• Monday: Hals, Rembrandt, Vermeer– 606-609
• Tuesday: Intro to French Baroque, de La Tour and Poussin– 614-619
• Wednesday: Royal Academy, Louvre, Versailles, St. Paul– 620-625
• Thursday: Intro to Rococo, Watteau, Hogarth– 627-632
• Friday: Italian Rococo– 639-642
Weekly Breakdown
Warm-Up 3/1/12• What type of art ranks
high according to the French Academy? What type of art ranks low?
• What is the purpose of the academy? Describe its purpose, its main contributors, and 1 aspect of their philosophy.
Snapshot Quiz: Baroque
Snapshot Quiz: Baroque
French Baroque
The Age of VersaillesIntroduction to Rococo
France: The Age of Versailles• Henry IV (1553-1610)
– Huguenot fightin the wars of religion
– Converts to catholicism and enacts the Edict of Nantes (Religious tolerance)
• Louis XIII (1601-1643)– 8 when made king– Mother was Marie de Medici– Defeats the Hapsburg Empire and
foreshadows French Dominance• Louis XIV (1638-1715)
– The “Sun King” – Reigns for 73 years– Franco-Dutch, War with Augsburg
and Spanish Succession
Georges de La Tour . Joseph the Carpenter. ñ. 1645. Oil on canvas, 130 x 100 cm. Musee du Louvre, Paris
Louts Le Nain. Peasant Family, . 1640. Oil on canvas, 113 x 158.7 cm. Musee du Louvre, Paris
Nicolas Poussin• 1594-1665 French Painter and of
“French Classical” style– Does not have traditional apprenticeship– Travels to Rome and is influenced by
Bernini, Boromini, and Titian– 2 early Papal commissions gains him
public noteriety
• Style: – Veiled eroticism in classical forms– Emphasis on “disegno” over
“colore”– Predecessor of the “art salon” or
Academia• Lasting Influence:
– David, Cezzanne, Picasso• “The purpose of art is
delectation”
Nicola Poussin. Cephalus and Aurora, ñ. 1630. Oil on canvas, 96.7 x 129.7 cm. The National Gallery, London.
The Rise of the Royal Academy• Jean-Baptiste Colbert,
built the administrative apparatus to support the power Louis XIV
• Transition from apprentice, to guilds, to “academies”, to the formalized institutions
• Grading and marks, as well as hierarchy of importance is standarized
Academy Procedures• The French academy created a strict
format for instruction with Colbert at the top. – Art could be “taught” as a rational process
• However, the style produced in the visual arts represented a compromise. – Baroque art appealed to Louis XIV for its
richness and grand scale. But baroque art had been developed Religion
– France wanted a more secular style• Tempered with le bon gout (good taste)• The dictatorship of Colbert and Lebrun
imposed this style all over France. Among the many results of this dictatorship was the fact that Paris began to supersede Rome as the artistic capital of Europe.
Nicola Poussin. The Rape of the Sabine Women, ñ. 1636-37. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
David, The Intervention of the Sabine Women, 1799
Warm-Up 3/2/12• What is this man’s
occupation? • Describe his features and
give him a serious internal dialogue. What is he thinking?
• Use a story format. (3rd person, 5 senses/imagery)
Versailles• Louis XIV proclaimed Versailles to be
the seat of the government on May 6, 1682.
• The court consisted of 20,000 persons that included 9,000 soldiers, 5,000 servants, 1,000 great lords and members of the nobility, 1,000 lesser aristocrats
• The great lords and members of the nobility were required to live at Versailles--in the palace--so that the king could keep track of them.– They could beg permission to return to
their lands periodically in order to regroup financially!
First stage of the enlargement of the hunting lodge of Louis XIII (built in 1624) into the Palace at Versailles under Louis XIV (1668-9) by Louis LeVau; the black portions of the plan represent this stage.
Court of Honor
Garden Façade in the scheme of 1669 by Louis LeVau
In 1678, Jules-Hardouin Mansart filled in the center section of west side to create the Hall of Mirrors (Galerie des Glaces) as part of a major expansion of the palace.
The Mansart expansion of Versailles brought the total length of the garden façade to about one-third of a mile.
Main pavilion with south wing, viewed from the south
The garden façade seen from the “Tapis vert” (green carpet) of the Versailles Park
The palace situated between the village of Versailles and the park with grand avenues radiating from the Court of Honor
The garden in detail reflects the geometry of the plan at the urban and regional scale.
The principal approach connected with the Champs Elysees in Paris.
Naval battles were staged on the lagoon to the west of the sloping grass terrace
The fountains with the main e-w axis in view.
The fountains from a bird’s eye view of Versailles Park
The Ambassadors’ Staircase
The queen’s apartments
The bedroom of Louis XIV, site of the rituals called “Le Grand Lever” and “Le Grand Coucher.”
La Salon de Guerre (Salon of War) was the prelude to the Hall of Mirrors. The relief portrait by Coysevox is based on…
The Hall of Mirrors: the axis between war and peace crosses the axis of absolute power.
Rococo Style (1717-23): Louis XV• Begins during the reign of
Louis XV– Father-in-law to Marie
Antoinette– Defined by debauchery of his
court, terrible financial polices, and the independence of New France (7 years war) makes him unpopular
– Focused only on his mistress
• French Revolution 15 years after his death (1789-1799)
Rococo Style: Characteristics• Architectural Decadence:
– Tightly bound and gilded webbing/tracery
– Light and airy – Pastel colors of clean opulence
• Narrative fantasy– Portrayed negatively as
“escapism” due to obvious historical instability
– However, aesthetically light-hearted, and tender-minded
– Classical narratives with bourgeois subjects.
Poussinistes vs. Rubenistes• Even though Colbert and
the Royal Academy lost most influence (temporarily) an ongoing legacy/debate remains:
• Rubenistes: Emphasized Color at the detriment of line/drawing
• Poussinistes: Vice Versa• What does this mean
regarding the philosophy of art? (audience)
Weekly Breakdown• Mon: Pierot, Italian and English Rococo
(Timed Writing)– Turn in Ch. 19-20 French Baroque and Rococo– 672-680: Neoclassical Painting
• Tuesday: 681-689 (Skip Neoclassical Theater)
• Neoclassical Sculpture and Architecture• Wednesday: 690-699
– Romanticism: Goya, Gros, Gericault, Delacroix • Thursday: 700-711
– Daumier, Rousseau, Millet– English Romanticism: Constable, Turner
• Friday: 716-721: US and Italian R.• Saturday: 724-733: Neo-Gothic-Empire Style• Sunday: 734-737: Intro to Photography
Warm-Up 2/4/13• 2005• Most cultures have made use
of art’s narrative function.• • Select and fully identify two
works of art that visually convey a narrative. At least one of your choices must be from beyond the European tradition. Identify the subject of each narrative and discuss the means used to convey the narrative. (30 minutes)
Antoine WatteauPilgrimage to Cythera Oil on canvas; 129 x 194 cm; Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin
Fete Galantes…
Antoine WatteauPierrot (also known as Gilles) c. 1718-19; Oil on canvas; 184 x 149 cm; Musée du Louvre, Paris
Francois BoucherThe Toilet of Venus, 1751Oil on canvas
Balthazar Neumann. Kaisersaal Residenz, Wurzburg, Germany. 1719-44. Frescoes by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1751-52
Hogarth, William. The Orgy. 1735Oil on canvas, 62,5 x 75 cmSir John Soane's Museum, London
Timed Writing (30 min.)• Based on the tension
between extravagance and excess in the Rococo period, would you consider Rococo true Art?
• Choose an artwork and describe the influence of its historical context.
Chapter Jigsaw• 3 Characteristics of the
overall style of art in your section
• 3 historical characteristics of your section
• 1 MARCS from your section