The Enlightenment

Key Ideas:  Rococo

Key Ideas

• 1700-1750
• Shift of power to the aristocrats paralleled in Baroque and Rococo.
• French Royal Academy set the taste for art in Paris
• Strong Satirical paintings
• Epitome: paintings that show aristocratic people enjoying leisures

• Rococo comes from the French words rocaille and coquilles. Rocaillemeans stone and coquilles means shells. So "rococo" is a combination of the two French words, thus meaning "stone shells".AP

• 1750-1815
• Enlightenment brought about the rejection of royal and aristocratic authority
• Supported by Napoleon in order to associated himself with the successes of the Ancient Roman's Empire.
• Jacques-Louis David becomes First Painter of Napoleon
• Neoclassical art was more democratic- themes of courage and patriotism, civil duty
• Current events depicted have classical influences
• Late 18th century = Industrial Revolution (cast iron, and carvings from bronze is cheaper than carving marble- Coalbrookedale Bridge)

Key Ideas: Romanticism

History

• P.I.N.E. (Past, Irrational/inner-mind, Nature, Exotic/Emotional) 
• Early- mid 19th century
• Grande Odalisque is a transition painting
• Influenced by a sense of individuality and freedom of expression
• Exploration of the subconscious and dreams/nightmares
• Feelings/emotions and imagination over reason
• Landscapes express the Romantic theme of the soul + the natural world
• Introduction of Photography
• Revival of Medieval architecture (Houses of Parliament)

1. Death of Louis XIV in 1715 brought a resurgence of aristocratic life.
2. Town houses became centers for the Rococo style.
3. French Revolution broke out in 1789 which brings about an interest in the Greek ideal of Liberty and democracy. 
4. Napoleon saw himself as a new "Caesar", crowned in 1804.
5. Neoclassicism takes architectural hold in the U.S. with Thomas Jefferson.
6. New ways of thinking about the new world. 
7. Voltaire (1694-1778) = Science/Technological Improvement 
8. Rousseau (1712-1778) = Nature alone must be society's guide

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Additional Resources

• Article: Romanticism to Realism (from The Visual Arts: A History 4th ed.)
• "The Slave Ship" from Scandals, Vandals and Da Vincis
• Article: "Trap for Facts, Tool for Progress" by Time Magazine's 100 Greatest Images, 5/2012
• Article: Susan Sontag's On Photograhy - Need to complete the Dialectical Entry with this article.
• Read about David's Death of Marat
• Crash Course: The French Revolution
• YouTube: Fragonard's The Swing
• YouTube: Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People

Artwork List

Rococo
The Swing
Le Brun's Self Portrait
English Painting
The Tete a Tete
A Philosopher Giving a Lecture at the Orrery
Neoclassical
The Oath of the Horatii
George Washington
The Death of Marat
Romanticism
Le Grande Odalisque
Liberty Leading the People
Slave Ship
Parliament
And There's Nothing to Be Done
Photography
Still Life in Studio
Harvest of Death

Vocbulary

Calotype
Camera Obscura
Caprice
Daguerreotype
Odalisque
Photogram
School
The sublime
Academy
Exemplum virtutis
Fete galante
Grand Tour
Pastel
​Salon