Essay Instructions: PROMPT 4: ( I NEED 500 WORD ESSAY)
Discuss how the revolutions of the 18th century influenced artists like David, Goya, and Gros. How are the works of these court painters alike? How are they different?Discuss which artist's message most appeals to you and why. Use specific references to paintings, stylistic elements, and subject matter in your discussions.
PAINTINGS TO COMPARE:
DAVID: Oath of the Horatii, Napoleon, Marat, Bara, Lepeletier, Napoleon Crossing the Alps
ANTOINE-JEAN GROS : Napoleon on the Battlefield of Eylau, Napoleon Bonaparte on Arcole Bridge
FRANCISCO GOYA : Yo lo Vi (This I saw), Para Eso Yo Nacido, The Third of May , Colllosus
Unit Five: Romantic and Realist Art
Note: You definitely need to enlarge and modify the scope of what we normally think as “Romantic” in our days. The events and social situation of the artists of the Romantic era created artistic forms that have little to do with “flowers, candles, candy” or whatever our notion of Romantic happens to be. The turmoil present in the time of these artists is reflected in their works, which are at times anything but peaceful, flowery or sweet.
Background on Romantic Art
If the Enlightenment stress on logic and reason was a reaction to the excessive passion of the Baroque, Romanticism is definitely a response to the rational approach of the Enlightenment. Romanticism thrived during the last part of the 18th century and the first part of the 19th. Some important characteristics of Romantic art are:
• The appeal of Nature. The Industrial Revolution creates dirty cities full of crime and poverty, and the French Revolution fills the cities with violence. Artists escape the cities and take refuge in the country, which they see as a clean place of refuge, where purity still reigns.
• Escapism, Exoticism, Imagination. Because the reality of life was grim, artists escape that reality and explore the world of imagination, of exoticism, of dreams. They either travel to beautiful, exotic places, or make them the subject of their paintings. They also use past eras as subjects, and the Middle Ages become a popular theme in art and in literature. That is the historic era which the Romantics see as ideal, pure, romantic.
• Individualism and Nationalism. The revolutions had a democratic theme which extolled the value of each individual. Artists translate this idea into their work. They consider themselves rebels confronting the status quo and anything that will prevent them from self-fulfillment. Interestingly enough, this Individualism coincides with Nationalism, the rejection of foreign influences and appreciation for one's native land. This is why you will see art which portrays great revolutionary heroes or events.
• Emotion. The emotional ups and downs of revolutionary turmoil are seen in the subject and style of Romantic artists. The art tends to be highly colored and full of passion, in contrast with the cool look of Enlightenment art.
Romantic Art - Francisco Goya
Goya did not start out as a Romantic but rather as the official painter of the Spanish court. Look at figure 17.16 on page 484. It is a technically perfect but rather dull scene. After many paintings of this unattractive royal family, he refused to continue painting the same people in the same style, and he let his imagination soar. He became a precursor to modern art, when he started to explore imaginative topics such as witchcraft, dreams and nightmares. His work includes many gruesome and violent scenes, fueled both by his Romantic imagination and by real war events which he watched in his native Spain.
He becomes the rebel, the individual, the artist who will time and again portray the political and social evils of Spain. The first work in his newly found independence is
the very famous etching on page 484, which shows Goya's attempt at combining Enlightenment Reason with Romantic Imagination.
Goya's masterpiece is The Execution of the Third of May, on page 485. Read about this painting. Can you see why it's Romantic? It is not the detached point of view of David's Death of Marat. In this painting, Goya clearly shows us bad guys, the faceless, dark killing machines on the right, and on the left the innocent, some bathed in blood, others about to be slaughtered, one of them dressed in white in a Christ posture. This is Goya the rebel, the patriot, pointing fingers at the government, telling us how he feels about this massacre perpetrated by the French on innocent Spanish civilians.
The role of Napoleon Bonaparte
A much longer and bloodier revolution than the American, the French Revolution went on for several years and had several short-lived governments, many political groups vying for power, and countless assassinations and executions, particularly of the nobility.
Napoleon is a controversial figure, and numerous political "experts" have attempted to define his role in history. He can certainly be called a power-hungry military conqueror. Nevertheless, most critics agree that his document setting up new laws, the brilliant Napoleonic Code, consolidated the democratic gains made during the Revolution, which ended the privileges of the nobility and brought about the idea of equality. He also ended the war within France, stabilized the economy, created a secularly ruled state.
