History Painting and Neoclassicism
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 Benjamin West, Death of General Wolfe. 1770 Oil on canvas, 60 in. x 84 1/2 in. (152.6 cm x 214.5 cm). National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Transfer from the Canadian War Memorials, 1921 (gift of the Second Duke of Westminster, Eaton Hall, Cheshire, 1918). British History Painting
Oil on canvas, 185 x 121 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris "I am here in Arcadia too" French, Baroque (Learned to paint in Italy) |
Form: Although the composition is overtly symmetrical the visual weight of the composition seems to run in a strong diagonal from the lower left hand corner of the image up through the flagpole and then into the smoky clouds in the upper right hand section of the painting.
The flag and the murky gunpowder clouds create a strong diagonal across the picture plane which moves the eyes from the upper left hand corner towards the Native American in the lower left. The figures including the Indian, all share in the same combination of gestures and movements in a similar manner to Leonardo's Last Supper.
The composition is also arranged in a similar manner to Grueze's and Poussin's paintings. Like its Baroque French counterparts, the image is constructed so that most of the figures are placed in the foreground and even though there is the creation of deep space, the background is not as important as the figures.
This painting returns to a Baroque sensibility in terms of its lighting, composition and movement. West uses tenebrism and chiaroscuro liberally and the spotlight is on the figure placed with in a Leonaroesque pyramid.
Iconography and Context according to art critic Robert Hughes,
The arts in America did not bring forth anything much new at first, except for mid- to late-18th century furniture--and one work by Benjamin West. When he was 12, West (1738-1820) announced that his talent would make him the "companion of kings and emperors." And as a matter of fact, it did: after he settled in England in 1763, he became George III's favorite artist. His definitive work was The Death of General Wolfe, 1770. It was a history painting but recent history, recounting a British victory over the French at the Battle of Quebec only a decade earlier. And it was in "modern," late-18th century dress. It changed the English sense of decorum in heroic commemoration, the idea of what history painting could do.In the Battle of Quebec in 1759, the British commander, Major General James Wolfe, was killed at the moment of victory over the French. West's painting depicts the hero receiving the news just as he expires. Until West created this work, history painting had required togas and other accoutrements of antiquity. West's use of contemporary 18th century dress set off a storm of controversy, and his retort to his critics became famous. The siege of Quebec, he pointed out, took place "in a region of the world unknown to the Greeks and Romans...when no such nations, nor heroes in their costumes, any longer existed... The same truth that guides the pen of the historian should govern the pencil of the artist." There spoke the Natural Man from the New World, pragmatic, realistic--though, in fact, West's painting was very far from realist.
Time, Spring97 Special Issue, Vol. 149 Issue 17, p76, 10p, 10c
Author(s): Hughes, Robert
John Singleton Copley,"Watson and the Shark" (1778), | Form: Most history paintings share in many of the same formal elements. They also share these same elements with the Neoclassical style except for in the subject matter and clothing. As in West's, Death of General Wolfe. 1770, this painting also returns to a Baroque sensibility in terms of its lighting, composition and movement. Copley uses tenebrism and chiaroscuro liberally and the spotlight is on the figure placed with in a Leonaroesque pyramid. Again a strong diagonal runs through the image and the figures all share in the same combination of gestures and movements in a similar manner to Leonardo's Last Supper. The composition is also arranged in a similar manner to West's, Grueze's and Poussin's paintings. Like its counterparts, the image is constructed so that most of the figures are placed in the foreground and even though there is the creation of deep space, the background is not as important as the figures. Iconography, John Singleton Copley's Watson and the Shark was inspired by an event that took place in Havana, Cuba, in 1749. Fourteen-year-old Brook Watson, an orphan serving as a crew member on a trading ship, was attacked by a shark while swimming alone in the harbor. His shipmates, who had been waiting on board to escort their captain ashore, launched a valiant rescue effort.What is interesting and an element shared with West's painting is the depiction of the main character or hero as a martyr very similar to Renaissance depictions of Jesus. The non-European are represented in a less flattering and almost subjugating light. In West's painting we see the depiction of the Native American and in Copley's painting the Afro-Cuban man in the back of the boat. Historians sometimes refer to these depictions as depicting "The Other." These depictions of the so called "Other" might be interpreted as a justification for colonialism and some of the racism that justifies it. In each of these images the Other is depicted as actionless and almost useless. The Indian, who is literally below everyone else, gazes on Wolfe almost as if he cannot comprehend what is happening. Likewise, the Afro-Cuban in Copley's painting is cast in a similar inactive role and relegated to the rear of the picture plane. |
Context according to the Brittanica,John Singleton Copley
b. July 3, 1738, Boston [Mass., U.S.]
d. Sept. 9, 1815, London, Eng.
American painter of portraits and historical subjects, generally acclaimed as the finest artist of colonial America.Little is known of Copley's boyhood. He developed within a flourishing school of colonial portraiture, and it was as a portraitist that he reached the high point of his art, and--as his Boston portraits later revealed--he gained an intimate knowledge of his New England subjects and milieu and was able to convey a powerful sense of physical entity and directness--real people seen as they are. From his stepfather, the limner and engraver Peter Pelham, Copley gained familiarity with graphic art as well as an early sense of vocation. Before he was 20 he was an accomplished draughtsman. To the Rococo portrait style derived from the English painter Joseph Blackburn he brought his own powers of imagination and a technical ability surpassing anyone painting in America at the time. Copley, in his portraits, made eloquent use of a Rococo device, the portrait d'apparat--portraying the subject with the objects associated with him in his daily life--that gave his work a liveliness and acuity not usually associated with 18th-century American painting.
Although he was steadily employed with commissions from the Boston bourgeoisie, Copley wanted to test himself against the more exacting standards of Europe. In 1766, therefore, he exhibited "Boy with a Squirrel" at the Society of Artists in London. It was highly praised both by Sir Joshua Reynolds and by Copley's countryman Benjamin West. Copley married in 1769. Although he did not venture out of Boston except for a seven-month stay in New York City (June 1771-January 1772), he was urged by fellow artists who were familiar with his work to study in Europe. When political and economic conditions in Boston began to deteriorate (Copley's father-in-law was the merchant to whom the tea that provoked the Boston Tea Party was consigned), Copley left the country--never to return--in June 1774. In 1775 his wife, children, and several other family members arrived in London, and Copley established a home there in 1776.
His ambitions in Europe went beyond portraiture; he was eager to make a success in the more highly regarded sphere of historical painting. In his first important work, "Watson and the Shark" (1778), Copley used what was to become one of the great themes of 19th-century Romantic art, the struggle of man against nature. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1779. Although his English paintings grew more academically sophisticated and self-conscious, in general they lacked the extraordinary vitality and penetrating realism of his Boston portraits. Toward the end of his life, his physical and mental health grew worse. Though he continued to paint with considerable success until the last few months of his life, he was obsessed by the sale (at a loss) of his Boston property and by his increasing debts.
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 Jacques-Louis David Oath of the Horatii-1784 oil on canvas, 10'x14' Louvre Museum, Paris French Neoclassicism | Form: The composition of this painting is organized in a clear symmetrical format in which all the attention is focused on the center of the image on the three swords the central figure holds aloft. The three arches organize the composition in such a way that it is meant to be read from left to right, almost as if it is a triptych from Renaissance Italian painting. The composition is also modeled on classical Greek or Roman relief sculpture as one would find on the Ara Pacis or the friezes of the Parthenon. The painting space is literally modeled after figures in the composition in Greco Roman relief sculptures in that their is very little background and the figures, which are somewhat spot lit stand out from a very sparse background. The Roman arches are also meant to be read sculpturally. The style in which David painted this is very hard edged and realistic, although painted before the invention of photography, this painting seems to look almost photographic.
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Iconography: Everything about this painting is meant to refer to the classical world. The formal elements and clothing clearly look classic (sometimes referred to as "antique") but the actual content of the image also refers to a historical event as well.
According to the Brittanica:
The Horatii were a Roman legend, two sets of triplet brothers whose story was probably fashioned to explain existing legal or ritual practices. The Horatii were Roman and the Curiatii Alban, although an alternative version reversed this order. During the war between Rome and Alba Longa in the reign of Tullus Hostilius (traditionally 672-642 BC), it was agreed that settlement of the dispute should depend on the outcome of combat between the two groups of brothers.
In the contest two of the Horatii were quickly killed; but the third, feigning flight, managed to slay his wounded pursuers one by one. When the survivor entered Rome in triumph, his sister recognized among his trophies a cloak she had made for one of the Curiatii to whom she was betrothed. She could not conceal her grief and was killed by her brother, who declared, "So perish any Roman woman who mourns the enemy." For this act Horatius was condemned to death, but he was saved by an appeal to the people.
The tale might have been devised to provide an august origin for the legal practice that granted every condemned Roman the right to appeal to the populace. Alternatively, perhaps it was used to explain the ritual of the tigillum sororium ("sister's beam"), the yoke under which Horatius had to pass to be purified of his crime.
Context: David probably painted this as a "call to arms" for his fellow Frenchmen. David probably interpreted the story of the Horatii as the ultimate tale of patriotism and sacrifice, o ne which he believed the French people needed to learn a message from. In some ways, David was one of the leaders and propagandists for the French revolution and his paintings were seen almost as lessons or advertisements to the French citizens to act in a self-sacrificing manner and also to suggest some sorts of reforms in French government based on classical ideas such as those found in Republican Rome above and also those found in Athens during it's "Golden Age".
 Jacques-Louis David Oath Tennis Court 1791 | Form: The drawing on the left is an unfinished sketch made by David to commemorate and plan a larger painting of the same theme. There are some unfinished paintings based on this drawing as well. Iconography and Context: The people represented in this drawing were some of the people who took the famous "Oath of the Tennis Court" which according to the Brittanica, was a (June 20, 1789), dramatic act of defiance by representatives of the non privileged classes of the French nation (the Third Estate) during the meeting of the Estates-General (traditional assembly) at the beginning of the French Revolution. The deputies of the Third Estate, realizing that in any attempt at reform they would be outvoted by the two privileged orders, the clergy and the nobility, had formed, on June 17, a National Assembly. Finding themselves locked out of their usual meeting hall at Versailles on June 20 and thinking that the king was forcing them to disband, they moved to a nearby tennis court. There they took an oath never to separate until a written constitution had been established for France. In the face of the solidarity of the Third Estate, King Louis XVI relented and on June 27 ordered the clergy and the nobility to join with the Third Estate in the National Assembly.Many of the people represented in the drawing and subsequent paintings however, were not on hand and David would add or subtract individuals from his drawing and the subsequent paintings as some rose and others fell out of political power. |
 Jacques-Louis David. Death of Marat. 1793. oil on canvas, 5'5"x4'2" Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels French Neoclassicism | Form: This painting is a depiction of a nude man who is slumped down into a cloth draped bathtub on which a board has been placed across as an impromptu kind of desk. He holds in hands, a letter on which the name "Charlotte Corday" is clearly written. He has a small would just under his collar bone and a knife lies in the forground of the image. The anatomy of the the figure is idealized and very muscular and almost appears to mimic the idealized muscular structure of Greco Roman sculpture. The composition is also modeled on classical Greek or Roman relief sculpture as one would find on the Ara Pacis or the friezes of the Parthenon. The painting space is literally modeled after figures in the composition in Greco Roman relief sculptures in that their is very little background and the figures, which are somewhat spot lit stand out from a very sparse background. In terms of value structure David is very much of a caravaggisti in this painting. He uses tenebrism and heightened chiaroscuro. The style in which David painted this is very hard edged and realistic, although painted before the invention of photography, this painting seems to look almost photographic. Context: According to the Brittanica, On July 13, Charlotte Corday, a young Girondin supporter from Normandy, was admitted to Jean-Paul Marat's room on the pretext that she wished to claim his protection and stabbed him to death in his bath (he took frequent medicinal baths to relieve a skin infection). Marat's dramatic murder at the very moment of the Montagnards' triumph over their opponents caused him to be considered a martyr to the people's cause. His name was given to 21 French towns and, later, as a gesture symbolizing the continuity between the French and Russian revolutions, to one of the first battleships in the Soviet Navy.Iconography: This image depicts Marat as a martyr for the French Revolution and has often been referred to as the "pietà of the Revolution." This was entirely intentional on the part of David who uses light in much the same way as Caravaggio does to symbolize "enlightenment" or divine light. The dramatic lighting and references to the heroic classic past are meant to elevate and heroicize Marat as a figure who died in the service of something greater than himself. The depiction of his body as also heroic is a direct reference to the idea of kalos in ancient Greek art. |
 David, Death of Socrates, 1787 | Form: The anatomy of the the figures are idealized and very muscular and mimic the idealized muscular structure of Greco Roman sculpture. The composition is also modeled on classical Greek or Roman relief sculpture as one would find on the Ara Pacis or the friezes of the Parthenon. The painting space is literally modeled after figures in the composition in Greco Roman relief sculptures in that their is very little background and the figures, which are somewhat spot lit stand out from a very sparse background. In terms of value structure David is very much of a caravaggisti in this painting. He uses tenebrism and heightened chiaroscuro. The style in which David painted this is very hard edged and realistic, although painted before the invention of photography, this painting seems to look almost photographic. |
Iconography and Context: According to: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/his/CoreArt/art/neocl_dav_soc.html
At the height of his youthful popularity and enthusiasm, part of a close circle of friends (including Chernier, Lafayette and Lavoisier) who were pushing for radical political reform, David painted this unusual historical picture in 1787. Commissioned by the Trudaine de Montigny brothers, leaders in the call for a free market system and more public discussion, this picture depicts the closing moments of the life of Socrates. Condemned to death or exile by the Athenian government for his teaching methods which aroused scepticism and impiety in his students, Socrates heroicly rejected exile and accepted death from hemlock.For months, David and his friends debated and discussed the importance of this picture. It was to be another father figure (like the Horatii and Brutus), unjustly condemned but who sacrifices himself for an abstract principle. By contrasting the movements of the energetic but firmly controlled Socrates, and his swooning disciples, through the distribution of light and dark accents, David transforms what might have been only a fashionable picture of martyrdom to a clarion call for nobility and self-control even in the face of death.
Here the philosopher continues to speak even while reaching for the cup, demonstrating his indifference to death and his unyielding commitment to his ideals. Most of his disciplines and slaves swirl around him in grief, betraying the weakness of emotionalism. His wife is seen only in the distance leaving the prison. Only Plato, at the foot of the bed and Crito grasping his master's leg, seem in control of themselves.
For contemporaries the scene could only call up memories of the recently abandoned attempt at reform, the dissolution of the Assembly of Notables in 1787, and the large number of political prisoners in the king's jails or in exile. David certainly intended this scene as a rebuke to cringing souls. On the eve of the Revolution, this picture served as a trumpet call to duty, and resistance to unjust authority. Thomas Jefferson was present at its unveiling, and admired it immensly. Sir Joshua Reynolds compared the Socrates with Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling and Raphael's Stanze, and after ten visits to the Salon described it as `in every sense perfect'.
 Horatio Greenough George Washington (1841) (Installed in the Rotunda 1841 and moved to the east Capitol Grounds in 1844. Transferred to Smithsonian Institution in 1908.) American Neoclassical | Form: The anatomy of the the figure is idealized and very muscular and almost appears to mimic the idealized muscular structure of Greco Roman sculpture. Iconography: Clearly Greenough was using the iconography and symbolism established by neoclassical artists in the 19th century. Here Washingston literally looks like a Greek god which is meant to canonnize him. The hand pointing up is almost certainly a reference to Rafael's depiction of Plato from the "School of Athens."
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Context: According to Jean K. Rosales and Michael R. Jobe (http://www.kittytours.org/thatman2/search.asp?subject=18)
Congress made seven attempts to honor George Washington (1732-1799); this was Try Number 4. In 1832, Greenough was commissioned to design a statue of General Washington standing, but chose to model his statue on a statue of the Greek God Zeus. There may have been some method in his madness.
The original Mills design for the Washington Monument would have included a Greek temple on top of which there was supposed to be a statue of George Washington driving a six-horse chariot. A close examination of the artist's rendering of this design indicates that the Greenough statue looks amazingly like the Mills chariot driver.
One suspects he was seeking a larger commission, since acceptance of this statue would have also generated the commission for the six horses. This theory helps to explain the very awkward position of Washington's left hand -- it was supposed to be holding the reins of the chariot.
The statue is made of 12 tons of white marble and is so heavy it began to crack the floor of the Rotunda in the Capitol when it was installed there in 1841. It was moved to the East Front of the Capitol in 1843 and travelled around the grounds of the Hill until it was finally presented to the Museum of History and Technology (now the American History Museum).
2001 Jean K. Rosales and Michael R. Jobe, All Rights Reserved
 Angelika Kauffman Cornelia's Jewels 1785 oil on canvas 40"x50" Fine Arts Museum of Richmond Virginia Swiss but worked in England, Neoclassical History Painting | -for an English patron -Neoclassical history painting, subjects drawn from classical antiquity (Age of Reason, contemplation) -the story takes place in the second century BCE, during the Republican era of Rome (Roman history) -a woman visitor has been showing Cornelia her jewels and then requests to see those of her hostess; Cornelia turns to her sons and says that these are her most precious jewels -Cornelia exemplifies the “good mother” (popular subject in late eighteenth century) -in the reforming spirit of the Enlightenment – depicted subjects that would teach lessons in virtue (didactic paintings) -the value of Cornelia’s maternal dedication is emphasized by the fact that under her loving care the sons grew up to be political reformers -setting = simple (like the message), but the effect of the whole is softened by the warm, subdued lighting and by the tranquil grace of the leading characters Biography: See your textbook for more info on this painting. |
Notice how the painting above was based on the work below.
 Stele of Hegeso c.410-400 BC, Marble, 5'9" Athens. Classic | Form: This stele is rendered in style very similar to the Nike parapet. The two female figures are rendered in profile right against the front of the picture plane. The figures inhabit what looks to be a post and lintel temple which gives the viewer the sense of an environment. Each woman is idealized physically through the use of wet drapery. The folds of each dress accent the protruding knees and fluid bodies. The anatomy of their faces is naturalistic with some idealized features as well. An example of this is the bridge of the noses is representing as a straight line, a minor distortion of how noses fit in with the geography of the face: the bridge is usually slightly curved at the top. This aquiline feature is referred to as the Greek nose. Iconography: Scenes like this are called genre, or everyday, scenes. This is a scene of everyday life in which a maid brings a jewelry box to her mistress and she examines her trophies. This kind of scene, which is often referred to as the "Mistress and Maid" motif is one that can also be found on vases as well as steles. It can best be interpreted as a typical scene of upper class feminine pursuits. The maid, the jewels, the chair, and the implied literacy of the visitors to the grave by the inscription on the lintel, are emblems of economic power that compliment the seated woman's beauty and status. (Compare this to the iconography of vases that depict two males such as in the Exekias vase.) Context: This stele was used as a grave marker and is probably an attempt by the artist and the people who commissioned it to make an idealized portrait of the represented, seated woman, buried in this grave.
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Jacques-Louis David, Madame Recamier a.k.a.. Madame Geoffrine 1800
 Jacques-Germain Soufflot. Pantheon 1755-92 |  |
|  Rome, Pantheon 118-128CE Marcus Agrippa Hadrian? |
 Thomas Jefferson, Monticello 1770-1776 American Neoclassicism |  Chiswick House, by Lord Burlington (Richard Boyle), at Chiswick, England, 1729. Gardens by William Kent 1730 English Neoclassicism |
 Josiah Wedgwood and factory, |  |
Women Artists: "You've Come A Long Way Baby"
 Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun 1755-1842 Self portrait -1790 | Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun b. April 16, 1755, Paris, France d. March 30, 1842, Paris in full MARIE-LOUISE-ÉLISABETH VIGÉE-LEBRUN French painter, one of the most successful of all women artists, particularly noted for her portraits of women. Her father was Louis Vigée, a pastel portraitist and her first teacher. She studied later with a number of well-known painters, among them J.-B. Greuze and Joseph Vernet. In 1776 she married a picture dealer, J.-B.-P. Lebrun. Her great opportunity came in 1779 when she was summoned to Versailles to paint a portrait of Queen Marie-Antoinette. The two women became friends, and in subsequent years Vigée-Lebrun painted at least 25 portraits of Marie-Antoinette in a great variety of poses and costumes; a number of these may be seen in the museum at Versailles. Vigée-Lebrun became a member of the Royal Academy in 1783. On the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789, she left France and for 12 years traveled abroad, to Rome, Naples, Vienna, Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Moscow, painting portraits and playing a leading role in society. In 1801 she returned to Paris but, disliking Parisian social life under Napoleon, soon left for London, where she painted portraits of the court and of Lord Byron. Later she went to Switzerland (and painted a portrait of Mme de Staël) and then again (c. 1810) to Paris, where she ceased painting. Vigée-Lebrun was a woman of much wit and charm, and her memoirs, Souvenirs de ma vie (1835-37; "Reminiscences of My Life"), provide a lively account of her times as well as of her own work. She was one of the most technically fluent portraitists of her era, and her pictures are notable for the freshness, charm, and sensitivity of their presentation. During her career, according to her own account, she painted 877 pictures, including 622 portraits and about 200 landscapes. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |
 Self Portrait as Allegory of Painting or"La Pittura" 1630 Italian Baroque |  Sofonisba Anguissola, Self Portrait of the Artist with Sisters and Governess. 1555 (The Chess Game) oil on canvas, 27"x37" Nardowe Museum, Poznan, Poland Italian Renaissance | Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun 1755-1842 Self portrait -1790 French Baroque/Rococo Portraitist |
Courses on Udemy:Artemisia Gentileschi, Sofonisba Anguissola and Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun are self portraits contain important clues as to how each of these artists was perceived and how they saw the world. Compare and contrast these three paintings and come up with some conclusions as to how each artist chose to portray themselves. What do these portrayals tell us about the role of the artist in the Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo periods?
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 Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun with her daughter Julie - 1789 121 x 90 cm, The Louvre, Paris
| Form: Both these portraits are done in a Rococo fashion. The brushwork is light almost feathery and often the colors that are used tend to run towards pastel in terms of their hue. The compositions are fairly stable and symmetrical although the tenebrism tends to create an almost vignette type of effect. In the self portrait the artist has chosen a neoclassical looking garment and the texture of the background is undefined. In the portrait of Marie Antoinette, the queen is dressed in fairly expensive clothing however the clothing is not terribly ornate or ostentatious. Iconography: In both images, the artist has chosen to portray the female as a "good mother" in the manner that Rousseau advocated. In Rousseau's point of view the role of individuals was predetermined by their innate nature and that in order for an individual to fit into society as a whole one must live in accordance with this nature. In the case of females, this role was to have children and be good mothers. Both of these images subscribe to this point of view because these images were meant to be almost advertisements or a form of propaganda that would present a persona to the world. Context: By 1789, accusations of impropriety and adultery had destroyed her public reputation. This self portrait was an attempt to portray herself as a moral and upright Frenchwoman. The same was true for Marie Antoinette. In this painting Marie Antoinette is being depicted in modest clothing to defend against accusations of excessive spending and she is also portrayed as the good mother who had also lost a son. On the right is her brother, Louis, Le Dauphin gesturing toward the empty crib which indicates her loss. The last portrait of thirty that Vigee Le Brun painted of the doomed queen. The picture shows Marie Therese Charlotte de France, Madame Royale, and her brother, Louis, Le Dauphin. Louis died of natural causes early in the year that the revolution began. The next younger child, also called Louis then became the second Dauphin. After his father had been guillotined he became known as Louis XVII . This Louis may have been murdered, or may have died of other causes while imprisoned in the temple, but he may also have survuved after having been exchanged for another sickly child. This painting still hangs at Versailles.Go here for a great bio on Marie Antoinette http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Delta/6569/ | |
Angelica Kauffman, Cornelia Pointing to Her Children as Her Treasures, 1785. oil on canvas, 40"x50" Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia Neoclassic, worked in England born in Switzerland
| Form: This painting is Neoclassic in style because it incorporates classical clothing and architecture and is organized in a classical manner. The composition is also arranged in a similar manner to Grueze's and Poussin's paintings. Like its Baroque French counterparts, the image is constructed so that most of the figures are placed in the foreground and even though there is the creation of deep space, the background is not as important as the figures. The picture plane is arranged in a sculptural frieze like band that takes its cue from antique sculptural friezes such as those found on the Ara Pacis and the Parthenon. Like its classical counterparts, the image is constructed so that most of the figures are placed in the foreground and even though there is the creation of deep space, the background is not as important as the figures. Stokstad goes into the specific story of the Cornelia and the Gracchii and so this next section will be dedicated to some other aspects of the image. The use of classical imagery, such as the togas and columns, and a story that deals specifically with self sacrifice for the generations of the future. The classical clothing and arches referred to a tradition that was considered more dignified than the light classical themes expressed in paintings like Watteau's. The lighting and the frieze like placement of the figures are equally a part of the iconography of this image because these formal elements directly refer to those classical traditions. Compare Watteau's style of painting and see how the formal qualities of each actually are part of the iconography. The individuals being represented are also all physically beautiful and this refers to the classical concept of kalos (Greek for beautiful and moral.) In a twist on the classical vocabulary found in the Stele of Hegeso, Kauffman corrects the iconography and updates it. The prescribed role of woman is specifically expressed in this image as that of a mother rather than a selfish woman who cares only for jewels. This philosophy is very much in keeping with Rousseau's ideas concerning that of the "happy mother" and in her depiction of Cornelia she is almost changing the meaning of the image found on the stele. Context: According to WebGalleries, This fine painting combines the 18th century attributes of loving and attentive mother with Roman classicizing elements. Kauffmann presents us with the narrative subject of "exemplum virtutis" or example of virtue. Here a wealthy women sits showing off her jewels. When she asks Cornelia to present her jewels, Cornelia raises her hand to bring forth her sons, Tiberus and Gaius, saying "These are my jewels". The subjects are clothed in roman dress and set against a roman background. An interesting comparison can be made to Jacques Louis David's "Oath of the Horatii". |
neo.clas.sic or neo.clas.si.cal adj (1877): of, relating to, or constituting a revival or adaptation of the classical esp. in literature, music, art, or architecture -- neo.clas.si.cism n -- neo.clas.si.cist n or adjvi.gnette n [F, fr. MF vignete, fr. dim. of vigne vine--more at vine] (1751) 2 a: a picture (as an engraving or photograph) that shades off gradually into the surrounding paper b: the pictorial part of a postage stamp design as distinguished from the frame and lettering 3 a: a short descriptive literary sketch b: a brief incident or scene (as in a play or movie) -- vi.gnett.ist n ²vignette vt vi.gnett.ed ; vi.gnett.ing (1853) 1: to finish (as a photograph) in the manner of a vignette 2: to describe briefly -- vi.gnett.er n
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