Art History Exam 2 - Art

Poussin, Death of Germanicus

Watteau, Pilgrimage to Cythera

Rococo fête galante painting. Classical theme. Dreamworld beauty of beautifully dressed couples depart for Cythera, a mythical island of love.

Fragonard, The Swing

Rococo’s dainty figures and lightheartedness. Rope held by an elder guardian obscured in shadow. Girl’s blushing lover hides in the bushes and is swooning with anticipation. Sculpture of Cupid. Image of anticipation and desire while having a sense of humor.

Kauffmann, Cornelia Pointing to her Children as her Treasures

David, Oath of the Horatii

Neoclassicism history painting. Women are curved and passive, posed like victims. Men are tall and rigid. Vanishing point on father’s hand. Patriotic fervor and civic virtue. Saturated and bold colors. Strong verticals. Triangles: stable and harmonious. Only key figures to represent story. Classical Roman arches. Ancient clothing.

David, Bonaparte Crossing the Saint Bernard Pass

Neoclassicism. Commissioned by Napoleon while he was still a general. Power of Art as propaganda. Heroic representation seen with the saturated colors, stable/composed look, Marcus Aurelius reference in pose, sun bathed, and mythologized depiction.

Ingres, La Grande Odalisque

Orientalist view of a woman in the harem. White idealized woman in Turkish setting. Uncanny anatomy.

Géricault, Raft of the Medusa

Romantic. Intense human moment with individual emphasis. Nature cannot be controlled. Human instinct and survival. Reference to a real shipwreck. Monumental painting of contemporary events with ordinary people. Dead and dying at eye level. Monarchy brings death. Rescue ship in distance. African survivor at top as hero. Heroic bodies to reinforce hope and ennoble survivors. Strong bodies = strong minds.

Delacroix, Women of Algiers

Orientalist. Glimpse of a world not viewed by Westerners. “Lazy” Western baised. No lessons from the painting. Vibrant colors.

Goya, “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters,” from Los Caprichos

Dark vision of humanity. Artist is asleep on drawing table surrounded by creatures symbolizing evil and the night. Quote adhering to enlightenment thinking. Reason and imagination.

Friedrich, Monk by the Sea

Romantic. Tenebrism. Bright hazy horizon and dark and deep sea. Feeling small and powerless. Loneliness. Small and isolated monk back turned to viewer to invite viewer in.

Constable, Hay Wain

Precise representation of tree species. Attune to weather conditions. Nostalgia. City is not safe, go back to rural life.

Turner, Snowstorm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps

Romantic sensibility. Humans are powerless against nature. Even General Hannibal is dwarfed by nature. Snow and wind powerful like a wave. Romantic Sublime.

Gustave Eiffel, Eiffel Tower, Paris

Originally a sculpture for the world’s fair. Originally temporary and debated. Beauty on modern forms.

Gérôme, The Snake Charmer

Academic Orientalism. Exotic scene with erotic overtones. Illusionistic and naturalistic. Undressed young boy with python in front of a group of old men watching. Blue tiled background with Kufic calligraphy. Imagined scene with takes from real places.

Rosetti, La Pia de’Tolomei

Pre-Raphaelite painting. Reference to Dante’s divine comedy. La Pia wrongfully accused by her husband of adultery and is locked away. Dying from melancholy. Fiddling with wedding ring. Ravens, sun dial, fig leaves (lust and sin) and evergreen ivy (enduring love)

Millais, Ophelia

Pre-Raphaelite. After Hamlet murders Ophelia’s father, Ophelia drifts down the river to her death. Dense foliage and confronting nature. Importance of plant life. Real dress and model, nothing is idealized. Painted outdoors. Symbolism in flowers.

Whistler, Rose and Silver: The Princess from the Land of Porcelain

Japonisme. Chinese pattern rugs. Folding divider. Japanese kimono. Culture appropriation. Taking superficial images in Japanese art for Western “inovation”

Courbet, Stone Breakers

Realist

Millet, The Gleaners

Realist

Manet, Luncheon on the Grass

Manet, Olympia