Chapter 26: Rococo, Enlightenment, and Neoclassicism

camera obscura

a darkened enclosure having an opening, through which the light from external objects enters to form an image of the objects on the opposite surface

coquette

a woman who gain attention and admiration of men through flirtations acts without sincere love or affection

descartes

“I think therefore I am”

empiricism

all knowledge comes from practical experience and experimentation

encyclopedie

edited by Diderot, it was a compilation of all the available knowledge — historical, scientific, technical, religious, and moral

femme savants

learned women

• wealthy, ambitious, and clever hostesses competed to attract the cleverest and accomplished persons to their salon, where artifice reigned supreme and wittiness was a supreme social virtue

fete galante

an amorous festival painting-usually outdoors

french royal academy of painting and sculpture

set the standard for the classical style permitted in France

• its aim was the glorification of the monarchy

grand manner portraiture

“elevated the sitter” by conveying refinement and elegance

grand tour

a pilgrimage of aristocrats, wealthy and diplomatic persons to tour the important area of Europe to obtain the knowledge and classical culture

hotel

town houses in Paris

modernity

a concept of historical ‘consciousness’ in which people reject established ideas and convention and encourage momentous change

• it implies a distinct between past and present

natural man

people living a primitive state without the arts, sciences, society, and civilization, which had corrupted them

neoclassicism

was inspired by the classical motifs, subjects, and decorations

• its virtues were morality, idealism, patriotism, and civic virtue

• its inspiration came from the excavation of Pompeii and Herculaneum

newton

an English philosopher and mathematician who discovered the laws of gravity and motion and is responsible for the mechanistic view of the universe

nobility

changed to heroism bestowed by the virtues of courage and resolution, patriotism, and self sacrifice rather than aristocratic birth

philosophes

advanced thinkers in France who shared the conviction that the ills of humanity could be remedied by applying reason and common sense to human problems

picturesque

quaint, charming

poussinistes vs. rubenistes

the struggle between the belief that from was more important than color

• color carried the day in the Rococo era

rococo

a style primarily of interior desgin which appeared in France around 1700

• these interiors featured lavish decoration, fine furniture, wall paintings and reliefs

  • rococo means shell or pebble

rousseau

said “Man is by nature good…he is depraved and perverted by society.“

• “Man in born free, but is everywhere in chains”

salon

center of 17th century social life

• these were dominated by women

satire

a work which holds up human vices and follies to ridicule and scorn

sentimental

sweet, sincere, sympathetic, and tender emotions so called “natural”

the age of reason (enlightenment)

1750-1850 doctrine which was predicated on an belief that there was an universal order in the universe