Chapter 30: 19th Century Art in Europe and the United States

Neoclassicism and RomanticismMagister RicardAP Art History

Consider: Educational Influences

• What is the Grand Tour?• What are the effects of the Grand Tour?• How does the excavations at Pompeii and

Herculaneum affect social, political, and artistic views?

Influential Literature

• The History of Ancient Art• Published by Johann Joachim Winckelmann• “A noble simplicity and calm grandeur…”• Greek art is hailed for its beauty and moral

character– Response to Rococo frivolity

• Became the focus and agenda for Neoclassical art

Neoclassical Art Theory

• Tended to continue to dominate academies• Teachers stressed the study of ancient

sculpture and great artists from the past – Raphael, Michelangelo

• Art was for the universal and the beautiful, meant to shape public thinking towards virtue and taste

• Art was for cultural indoctrination

Neoclassical Art Training

• Paris was the center of the cultural world• Ecole des Beaux-Arts renowned academy• Ateliers – private studios offering instruction• Paris Salon was preeminent place to show art– Controlled by juries that stressed conservative

views of art• Gradually alternatives begin to appear to meet

needs for different forms of art (see Impressionists)

Jacques Louis David and Napoleon

• David’s political agenda was highly successful through the influence of his art

• Was imprisoned in 1794 after supporting a regime which fell out of favor

• Pulled back from center stage, painted portraits and classical events

• Napoleon, upon being crowned emperor in 1804, sought David’s artistic abilities

• David enthusiastically accepted, depicted Napoleon as an invincible hero

Napoleon and Neoclassical Art

• Napoleon used Neoclassical art to help push his ambitious agenda

• Arc de Triomphe was based on Arch of Titus• His political order combined with the art

ushered in the Romantic era of art• Created a model for how modern politicians

and leaders could use art

Odalisque

• Reclining female nude• Turkish word for “harem girl”• Found throughout Western

art

Neoclassicism vs. Romanticism

Neoclassicism• Values: Order• Tone: Rational, calm• Subjects: Greek and Roman

history, myth• Technique: Stressed use of

lines, no trace of brushstrokes

• Role: Morally uplifting, inspiring

• Key Artist: David

Romanticism• Values: Emotion, imagination• Tone: Spontaneous• Subjects: Legends, exotic,

nature, violence• Technique: Quick brushstrokes,

chiaroscuro, tenebrism• Genre: Heroic struggle,

landscape, wild animals• Key Artists: Gericault, Delacroix

Ingres vs. Delacroix

Ingres• Brushstrokes should be as

smooth “as the skin of an onion”

• Intellect and craftsmanship• Conservative• Technical skill• Strong, warm colors were

“antihistorical”

Delacroix• “The real man is the savage”• “Passionately in love with

passion”• Exotic images charged with

violence• Lush colors, swirling curves• Animals and human figures

swirling, knotted in combat

Ingres vs. Delacroix

Ingres Paganini

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ROMANTICISM IN SPAINChapter 30

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes

• Defines Spanish Romantic movement• Started off painting cartoons for Rococo

tapestries• French Revolution (1789) inspired his art • Political enlightenment and the freedom of

the individual• Disillusionment sets in as reforms in France

were short-lived

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Orientalism

• European art patrons wanted landscapes of more exotic, unfamiliar places

• The lands of the east tended to capture the imagination of Western Europeans

• Romantic fascination with foreign culture• Oriental subjects engaged both Romantic and

Neoclassical artists• Stressed sex and violence• Who is depicting whom?

REVIVAL ARCHITECTUREChapter 30