Chapter Sixteen The Eighteenth Century: From Rococo to Revolution

1. Chapter SixteenThe Eighteenth Century:From Rococo to Revolution

2. Age of Diversity, Age of Enlightenment • Unqualified optimism, extreme discontent • Trust in science and human reason • Conscious engagement with social issues • Revolutionaries and conservatives • Enlightened despots • Welfare of citizenry • Duty and responsibility

3. The Late Eighteenth Century:Time of Revolution • American Revolution • Inspired revolution in France • Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence • Optimistic, rational view • Political and social freedom • Equality and justice • Universality of man and nature

4. Here ends our lecture upon the 18th Century This is George Washington, sculpted in 1778 and looking very neo-classical. He is standing next to a fasces, a bundle of rods bound together around an ax with the blade projecting. Fasces were carried before ancient Roman magistrates as an emblem of authority. Note the symbolism of how Washington has covered and softened the ax blade with his hand and a piece of cloth..

5. The Rococofantasy life of the last European aristocrats

6. Watteau, Return from Cythera (1717)

7. Boucher, Cupid a Captive (1754)

8. Fragonard, Love Letters (1773)

9. Fragonard’s “The Bolt” Note how the hunky fellow in short pants is bolting the door. What will happen next???

10. The tres rococo Salon de la Princesse, Hotel de Soubise, Paris

11. The ultra rococo nave and high altar of Vierzehnheiligen Pilgrim Church, Bamberg, Germany (1743-1772)

12. The Visual Arts in the Eighteenth CenturyNeo-Classical Art • Archeological inspiration • New awareness of classical art • Inspired by discoveries at Pompeii and Herculaneum • Appealed to revolutionaries in France and America • Roman Republic, French Revolution • Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) • United opposition to tyranny • Modeled on ideals of Roman Republic • Austere poses, orderly decoration • Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)

13. David’s neo-classical Oath of the Horatii (1784)

14. David’s Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1800)

15. The Visual Arts in the Eighteenth CenturyNeo-Classical Architecture • Classical models of architecture • Austere public buildings • Thomas Jefferson’s State Capitol (1785-1796)

17. Stop here for today—next class, enlightenment satire… • Add some slides from other ppt

18. Literature in the Eighteenth CenturyIntellectual Developments • Systematic examination of society • Pessimistic views vs. Optimistic views • Renewed interest in Classical culture • Translations, themes, forms, references • Rise of Feminism • Mary Wollstonecraft, “Vindication of the Rights of Women” (1792)

19. Literature in the Eighteenth CenturyJonathan Swift (1667-1745) • Hatred for human race • “Savage indignation” • Animals capable of reason • Gulliver’s Travels • Satire of human behavior • A Modest Proposal • “Man’s inhumanity to man” • Inevitability of human suffering

20. Literature in the Eighteenth CenturyRational Humanism: The Encyclopedists • Encyclopédie • Denis Diderot (1713-1784) • System for the classification of knowledge • Compendium of human rationality • Freedom of conscience and belief

21. The Late Eighteenth Century:Time of Revolution • Technological improvements • Increased literacy, circulation of ideas • Governmental abuses • Louis XV: “Après moi le déluge” • The Reign of Terror • Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794) • Essentiality of constitutional government

22. The Feminist RevolutionMary Wollstonecraft (1739-1797) • “Vindication of the Rights of Women” • Similar sentiments to French declaration of rights of man and American declaration of independence, both of which excluded women • First statement of women’s inherent rights • Women not subservient objects for men, but free, rational beings possessed of strength and dignity and deserving of respect