David, Oath of the Horatii, 1784–5
This piece of art by French artist Jacques-Louis David was made in 1784 and exhibited in 1785. Unlike the prevailing style in France was the Roccoco, a style that applied to the aristocracy, David’s Oath of the Horatii establishes a new style called neoclassicism.
As far as my research is concerned, this era belongs to the tale end of the period in France that is called “The Enlightenment Period” with philosophers like Rousseau who capitalizes on the idea that the rational should supersede tradition and the spiritual.
At the time, the monarchy in France was very powerful and philosophers asked questions about the validity of these very established institutions before the French Revolution broke out which had happened to follow a few years after. The backstory lies under an ancient Roman history, which wraps around the structure of this portrait as well as reflects the code of pride that the warriors resonate.
Story is, the early Roman state is at war with a neighboring city, the city of Alba. Instead of armies going to war, they end up deciding to send three brothers from each side in order to battle it out. In conclusion, the one who survives is the side that’s victorious. The Romans chose the Horatii, and the city of Alba chose the Curatii. Later, things would get very complicated because there are intermarriages between these two families, meaning that whoever wins actually loses. On the left side of the portrait, there is this scene where the father of the Horatii holds swords aloft as the sons take an oath, to battle to the death for Rome. One of the most fascinating things about this painting is that the brothers and the willingness to die for their country resonates with the revolutionaries who must make sacrifices for themselves and their families for the ideals of the revolution.
On the right side, three women and two children were displayed in a different connotation. We also do see two young women in the foreground. According to the website visual-arts-cork.com, one of them is a Curatii sister and she’s married to one of the Horatii brothers and the other is a Horatii by birth but will marry a Curatii. Overall, by making the women appear so passive and “curvilinear”, they even seem not to have their eyes open, I believe David was suggesting a perception that was very pervasive, like the phrase in the philosophy of Rousseau that women could not be true citizens of the state, that they were unable to think about civic responsibility.
Moreover, David has really depicted that contrast. The women are curvilinear, their bodies are limp, the male figures are rigid, tall and strong. They are also angular in the forms of their bodies by raising their arms together. I feel that there is a purpose being pointed which is completely absent from the women who appear to be the victims of the circumstances in the portrait. I mean, there is clearly reverence for the idea of strength in a kind of collective, so to say.
David represents all of this in a classical style, with an interest in the anatomy of the body of carefully depicting the musculature. In fact, the lighting which rakes across the surface and a geometric stage for the figures symbolize “iconistic” features for the revolution. The sense of eagerness and patriotism must have been so concrete in the early years of the revolution that people were able to rise up against the abuses of monarchy and fight for their rights.
Girodet, The Sleep of Endymion, 1791
This painting was done by Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, one of David’s students. It carries a story that revolves around the two figures and beam of light that are carefully depicted here. An ancient myth, it speaks of a shepherd who was an ideal beauty, one day he gets into an argument with the goddess, Juno. As punishment, Juno put him into a 30 year old sleep. However, she purposely doesn’t have him age or get older, so he maintains his ideal beauty during that 30-year sleep.
In this scene, we see that he’s visited by Diana, the goddess of the hunt. And evidently Diana was so in love with him that she visited every night. Here, she is associated with the moon which she takes the form of a moonbeam, that’s how she was personified here. Diana wants to bathe him in light. In order to get through of that underbrush and let the moonlit sky come down perfectly, there’s another figure being depicted on the left side, that’s Zephyr, who is a personification of the west wind, who also helps Diana by pulling the boughs back so that her light can bathe him in glow.
We also study and acknowledge this interest in the ideal male nude. According to www.louvre.fr, David’s followers at the time were looking back at ancient Greek sculptures of nude athletes and gods. But here, the form is softened, not much anatomical detail in terms of musculature. Looking at the arms and the legs, they look in a way a little bit feminine. On the other side, the entire painting glows where the clarity has been removed.
I believe in some ways the beginnings of romanticism in a figure which is really sensual, and there’s also emotionalism here according to my understanding that’s very different from the rationalism of David and neoclassicism. I think in terms of temperament, this is a depiction of the emotionalism and the interest of the heart that had been so much part of Rococo.
Goya, ‘Third of May, 1808,’ 1814
In 1808, Napoleon, emperor of France conquered Spain. On May 2nd, Spanish rebels against the French occupation in Madrid. The next day, the rebels are rounded up and executed. These events were the subject of Goya’s cruel painting, the 3rd of May 1808. Goya completed two large canvases depicting the events of the rebellion and this artwork is considered to be the pioneers of the modern revolution painting. Here, “the image of denunciation has been reused as in The Execution of Emperor Maximilian, and Picasso’s Massacre in Korea.” War, which used to be depicted as something beautiful, is now shown as what it truly is, ugly and disgustingly brutal.
Seeming tremendously impacted by the French invasion, Goya produced a series of prints during the occupation called the Disasters of War. According to smarthistory.com, the series comprises 82 individual art works, the most famous one being the shocking plate 39, The Great Deeds against the Dead. Among these prints, a couple of them anticipated the 3rd of May 1808 like plate 2 and plate 38-barbarians. Although this was never confirmed, the theme was probably inspired by the Assassination of Five Valencian Monks by Miguel Gamborina, made one year before in 1813.
In Goya’s Third of May 1808, there is a clear tension between the opposing sides, the rebels and Napoleon’s troops. The soldiers are straight, organized and standing strong. They are positioned similarly and we can not see their faces, their backs are turned to the viewer and unanimous. Under one mission, they bound together and lose their individuality. We see all the guns pointing at the helpless rebels whose positioning and emotions are more chaotic.
Some of them are praying, some are scared to die and some are dead. One of them stands out more than the others as how elements of the theme were planned to be placed in. It seems that the central element of the painting, the one way framed by the light, by bright shirt, by his gesture and by the direction which the guns are pointing, all bring him to attention. According to artsy.net, he has been compared to Jesus with the whole in his right hand, called Stigmata. The direction of the light itself ,“Now, by his position the light which traditionally was a symbol of the divine is now used to murder people”.
Goya, unlike his contemporaries, did depict heroes so he painted the common man obsessing over the idea that anyone could be the victims or even worse the oppressors.
Delacroix, Death of Sardanapalus, 1826–27
This huge canvas shares the height of romantic painting. In fact, its ambiance comes from a romantic poet name Lord Byron, and it’s the story of the Sysyrian King Sardanapalus who is being conquered in battle but rather than surrendering, he decides not only to kill himself, he is going to destroy everything that he finds pleasure in that is being carefully depicted here. The women, his slaves, treasure will be burned. Everything will come to an end.
As viewers, we can easily conclude that he sits high up on that bed while propping his head up, the end of all of his beautiful possessions, this is a painting that is truly about corruption. It also is “the antitheses of the nobility of David and of the neoclassical tradition that came before romanticism”(www.artble.com/artists/eugene_delacroix). During the era of neoclassical paintings, the intention on connectivity with very rigorous construction of space, where you can clearly see where everything is in relation to everything else. On the other hand, here we have a scene covered with full of objects. All of the king’s really luxurious possessions such as gold and jewels and horses, and the space isn’t so much constructed as filled up. Everything in it, all the bodies, the horses, the objects, they are all flames themselves. Looking at the scarf at the bottom of the bed, all of these things are winding and serpentine as if they themselves are the flames that are referenced. You also can clearly see the king at the top who sits very still and watches that corrupt gaze, on this bed that is foreshortened reflecting an idea of the visual attraction that everything spilling down into our space, practical for an artist’s intention to engage the viewer and to appeal to our emotions.
The rationalism, the heroism of the neoclassical, whereas all of this violence, luxury is perfectly suited. I believe Delacroix really studied and thought about color in a much more emotional and passionate way. Moreover, coming to expect in neoclassical paintings, we see figures where the shadows are greens and blues, and the highlights are oranges and golds. The horse being pulled against its will, the women in the foreground is being brutally murdered, right before our eyes. This is a scene of death and real destruction. I would argue about the reactions of the public that was so used to looking at the clarity and precision of geometry, a symbol changer.
Turner, The Slave Ship, 1840
This oil painted canvas was made by Joseph Mallord William Turner, English artist during the Romanticism era. Mid 19th century was such a chaotic era full of revolution and widespread social change. Painters like Turner who grew up in this chaotic scene of slavery, studied and engaged in different directions. Rather than depicting the idealistic images of traditional art, he depicted real life events which led to ugly portrayals of unpleasant moments.
“You can see aspects of both realism and romanticism in this piece. When creating this scene, Turner certainly intended it to function as a propaganda piece, hoping it would catch the attention of Prince Albert at the British anti-slavery Conference”(courses.lumenlearning.com).
Romanticism is known for being quite bold with its colors, but it’s also known to have plenty of other softer shades like those whites and light blues. Analyzing the portrait and looking at the right-top portion, we see a relatively clear portion of the sky, when you shift left and start looking at the center of, we see an intense sunset of bright reds, oranges yellows transitioning that romantic atmosphere into the chaotic blue ocean waves in orange clouds. Looking at the bottom, there are lots of waves with all the different shades of brown. There are also a lot of blurred lines with scattered distinct ones in the painting. Expect the important aspects of the painting like the slave ship and the carnage of the fish eating the slave, we see that everything else is blurred and indistinguishable. The use of dark earthy palettes that challenge the ideas of beauty in art.
I believe that this technique really emphasizes the level of chaos and indistinguishable humanity, like the slaves almost blend in with the wreckage in water. Focusing not only on the sea but the human aspects shows a prime example of romantic maritime art. Another impact is the integration of many romantic themes like how nature is being portrayed, ideas of liberties and freedoms, overall emotional intensity in the work. It shows the artist’s fascination with violence in both nature and human.
