Modern Art, Day 6February 4, 2013

Romanticism, Part 1

Henry Fuseli (Swiss/British), “Artist Moved by the Grandeur of Ancient Ruins,” 1778/80

based on the actual ruins of a statue of the emperor Constantine while still using Classical subject matter in a sense, his focus is instead on

how ephemeral the past is and how people hold on to a past even though it’s fragmented and long gone

Fuseli, “Nightmare,” 1781

Fuseli, “Brunhild Watching Gunther Suspended from the Ceiling,” 1807

bride wanted to get a good night’s sleep so she made her husband hang from the ceiling on her wedding night

posture of bride recalls David’s “Madame Recamier”

William Blake, “Great Red Dragon & Woman Clothed with the Sun: ‘The Devil is Come Down,’” c. 1805

line is still prominent, but it’s freer and expressive, more curved and not as structured

woman is given two wings of an eagle to protect her from the devil above her

artist believes in genius and feeling, not in reason, drawing from nature, or from classical examples

Blake, Title page for “Songs of Innocence and Experience,” 1794

made by painting engraving with watercolor Blake was friend with the Quaker Thomas Paine Blake supported the American Revolution and

the French Revolution because it released “energy with a capital E”

hoped that revolution would spread to England

Blake (below), “America, A Prophecy,” 1793 etching with watercolor

on the right is also from this book, a drawing called “The Ancient of Days”

Blake, “Albion Rose,” c.1794-5 Blake, “Newton,” 1795

Blake watercolor illustrations for Dante’s “Inferno” and “Il Purgatorio”

Goya, “Witches Sabbath,” 1797 Catholic church encouraged

artists to portray commoners as superstitious and dabbling in witchcraft to justify Catholic influence and power over the country

Goya, “Family of Charles IV,” 1800-1

Children of the painting give an optimistic interpretation, but the adults were painted very ugly and with vulgar faces

It seems implausible that Goya would mock his patrons, so since showing faces honestly was part of Spanish tradition, he may have just been trying to stay faithful to that

Francisco Goya “Injured/Drunken Mason,”1786

willingness to recognize harshness of life even among the aristocracy

Goya, “Clothed Maja” and “Nude Maja,” 1796-1805

commissioned by private patron

probably modeled after Velazquez’s “Rokeby Venus (Toilette of Venus),” 1659-60

Goya was called before the Inquisition when it was reinstated to explain the lascivious painting

Goya, “May 3, 1808,” 1814 executions were carried out by Marat although it’s a history painting, it doesn’t focus on a particular important

individual but rather on the effects of history on the common people uses light to really spotlight the center figure center figure, although in a posture reminiscent of Christ, does not look

brave or ready to die

Goya, “Colossus,” 1808