1. THE AGE OF REASON

2. Four Trends of the Age
A growing concentration of political power in the “great” states: France, Great Britain, Prussia, Austria, Netherlands, & Russia
Return of the aristocracy to prominence
Rise of the middle-class in politics and culture who supported social equality & justice, and a revamping of society as a whole
The intellectual & cultural movement to be labeled The Enlightenment

3. The Great Powers Saw a growing urbanization
A fairly rigid class system prevailed: aristocracy, upper middle class, broad middle class, lesser artisans, and metropolitan poor.
In Great Britain and France, the monarchy would diminish, while in Prussia, Austria, and Russia it would gain eminence

4. The Enlightenment
The “thinkers” embraced humanism=believed that a human being becomes a better person through the study and practice of literature, music, philosophy, and the arts. Thus, a human could be “perfected”. This would agree with John Locke and his tabula rasa.
Had the greatest effects in London, Edinburgh, Paris. To a lesser extent in St. Petersburg & Moscow with Catherine II (the Great)

5. Philosophes of the Enlightnment
Had full confidence in reason
Believed nature was orderly and fundamentally good, and could be studied empirically
Because humans were perfectable, so was society
Political, religious, and economic institutions should be reformed in a social utilitarianism for happiness
Advocated freedom of religious choice
Advocated an educational system free of religious control
Supported Deism

6. Prominent Philosophes
Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
Author of Candide in which he attached religious and political optimism
Wrote plays, novels, essays, letters
Source of quoted "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.“ While sounding pessimistic, it was really a comment on church bureaucracies
Ridiculed Muhammed, but of Islamism he wrote of it “a wise, severe, chaste, and humane religion.”
Counted Benjamin Franklin as a good friend

7. Denis Diderot
Chief editor of the Encyclopédie, intended as a compendium of all knowledge in the arts, sciences, and crafts
Attacked conventional morality
Was summoned to Russia to meet with Catherine the Great, who had become his patron

8. Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu
Believed government should be set up so that no man need be afraid of another. This would influence James Madison and other Founding Fathers.
Opposed slavery
Believed women could head governments, but not families
Saw 3 forms of government: monarchies [honor], republics [virtue], and despotisms [fear]

9. Physiocrats
Were concerned with economics in the Enlightenment; forerunners of Classical Economists
Examined mercantilism closely, believing it to be harmful
Recognized laws of supply and demand
Believed laissez-faire economics to be the best: keep government control out of a self-regulating economy
Believed both society and the individual benefits when people are allowed to serve their own self-interest
Prominent physiocrats were Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot and François Quesnay

10. ARTS IN THE AGE OF REASON Rococo and Neoclassicism
Rococo style arose in France under Louis XIV
Concentrated on frivolous subjects such as fêtes galantes (aristocratic entertainments) and themes
Embodied by the Flemish painter/decorator Jean-Antoine Watteau
Had an undercurrent of eroticism and sex (so the Brits didn’t adopt it)

11. Departure From Cythera by Watteau

12. Marie Antoinette and her ChildrenBy
Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun

13. Nude on a Sofa by François Bourcher

14. Jean-Honoré Fragonard
The Swing by
Jean-Honoré Fragonard

15. The Countess’ Levée Or
Morning Party
From
Marriage à la Mode by
William Hogarth

16. rocaille
“Fanciful stucco ornaments in the shapes of ribbons, leaves, stems, flowers, interlaces, arabesques, and elongated, curving lines applied to walls and ceilings
The effect of rocaille was to make solid surfaces look more like fleeting illusions.”

17. Hall of Mirrors Amalienburg, Munich

18. Salon de Princessa by
Germain Boffrand

19. Kenwood House (London) designed by Robert Adam

20. Library of Kenwood House designed by Robert Adam

21. designed by Jacques Germain Soufflot
Pantheon
Paris
designed by Jacques Germain Soufflot

23. Political Philosophy
Prominent political philosophers were Baron de Montesquieu and Jean-Jacques Rousseau

24. Montesquieu Rousseau Wrote The Spirit of the Laws
Concluded climate, geography, religion, education, etc. account for world’s different types of laws and governments
Promoted idea that Separation of Powers provided an adequate defense against despots
Rousseau
Wrote The Social Contract
Humans are free and equal in nature
Humans can follow whims, so they possess no moral purpose

25. The state is founded upon an agreement among people, gives its citizens basic rights (life, liberty & property)
Each citizen has right to vote, and votes on laws in accord with the General Will (what is best for community).
Citizens who obey laws become moral beings.

26. Neoclassical Literary Figures
Alexander Pope ( )
Essay on Man
“The proper study of mankind is man.”
Edward Gibbons ( )
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in 6 volumes

27. Literary Figures of Realism
Advent of the novel
Focused on individual persons rather universal types, and on particular circumstances rather than literary custom
Focused on character development over time
Authors adopted a narrative voice

28. Samuel Richardson focused on love between the sexes
Pamela
Virtue Rewarded
Clarissa Harlowe
Henry Fielding depicted a robust world of comedy and adventure
The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling
The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrew, a parody of Richardson’s Pamela

29. MUSIC
In France, the style galant would be the rococo response to baroque music, with light, charming, graceful, and simple melodies.
Harpsichord would be a favored rococo instrument
The pianoforte appeared
Principal French composers were
François Couperin
Jean-Philippe Rameau

30. Classical style replaced rococo music. It emphasized form and structure
The sonata form with its exposition, development, and recapitulation would be prominent
Sonata form would be come a basis for symphonic works, concertos, sonatas
If written in four movements, the third movement was either a minuet (French)or scherzo (means joke in Italian)

31. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
COMPOSERS
Franz Joseph Haydn ( )
30 years as music director for a Hungarian noble family
Composed 104, 4-movement symphonies
Composed more than 70 string quartets for violins, viola, and cello
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ( )
Composed, concertos, symphonies, trios, quartets, quintets, serenades
Most famous opera is The Marriage of Figaro