The Enlightenment Neoclassical Art

Enlightenment The Age of Reason Enciclopedists / Philosophes Diderot Reason -- a perfect society built on common sense and tolerance Truth dispersing the shadows of ignorance

Think back on the baroque and work out a definition of the term What does the term Neoclassical evoke for you?

Chiswick House, London St. Martin in the Fields, London

Prado Museum, Madrid

Royal Palace, Madrid

Royal Naval College, Greenwich

This painting demonstrates the geometry and subordination of nature that garden architects used to construct gardens in the 17th century. This is an artist's view of Versailles, as constructed by Le Notre, a famous garden architect.

Scottish architect Colen Campbell, Mereworth Castle, Kent,

The gardens of Château Villandry

Garden, Alcázar, Sevilla

Characteristics Order and Harmony Simplicity of shape and exactness of proportion Light Gardens Society and Utopianism Ordering creation Intellectual rather than emotional or spiritual Classicism Restraint, good sense, decorum, good taste, correctness

Rococo to Neoclassical ( /50) As symmetry was gradually introduced into the lavish ornamental motifs of the Rococo style, so the Neoclassicist ideas slowly began to spread. The new aesthetic revealed a reaction against the excesses of Rococo ornamentation in favour of what was seen as the noble simplicity of antiquity. Many Neoclassical ideas were founded in the scientific ideals of the French Encyclopaedists, who believed in the enhancement and promotion of public morality through art.

Music room of Frederick II (the Great), Sans Souci Palace in Potsdam From:

The Embarkation for Cythera by Antoine Watteau 1717

Pilgrimage to Cythera by Antoine Watteau 1717

Detail of Pilgrimage

Classical history and mythology provided a large part of the subject matter of Neoclassical works. Jean-Baptiste Regnault Liberty or Death

Joseph-Marie Vien Young Greek Maidens Decking the Sleeping Cupid with Flowers 1773

Jacques-Louis David ( ) Most prominent and influential painter of the Neo-classical movement in France. In the 1780s he created a style of austere and ethical painting that captured the moral climate of the last years of the ancien régime. As an active revolutionary, he put his art at the service of the new French Republic and for a time was virtual dictator of the arts. He was imprisoned after the fall from power of Maximilien de Robespierre but on release became captivated by the personality of Napoleon I Portrait of the Artist 1794

The Death of Seneca 1773

"The artist must be a philosopher and have no other guide except the torch of reason." — J.-L. David

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat Noble background Educated in science and history Became a lawyer Considered, along with John Locke, as the ideological co-founder of the American Constitution

Works Masterpiece: The Spirit of the Laws (1748), considers: Monarchy Despotism Republic Felt Republic was best

Montesquieu’s Thought " Montesquieu advocated constitutionalism, the preservation of civil liberties, the abolition of slavery, gradualism, moderation, peace, internationalism, social and economic justice with due respect to national and local tradition. He believed in justice and the rule of law; detested all forms of extremism and fanaticism; put his faith in the balance of power and the division of authority as a weapon against despotic rule by individuals or groups or majorities; and approved of social equality, but not to the point which it threatened individual liberty; and out of liberty, but not to the point where it threatened to disrupt orderly government." Sir Isaiah Berlin Against the Current

Persian Letters (1721) First work to gain him fame Epistolary form correspondence between Usbek (Persian aristocrat) and younger companion Ricca traveling in France and friends, Usbek’ wives, or eunuchs

Oliver Goldsmith Born in the Irish village of Pallas, near Glasson on Nov. 10, Father was an Anglican clergyman Studied theology, law, and medicine in turn `The Citizen of the World', published in 1762, won the attention of Samuel Johnson Died after a short illness in the spring of 1774 His epitaph, by Johnson, includes the famous line: Nullum quod tetigit non ornavit (He touched nothing that he did not adorn).

Major Works The Citizen of the World ( ). Goldsmith puts criticism of English society into the letters written by a fictional Chinese gentleman, Lien Chi Altangi. The Traveler ( 1764 ). The traveler-narrator fails to find happiness abroad and concludes that it is to be found in one's own mind: " Our own felicity we make or find. " The Vicar of Wakefield ( 1766 ). The Deserted Village ( 1770 ). Nostalgic poem about the passing of a simpler, happier, rural past. The Life of Richard Nash ( 1762 ). Beau Nash, Master of Ceremonies at Bath, was an institution in Eighteenth Century England. She Stoops to Conquer ( 1773 ).

When reading, think about: What Montesquieu and Goldsmith criticizes and why? Why do they use the epistolary form? Why does he use Persian/Chinese travelers in Europe? How are the Persians/Chinese characterized?