1. Art and Architecture in the Colonial Period
McIntyre
Mrs. Elizabeth Freake and Baby Mary by Unknown American Painter; Late 17th century; Corbis.com

2. Intro: Why study art/architecture of early America?
Not pioneering with no “great” artists
Art is useful as a mirror of (especially regional”) culture

3. What influenced art in early America?
European Art – Elizabethan/Jacobean England
French courtly art (especially in South)
Regional cultures
Map of the 13 Original American Colonies
Original caption: Map of the Thirteen Original American Colonies. Undated. © Bettmann/CORBIS

4. New England: Cultural influences
Art influenced by their embrace of strict Protestantism & rejection of all things Catholic
Led to an emphasis on the literary over the visual in churches/homes
Christopher Cormack Interior of Salisbury Cathedral, England ca
Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury, England

5. New England: Architecture
Religious:
Did not want to idolize churches so built them to mimic homes
Ex.: Old Ship Meeting House in Hingham, Mass.
Lack of decoration
Interior meant to discourage ceremony

6. New England: Architecture
Domestic (Homes):
Simple, often in style of English village home
Ex : Parson Capen House
Community built minister’s house = symbol of his power
Medieval framing and design
Anonymous. Parson Capen House. The Kidder Smith Images Project, MIT.

7. New England: Portraits
Religious Influences:
Religious art in churches seen as worshiping idols (perceived as Catholic)
Portraits in homes were ok
Calvinist belief that success was a sign of God’s approval for your hard work
Purchase of pious art was a way to reconcile wealth with faith
Raphael. Madonna of the Goldfinch Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy. Summerfield Press/Corbis.

8. New England: Portraits
2. Secular Influences:
1. Elizabethan/Jacobean portraits
Shallow (even though 3d art did exist)
Detailed
2. Lack of trained artisans or large market for art:
Limners –portraitists who had to also painted practical things like signs to support selves
Queen Elizabeth I in Coronation Robes English School Painting; ca ; Bridgeman Art Library & The Gallery Collection/Corbis

9. New England: Portraits
Ex 1: John & Elizabeth Freake
John
Extravagant clothing shows his prosperity/piety
Hair length is a compromise between long (decadence/royalism) and short (lower class)
ANONYMOUS ARTIST. John Freake. late 17th century. Worchester Art Museum.

10. New England: Portraits
Ex 1: John & Elizabeth Freake
B. Elizabeth
Clothing from many parts of the world shows off wealth/success (and from Calvinist perspective, piety)
Mrs. Elizabeth Freake and Baby Mary by Unknown American Painter; Late 17th century; Corbis.com

11. New England: Portraits
Ex 2: Thomas Smith self portrait
Intent
Show religious and commercial life are compatible
Shows his literacy , success, piety
Thomas Smith. Self Portrait Worchester Art Museum.

12. New England: Gravestones
Only sculpture found in New England (also found elsewhere)
Intent:
Teach the living lessons about death and how temporary life’s achievements are
Carved Colonial Gravestone. © Kevin Fleming/CORBIS. Photographer. September Copp's Hill Burying Ground, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

13. New England: Gravestones
Common Elements
Winged skull (human mortality)
Hourglasses (time)
Cherubs (spiritual rebirth and everlasting life)
Doorway shape (doorway into human souls)
Tombstone at Copps Hill Burial Ground
© Lee Snider/Photo Images/CORBIS
ca Copps Hill Burial Ground, North End, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

14. Thinking Slide:
Do not write! Discuss with your neighbor and be prepared to share with class.
Were Puritan patrons of art true to their values or hypocrites?

15. Middle Colonies: Cultural Influences
More diverse cultural influences, varied from place to place
Many carried folk art over from their native countries (Ex. Germany)
Dutch had many biblical paintings in homes

16. Southern Colonies: Cultural Influences
Society based on hierarchy (who is above who)
Art often meant to show the high status and class of southern elites
Bacon's Rebellion. Governor Berkeley and the Insurgents.
Bettmann/CORBIS
Virginia, USA

17. Southern Colonies: Architecture
Churches
Money given to churches meant to show aristocracy of donors
Ex. Robert “King” Carter’s Christchurch
Had high pews so “better” families not observed/disturbed while in church
Carter Pew. Christ Church Lancaster, VA.

18. Southern Colonies: Architecture
Homes
Patterned on English manor homes or government buildings
Ex1. Bacon’s Castle in Surrey Virginia (1665)
Bacon's Castle. © Lee Snider/Photo Images/CORBIS
ca Surry County, Virginia, USA

19. Southern Colonies: Architecture
Homes
Ex2. Drayton Hall
Renaissance Villa intended as a display of luxury
Copying the habits of the English aristocracy
Drayton Hall. © Nik Wheeler/Corbis near Charleston, South Carolina, USA

20. Southern Colonies: Portraits
Meant to show wealth, status, gentility
Ex1. Henry Darnell III
Boy’s status as master of land and people (slaves) reinforced
More wealth/status through clothing, gardens, bow & arrow
Justus Englehardt Kühn. Henry Darnall III, c Maryland Historical Society.

21. Southern Colonies: Portraits
3. Ex2. Colonel Samuel and Mary Prioleau
Shows not only wealth, but class (associations with French court)
Compare with Freake’s (less detail, light backgrounds, use of pastels in style of French court paintings)
Mary’s clothing (scandalous!)
Henriette Deering Johnston, Colonel Samuel Prioleau, Mrs. Samuel Prioleau, 1715,Pastel on Paper, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

22. Thinking Slide:
Do not write! Discuss with your neighbor and be prepared to share with class.
Is the art of the Southern aristocracy more about their security in their social/class position or their insecurity?

23. Changes in the (near) Future
1. Architecture:
New England churches have less community power as Mass. becomes a royal colony
Still retain some elements, but gain steeples and towers in contradictions of old traditions
Ex. Old South Meetinghouse
Old South meetinghouse.

24. Changes in the Future 2. Art:
Colonies grow wealthy, leads to worldliness, demand for English culture as sign of wealth
Climate becomes more liberal for displays of wealth and art becomes more naturalistic
Ex. Copely’s Revere
Paul Revere
1768
John Singleton Copley, American, 1738– Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

25. Thinking Slide:
Do not write! Discuss with your neighbor and be prepared to share with class.
Does art play the same function today in our society as it did in either New England or the South?