18th century enlightenment; the social contract; rococo and neoclassicism art- AP EURO FALL 2026

ancients vs moderns debate

who knew more; philosophical debate

cosmopolitan

city based

the enlightenment

application of the scientific method to all other human activities

preconditions

1492 (new world), printing press (1450), emergence of the bourgeois public sphere, scientific reason

emergence of the bourgeois public sphere

like a coffee house (an area where public opinions are free to form)

jurgen habermas

historian who studied the bourgeois public sphere

masons

secret society; advocated for enlightenment

salons

new social life for women

Catharine de Vivionnet

owns a hotel salonnier - invites to discuss

mme geoffrin

reading, everyone is equal in a salon (status is left at the door) *basically brought raphael's painting to life

dana goodman

wrote the republic of letters

sapre aude

date to know (coined by emmanuel kant); motto of the enlightenment

3 targets of the enlightenment

1. superstition and religion, 2. custom and convention, 3. tradition and unearned authority

3 phases

1688-1715 (early) 1725-60 (high) 1760-89/ 1820 (late)

early enlightenment

issac newton and john locke; deism

voltaire

anglophile (loves england), wrote candide

candide

by Voltaire; we must cultivate our own gardens; satire and irony (mocking blind optimism); main character = dr.pangloss

gulliver's travels

satire of corrupt government, misanthropy, mocks misogyny, satire of travellers tales

montesquieu

persian letters; addressed the institution of slavery; checks and balance, separation of power, climate and power

cesare beccaria

from milan, founds penology, wrote on crime and punishment

penology

focuses on the correction and control of criminal offenders (criticising torture and death penalty)

denis diderot

encyclopedia; secularized learning

david hume

orientalism; radicalizes lockes ideas; KNOWLEDGE IS NOT FIXED

mary wollstonecraft

wrote a vindication of the rights of women; said husband should be the wife's partner not ruler (context: french revolution)

4 stages of history

hunter/gathers --> pastoral --> agriculture --> comercial

progress

each day gets better than the last

slavery rationality (not moral)

work for no money, uses history to defend

marquis de condorcet

human rights advocate who was strongly against slavery

anti-slavery sugar pots

advocacy for slave freedom

UK and slavery

abolition of slave trade act 1808, slavery abolition act 1833; it can stick bc they have a very large and powerful navy

adam smith

wrote the wealth of nations (why are some countries so rich)

adam smith's claims in wealth of nations

claims that wealth is not finite, the invisible hand governs market not the government, efficiency is a product of division of labor, the labor theory of value, individual need to fulfill self-interests results in societal benefits

the pin factory passage

discusses the division of labor

concequences of the pin factory passage

undermines skill, modifys social structure, divides by economic class

enlightenment ideas go to the people

from locke, voltaire, smith down through forgotten writers who simplify and allude to the general public

end of witchcraft

end of enlightenment - if not during the scientific revolution

jean-jack rousseau

super religious and awkward; the great dissenter for the the enlightenment; said no to the writing contest question; said that society makes us artificial beings

2 ways to partially repare the state of nature

1. education (would hate school rn bc its so artificial) sexist veiws 2. government

purple passages in the social contract

1.man was born free and everywhere he is in chains 2. between things 3. each of us puts his person in common under the supreme direction of general will

the rococo

begins in 1715 w/ louis xiv death

rococo charictaristics

pastels, youthful and aristocratic, flirtatious/sexual/pleasure without guilt

the embankment to cythera

by watteau; risque theme

the swing

by jean honore fragonard; most famous/influential painting of the time period; sexual, rake (ho) metaphor for the blindness of the church

elizabeth louise rigee-lebrun

one of the most successful woman artists 18th century; official portraits of marie antoinette; fled from france

marie antoinette and her children (painting)

by lebrun; to rebuild marie antoinette's reputation; oil painting

neoclassicism

example of virtue; ancient world

causes of neoclassicism

excavations at pompeii, the grand tours

josian wedgewood

stories of ancients on modern vases; original capitalist, invented demand and was the first to advertise his goods

william hogarth

painted the marriage contract and the tete a tete

neoclassical art was aimed at...

the elites / the educated

jean august-dominique ingres

royal academy

hierarchy of good work

histroy paintings, portraits, genre scene, landscape, still life