Eighteenth and Early-

Nineteenth Century Art

in Europe and North

America

Rigaud, Louis XV, ca. 1715, oil on canvas, 189 x 135cm.

Rigaud, Louis XIV, ca. 1701, oil on

canvas, 277 x 194cm.

Rigaud, Louis XV, ca. 1715,

oil on canvas, 189 x 135cm.

Eighteenth Century Europe

Rococo, ca. 1715-1780

• Lightness, pastel colors, grace,

playfulness.

• Artists moved away from the seriousness

of the Baroque.

• Began in France and spread across

Europe.

• Primarily an interior design movement.

Watteau, The Pilgrimage to Cythera, ca. 1717-19, oil on canvas, 129 x 194cm.

Watteau, The Pilgrimage to Cythera,

ca. 1717-19, oil on canvas, 129 x

194cm.

Key Terms:

Royal Academy – An institution founded

in Paris that emphasized the intellectual

status of the fine arts.

Fête galante – a category of painting

created for Watteau depicting the

elegant outdoor amusements of the

elite.

Reception piece – a work of art

submitted by an artist to gain

membership to the Royal Academy.

General Concepts:

• Hierarchy of Genres

• 1 – history painting

• 2 – portraiture

• 3 – landscape

• 4 – still-life

Fragonard, The Swing, 1766, oil

on canvas, 89 x 81cm.

The Enlightenment, ca. 1780-1840

• Art & Science, Neoclassicism

• A movement held together by a belief in

progress and in the power of reason

• Science and technological achievements

• Studying of the classical past

R – Stubbs, Second plate for the First

Anatomical Table, 1766,

engraving, approx. 38 x 48cm

L – Stubbs, Second plate for the First

Skeleton Table, 1766,

engraving, approx. 38 x 48cm

David, Oath of the Horatii, 1784-85, oil on canvas, 330 x 425cm.

R - David, Study of the Three

Horaces, for ‘The Oath of the

Horatii’, 1783, black chalk/white

highlights, 58.2 x 36.2cm.

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L – The Tyrannicides Harmodios

and Aristogeiton, Roman

copies after original bronzes of

477-76 BCE, marble.

David, Oath of the Horatii, 1784-

85, oil on canvas, 330 x 425cm

Key Terms:

Prix de Rome – a student

prize awarded by the

French Royal Academy

that allowed the

recipient to study in

Rome at the Académie

de France.

West, Death of General Wolfe, 1771, oil on canvas, 151 x 214cm.

West, Death of General Wolfe, 1771,

oil on canvas, 151 x 214cm.

Key Concepts:

The Middle Ground – instances of

cultural overlap.

Houdon, George Washington, 1785-96, marble, 188cm.

Houdon, George

Washington, 1785-96,

marble, 188cm.

Key Terms

fasces – Roman symbol of authority.

Key Concepts:

Cincinnatus – a 5th c. BCE Roman

general who gave up military power

to retire to his farm.

Drawing of view of Washington ,1852, showing Latrobe’s Capitol.

The US Capitol today

Romanticism: 1780-1840

• Placing emotion and intuition before (or

at least on equal footing) with reason.

• Crucial areas of experience neglected by

the rational mind.

• Belief in the general importance of the

individual, the personal, and the

subjective.

Gericault, Raft of the “Medusa,” 1818-19, oil on canvas, 491 x 716cm.

Barye, Tiger Devouring a Gavial, 1831, bronze, approx. 20 x 50 x 20 cm.

Review/Discussion

• Dominance of the Academy

• Education