• During the seventeenth century, the Dutch Republic support a brilliant golden age of art. Having just won their independence from Spain, the Dutch enjoyed a unique status as a Protestant country with no absolute ruler. Prosperous Dutch Merchants purchased portraits, landscapes, genre scenes, and still lifes. Among the most prominent artists, Hal painted group portraits, Rembrandt created etchings, Vermeer focused on domestic interiors, Judith Leyster produced popular portraits, and Rachel Ruysch specialized in exquisite painting of flowers.

The Golden Age of Dutch Art

• During the reign of Louis XIV, France eclipsed Italy as the center of European art. Louis SIV was the preeminent patron of the arts, and the palace of Versailles was the era’s most important architectural project. After Louis XIV’s death, many nobles moved to Paris, where they supported a style of art known as Rococo. The Rococo style used pastel colors to depict lighthearted scenes of aristocrats pursuing please. Watteau, Boucher, and Fragonard were the leading Rococo artists and Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun and Adelaide Labille-Guiard were accomplished portraitists. Bernini sculpted a famous Baroque bust of Louis XIV, and Clodion’s small terracotta statuettes embody the Rococo style. Chardin’s portraits and scenes of middle-class life signaled a reaction against Rococo.

French Art, 1661-1789

• The Neoclassical style provides a particularly vivid example of how artists are affected by historic and social events. Jean-Antoine Houdon made portrait busts, Federal style buildings were designed by Thomas Jefferson, and Jacque-Louis David painted. The Villa Rotonda and Chiswick House influenced the design of Monticello, and Canova was the foremost Neoclassical sculptor in the early 19th century. Napolean was the most portrayed ruler during the Neoclassical period.

Neoclassical Art

• Romantic artists emphasized feeling, imagination, and personal intuition. They found inspiration in exotic cultures, human atrocities, and the sublime beauty of nature. French artists and sculptors played a dominant role in the Romantic movement. Gericault, Delacroix, Rude, and Barye were important Romanticists. Baroque art influenced the Raft of the Medusa, and the Romantic approach to color and brushwork influenced Impressionism. Barye specialized in statuettes of animals, and Turner’s innovations with color made a significant impact on the development of modern art. Fuseli’s The Nightmare is an early Romantic painting that explores human psychology.

Romanticism

• Realism was a major artistic period of the mid-19th century that challenged the academy by departing from traditional subjects, taking instead the working class, peasants, and Realistic landscapes as themes. The Realists responded to the various revolutions around them and demonstrated an interest in social issues. Realists looked to earlier painters such as Bruegel, Le Nain, and Chardin as influences. Courbet was the first artist to hold his own one-man art show that challenged the institution of the Salon. His work elevated the status of ordinary people and workers. Millet and other Barbizon School artists glorified the landscape and peasant life. Manet’s revolutionary blend of classical training and unique style influenced future painters. Daguerreotypes and calotypes were the earliest photographic methods. While some Realists felt threatened by photography, others used it to their advantage.

Realism and the Birth of Photography

• This is stuff that you should know and be ok on so I don’t feel like writing a summary.

Impressionism and Post-Impressionism

• During the late 19th century, artistic movements such as Post-Impressionism, Symbolism, Arts and Crafts, and Art Nouveau grew simultaneously. Artists’ work reinforced “art for art’s sake.” Things you need to know:– Various art movements were contemporary with each other.

– Complementary formal terms, like flat vs. modeling, decorative vs. simple, organic vs. artificial.

– How to apply knowledge of contextual events to interpret formal elements, for example, the Art and Crafts movement and Art Nouveau reacted against industrialism.

Other Late 19th Century Art Styles

• A key point about 19th century architecture is that America was not fully ready for modern designs. The wealthy elite and government preferred revival styles such as Neoclassical for government buildings, etc. Modernity gradually took hold in public and office buildings. Cast iron and steel became important elements in this evolution. Louis Sullivan was the first modern architect, and his lessons would be learned and expanded on by Frank Lloyd Wright.

19th Century Architecture

• Pylon

• Hypostyle

• Hierarchical scale

• Register

• Repousse

• Corbelled vault

• Kouros

• Kore

• Caryatid

• Pediment

• Entablature

• Contrapposto

• Frieze

• Mosaic

• Voussoir

• Pendentive

• Iconoclasm

• Encaustic

• Enamel

• Mihrab

• Westwork

• Ambulatory

• Tympanum

• Clerestory

• Barreled vault

Terms You Should Know• Groin vault

• Crpyt

• Vellum

• Diptych

• Triptych

• Predella

• Chiarascuo

• Cartoon

• Ecorche

• Orthogonal

• Intaglio

• Impasto

• Japonisme

• Avant-garde

• Bauhaus

• Ready-made

• Cantilever

• Biomorphic

• Assemblage

• Photomontage

• Stupa

• Pagoda

• Pueblo

• Mudrah

• Ukiyo-e