•Seated in a modern
chair, not a throne
•Curtain is theater-like
(she’s an actress!)
•Fabrics of various
textures
38. Sarah Siddons as
a Tragic Muse
By Joshua Reynolds
1783-1784
Oil on canvas
•Sits between
personifications of pity and
terror w/ melancholy look
on her face
•Darks/lights (chiaroscuro)
and colors reminiscent of
Rembrandt
40. •Flattering portrait, individual flaws are reduced (typical in
female portraits at this time)
•Portraits of women often have allegories or mythological
features
•Women are unaffected by relationships, obligations, and
domestic responsibilities. Freedom!
•Gestures in the hands
41. Lord Heathfield
Governor of
Gibraltar during the
Siege of 1779-83
By: Joshua Reynolds
1787, Oil on canvas
•An English officer
•Holds keys to the
fortress of Gibraltar
•Heroic portrait
•battle in background
•Stares off as he thinks
about the cost of
victory
42. •High ranking, but not
trying to show off –
discrete reference to
rank
•Check him out in the
National Gallery in
D.C.
43. Then NEOCLASSICISM comes
around… (1750-1815)
•Replaces ROCOCO style
•The Enlightenment makes people reject royals and
aristocrats…. Democracy is the way to go!
•Neoclassicism is a more “democratic” style
•We’ll see modern subject matter with some classical
elements
•Inspired by the discovery of the ruins at Pompeii and the
books of art theorist Johann Winkelmann
•Industrial Revolution! New technology, cast iron
construction, cheaper to sculpt with bronze than marble
44. What’s happening?
• Industrial revolution (mass-production, technology,
medical and scientific advancements)
• Population explosion, improvements to quality of
life, but people become slaves to machinery and
work in inhumane conditions
• THE ENLIGHTENMENT in Europe – intellectual
transformation – philosophers and scientists form
ideas from logic and observation, not folk wisdom
and religion (1st encyclopedia, 1st English dictionary)
• Major changes in European politics
45. Patrons/artists
• Art is all over Europe
• Rome is an antique – looked at for inspiration and
tradition, but no longer a place of progress
• Discovery of Pompeii (1748) – the world gets to see
Roman works in good condition – admires them
• Johann Winckelmann writes first art history book “The
History of Ancient Art” (1764) – described the Rococo
style as decadent, praised the ancients for their purity
of form and perfection
• Art academies open up everywhere – artists study art
in the “classical tradition” (the proper way)
• Artist’s education includes a “Grand Tour” of Italy to
see all the cool ancient stuff and get inspired
46. NEOCLASSICAL Architecture time!
• Cast iron introduced (Classicists are appalled! – big
stones are the best way, they say)
• Gradually people realize the benefits of cast iron
(strength, economical, fast) – use it as a base
structure and behind walls made of stone or wood
(sort of like how the Romans used concrete – they
know it’s awesome, but they cover it with
something prettier)
• Iron used in a bridge! – out in the open! – can be
used for structure AND beauty
47. • Architecture is a re-working of classical
principles into a modern vision
• Tailored to modern living in the 18th century
• Symmetry, balance, order, composition,
column orders, pediments, domes
• Symmetrical interiors, rooms mirror each
other across the hall
• Rooms decorated with different themes,
wallpaper, paint (ie: green room, red room,
Etruscan room, etc.)
48. Chiswick House 1725, London, England
Richard Boyle (architect) and
William Kent (interior/garden designer)
49. •Inspired by Palladio’s Villa Rotunda (Palladio statue on left)
•Palladian low dome, decorated balustrade on main floor
•Main floor raised over basement level
•Pediments over windows and doors
52. •Symmetrical façade (even the chimneys!)
•Semicircular dome windows and obelisk-like chimneys (not
Italian-inspired elements)
•Rusticated stones on bottom level (Italian Renaissance buildings!)
53. •White stone surface, uninterrupted by ornamentations (can you
believe this came after Rococo?!)
•Double staircase, zigzag direction
•Dome is over a central art gallery room with paintings and busts
54. Richly decorated rooms
with brilliant colors
Ceiling in the “blue velvet
room”, and the “red velvet
room” (themes!)
55. •Despite the name,
it’s not really a
“house”
•It’s a pavilion
where Richard
Boyle, the
architect, would
entertain guests
and show off his
art collection
56. OMG sound the trumpets! WE HAVE LANDED ON U.S. SOIL IN APAH!!!
Monticello (“little mountain” in Italian)
Thomas Jefferson
1770-1806
Charlottesville, Virginia
57. Octagonal dome
•Main building on Thomas Jefferson’s plantation
•Brick building with stucco trim (faux marble)
•Tall doors and windows – good for airflow in hot
Virginia summer
58. Looks like it’s one story, but the balustrade hides second
floor
•Inspired by Palladian villas in Italy and Roman ruins in
France
•Jefferson liked to save space- narrow spiral staircases,
beds in alcoves or in walls between rooms (clever!)
61. •Jefferson though America should free
itself from influence of British
architecture, and turn to Rome for
inspiration instead
-Roman temple style symbolizes values
of American democracy,
republicanism, and humanism
-Neoclassicism adopted as official style
of government architecture in the U.S.
64. Check out how different the back and the front look (front has
the columns). No two houses are identical.
65. •Bath, England is a summer resort – naturally warmed
waters have health benefits
•Royal Crescent is 30 houses attached in a crescent
shape – notable people have lived here
•Roman-inspired design- Bath was an ancient Roman
city
66. •Public rooms on 2nd floor- great view of hill below
•Façade (this view) is Wood’s design, other side
built to buyers’ tastes
67. •114 ionic columns frame windows
•Typical English chimneys – rhythmically spaced
along the roof
Balustrade cornice
69. •1st substantial structure made
of iron
•Cast iron is brittle, but the
design has kept the bridge in tact
•Five parallel metal Roman
arches
70. •Built in a town w/ deep connection to new industrial environment –
factories and workers’ houses nearby
•100-foot span
•Functional, new technology, properties of material: all produced
an unintended and revolutionary aesthetic
•Light, open, skeletal structure – style catches on (Eiffel Tower?)
71. NEOCLASSICAL SCULPTURE
•Mass production of metal (factories in Germany and
England) – price of bronze fall
•Cheap bronze = marble prices rise
•The look of marble in architecture and sculpture was still
desirable (that’s what the ancients used)
•Thought sculptures should be unpainted marble (didn’t
realize at the time that the ancients painted their
sculptures)
•Discovery of Pompeii inspires sculptors to work in
marble
•Elgin marbles come to London (remember that?) – really
inspiring!
•Sculptor Canova saw Neoclassical style as a continuation
72. •Not into ancient robes
•Liked realistic figures posed in a realistic way
with modern drapery
•Carved of white marble, no paint
73. Cupid and Psyche
Antonio Canova
1787-1793
marble
• Canova came from a family of
stone masons (how convenient!)
• The most sought-after European
sculptor of the Neoclassic period
• Mythological subject for a private
collector
• Love story about Cupid, Venus’s
son, and Psyche, a
beautiful mortal who
made Venus nervous
Venus puts
Psyche into a
deep death-like
sleep
74. • Jupiter takes pity on Cupid
and Psyche and gives Psyche
immortality
• This is the scene when Cupid
awakens Psyche with a kiss
(most tender moment in the
story)
• Rococo eroticism mixed with
Neoclassical element of
attention to sight and touch
(sensuality of flesh, classical
nudes preferred)
• So tempting to touch the
smooth marble of this
sculpture! – VERY polished
• Chiaroscuro in marble
• Great from multiple views
because of negative space
75.
76. Pauline Borghese as Venus
Antonio Canova
1808, marble • Pauline Borghese was
Napoleon’s sister
• Posed as Venus, holding an
apple (Venus’s symbol)
• Pauline was famous for her
disregard of morality
• Not meant to be seductive, unrealistic pose
• Private commission by her husband (few people allowed to see it)
• Very risque for the wife of a ruler of Rome (Camillo Borghese)
77. • Nude portraits were unusual (usually strategic drapery)
• Only the head is realistic (actually, idealized) – Did she pose
nude? - nude torso is an idealized female form
• She enjoyed the controversy of the semi-nude portrait
• Borghese family has mythical ancestry – traced their
lineage to Venus
78. A word about painting…
•French Academy has an annual showcase of new art
called the “SALON” (in the Salon Carre, in the Louvre)
•Art critics and judges search for the best new art to
display in the Salon
•Your work is displayed in the Salon = you get famous
and your work is worth much more $
•Salon is picky – prefers traditional standards, flawless
technique, perfect perspective
•Order of preference: history paintings (historical,
religious, mythological subjects), portraits,
landscapes, genre paintings, still lifes
79. • Modern subjects mixed with ancient elements
• Mythological and Biblical scenes w/ modern
context in mind
• Paintings tell moral tales (“exemplum
virtutis”)
• Painting have a subtext – viewer must form an
opinion of a person, situation, etc.
• Symmetrical compositions w/ linear
perspective
80. Cornelia Pointing to Her Children as Treasures
Angelica Kauffmann
1785, oil on canvas
81. • Cornelia, a noble woman, is shown jewelry by a visitor who asks to
see her jewels
• Cornelia responds- gestures to her sons as “her jewels” (daughter is
busy looking at jewelry box, not gestured to, hmmm)
Exemplum
virtutis: A
good woman
places her
children
above
material
possessions
82. • Story and setting are Roman (background resembles Italy)
• A history painting made for an English patron after a trip to Italy
• Warm, subdued lighting and tranquil grace
• British patrons preferred Italian paintings, so Kauffmann (who was
trained in Italy) became a successful history painter – one of two
women named among the founding members of the Royal Academy
83. Samuel Adams
John Singleton Copley
1770-1772, Oil on canvas
• Adams demands that
British troops leave
Boston after the Boston
Massacre
• Adams points to
charter and seal
granted to
Massachusetts by King
William and Queen
Mary
• Grasps petition signed
by Boston citizens
84. • Adams has a forceful and direct
gaze – confronting the viewer
• Focus on the head and hands
• Figure is in the forefront of the
picture plane
• Rich colors
• Dramatically lit
• Conservative dress (brown suit
and waistcoat)
• Vivid realism
• Meticulous handling of paint
• Defiant stance
• Moral force!
• Emotion AND reason
• Classical columns in background
shadows = republican virtue,
rationality, Enlightenment
85. The Death of General Wolfe
Benjamin West (friends with Kauffmann)
1770, oil on canvas
86. • Shows the Battle of Quebec in 1759
• British General James Wolfe died in British victory over the
French for control of Quebec during Seven Years’ War
• Shocked other painters by depicting figures in modern dress
instead of ancient garb (Neoclassical trend of classical
ignored)
• What a bold move! Considered “distasteful”
87. • Entire battle in background, English boats on right, battle raging at left, Quebec cathedral
breaking through the smoke
• Very short battle, French in disarray and retreating from battle scene
• Wolfe died of sniper shots to wrist, side, and groin (not painted)
• Actually died nearly alone at the base of a tree, but is surrounded here by friends and
admirers
• Native American represents North American setting, contemplates the consequences of
Wolf’s victory (Native Americans actually fought on the French side)
88. • Wolfe has cleft chin,
protruding eyes, small
mouth, upturned nose –
all of his unflattering
features are minimized by
the upward angle of his
head (toward heaven)
• Composition is in thirds,
like triptych-like
compositions of
Renaissance
• High Renaissance triangles
• Religious association with
victory – Protestantism
beats Catholicism
89. • Dying Gaul, Pieta, Deposition – similar poses
• Wolfe is bathed in a pool of light, posed like Christ being taken down from the cross (British
flag above him takes the place of the Christian cross
• Christ sacrificed himself for humanity, Wolfe for the good of the State
• Emotional intensity- inspires Romantic movement in British painting
90. Self-Portrait with
Two Pupils
Adelaide Labille-Guiard
1785, oil on canvas
•Labille-Guiard wanted to
increase the number of
female painters in France
•Petitioned to end the
restrictions on women
•These causes are evident
in this self-portrait –
submitted it to the salon
in 1785
91. •Monumental image
(roughly 7x5 feet)
•Fights sexist rumors that
her paintings were done
by men
•Role-reversal- the only
man in the painting is her
muse bust of her father
behind her)
•Flattering appearance in
Rococo tradition, but
influenced by
Enlightenment- women
are important
contributors to national
life
92. Oath of the Horatii
Jacques-Louis David
1784, oil on canvas
93. • Royal commission –reflection of Louis XIV’s taste and values
• Believed art should improve public morals, banned indecent nudity
from the Salon of 1775
• Commissioned history paintings (like this one)
94. • Three Roman brothers (the Horatii) do battle with three other
brothers (the Curiatti- not in the painting) from a nearby city (based
on 17th century drama Horace, which was based on ancient Roman
historical texts)
• Oath-taking was David’s idea
• Pledging their fidelity to their father and Rome! All for one and one
for all!
• Arms outstretched toward their father – hold up swords and pledge
to fight to the death for Rome
• Weak, sad looking women and children on the right
95. • One of these women is a Horatiii engaged to one of the Curiatii
brothers, and one is a sister of the Curiatii brothers (seem
distressed)
• Exemplum virtutis, contrast between bravery and emotional
commitment to family ties
96. • Figures pushed forward in composition
• Vigorous, powerful, animated forms
• Sweeping gestures
• Neoclassical drapery
1 2 3
• Caravaggio-like lighting
• Non-Roman capitals
• Tripartitie composition- each framed
by an arch
• This painting becomes an
emblem of the French
Revolution of 1789
• Lesson: You must sacrifice for
the good of the state
• French Revolution: abolished
monarchy, who commissioned
the piece to begin with (haha),
took over education (no longer
a job of the church), wrote
declaration of human rights
• David agrees with all these
ideas – appointed minister of
the arts when power shifts in
1792
97. Death of Marat
Jacques-Marie David
1793, oil on canvas
•David was the most
important Neoclassical
painter of his time –
dominated French art
during the Revolution
and the reign of
Napoleon
•This painting
commemorates the
death of French
Revolution leader, Jean-
Paul Marat
98. •Marat was a radical journalist,
wrote pamphlets urging the
abolition of aristocratic privilege
•Marat was stabbed to death in
his bathtub by Charlotte Corday,
a more moderate revolutionary
who denounced the killing of
the king – she saw him as the
cause of 1792 riots in which
political prisoners sympathetic
to the king were killed
•Decided Marat should pay for
his actions with his life
•Lived simply, packing
cases used as furniture
•Case used as a desk –
set up by the tub so he
can multitask
99. •Marat suffered from skin cancer- took baths for hours to
relieve his symptoms
•His body doesn’t show the cancer, but he wears a turban
soaked in vinegar (thought to be a cure back then)
•Killed with a butcher knife with
blood still on the handle
•Killed at the moment of issuing a
letter of condolences
•Inscription on desk resembles a
tombstone –”To Marat, David, Year
2” – reflects the French Revolution’s
reordering of the calendar
•David played down the drama –
shows us the quiet, still aftermath of
murder – Dead Marat slumped in tub
100. •Right hand is still
holding his quill pen
•Left hand holds
letter Corday (his
murderer) handed
him when she
entered
•Marat looks like a
martyred saint
•Caravaggio-like
lighting
101. •Right arm similar to Christ
in Michelangelo’s Pieta and
Caravaggio’s Entombment
•Marat is a Christ-like figure
who gave his life for a
greater cause (not religious,
but political)
102. Lady Gaga
portrait by
Robert Wilson
displayed at the
Louvre as part of
his “Living
Rooms”
exhibition. This
new portrait
recreates
Jacques-Paul
David`s “The
Death of Marat”
103. A word about ROMANTICISM…
• A movement that begins around 1789 and ends
around 1848 (so we’ll see it in this chapter AND
next chapter)
• Romantic artists glorified the irrational side of
human nature (topics that the Enlightenment
ignores) – a celebration of emotions and subjective
experiences, unconscious world of dreams and
fantasies
• John Henry Fuseli- famous Romantic artist –
inspired by Michelangelo’s powerful expressive
style- often included supernatural and irrational
subjects in his artwork, such as…
105. • Erotic theme – horse with glowing eyes (a male symbol), coming
through parted red theatrical curtain, woman lying on bed in a
tortured sleep, w/ submissive pose
• Incubus sits on her chest, suffocating her, causing her erotic dream
• Mara is an evil spirit in Norse mythology who has sex with and
suffocates sleepers (a common subject in Fuseli’s work)
•Doesn’t illustrate a nightmare
•Illustrates the sensation of
terror it produces
•Figural style similar to Italian
Mannerism
•May reference a troubled
romance and sexual dream
Fuseli had about his intended
fiancé (too poor to propose,
didn’t declare his feelings, but
insisted she couldn’t marry
anyone else because they “got
friendly” in a dream of his = she
belonged to him
107. •William Blake – a friend of Fuseli’s
•A poet, printmaker, and painter
•Obsessed w/ the imagination – thought it helps us access
the higher realm of the spirit (way more interesting than
reason, which only shows us the lower world of matter
•Created a series of 12 large
color prints in 1795
(including this one)
•Concerned with themes
of good and evil, took
elements from the Bible,
Greek mythology, and
British legend to create his
own personal mythology
108. •Figures have sculpture-like sense of volume, muscular –
shows influence of Michelangelo (whom Black admired)
•Blake shows creation in a negative way
•Giant worm (symbol of matter) twists around lower body
of Adam
•Adam looks anguished, stretches out like crucified Christ
•Gloomy image makes viewer
want to overcome his fallen
nature
•Elohim (Hebrew name for
God) – looks anxious and
desperate (not confident)
•Creation looks tragic –
human spirit falls to a state
of material existence
109. Ancient of Days
William Blake
1794
Etching
•Blake illustrated his own poems,
and works by others, including
Dante
•This image is from a book of his
poems
•Figure covers sun with his body
•Opens fingers in an impossible
way to measure the earth with
calipers
•Horizontal wind
•Figure is Urizen, and evil
Enlightenment figure of rational
thinking
110.
111. Vocabulary
•ACADEMY: an institution whose main objectives include training
artists in an academic tradition, ennobling the profession, and
holding exhibitions
•APOTHEOSIS: a type of painting in which the figures are rising
heavenward
•FETE GALANE: an 18th century French style of painting that
depicts the aristocracy walking through a forested landscape
•GRAND MANNER: a style of 18th century painting that features
large works with figures posed as ancient statuary or before
classical elements such as columns or arches
•EXEMPLUM VIRTUTIS: a painting that tells a moral tale for the
viewer
•GRAND TOUR: a journey to Italy to absorb ancient and
Renaissance sites
•SALON: a government-sponsored exhibition of artworks held in
Paris
