Summer 2020: Object as History
The beautiful obejects always bring the imagination of it production–the process, the time, anf the story behind it. When our gazes are focusing on the historical artifacts in the museum, or maybe just in grandms’s old dresser, we are obeserving a period of time captured by its unique story of production; whether it is masterpiece by painting, sculpting or any other skillful technique.
A Online Exhibition:
Romance Captured by Paint Brush
From Rococo to Romanticism
Intro to the Exhibition
Romance Captured by Paint Brush
From Rococo to Romanticism
Throughout the history of European painting, portraitures played an important role in artists career as they were usually commissioned by royals and brings money and fame to the painter. Before the camera was invented, drawing and painting was the only media for depicting the figures of a person or a group of people. The viewers can only get a glimpse of the life of the people in the portraitures by observing the moment captured by the paintbrush. This exhibition exhibits seven masterpieces created in a thriving period of 100 years that depicted the “romance”, relationship between man and woman, aiming to encourage the visitors to observe the change or the flow of the different relationships and statuses of the two gender of the time.
Since the philosophers and scientists provoked the age of Enlightenment to rethink the role and rights of human after the long suppression of autocracy in the 17th century, from 18th century to 19th century, the aesthetic and creativity of the artists of the time thrived along with the progression of politics and economy and the discovery of new historical sites. They looked back to the classical antiquity from the ancient Greece and Rome, bringing changes to art and fashion. Perhaps the mythologies about Greek goddesses and the progress of human rights made people start to reconsider and redefined the rights and relationships between the man and the women, produced a series of romantic or not-so-romantic paintings that you will see in chronological order in this exhibition.
ROCOCO
François De Jullienne (1722–1754) and His Wife (Marie Élisabeth De Séré De Rieux, 1724–1795)
François De Jullienne and His Wife
Artist: Charles Antoine Coypel
Date: 1743
Medium: Pastel, black chalk, watercolor, and traces of black chalk underdrawing on four joined sheets of handmade blue laid paper, mounted on canvas and adhered to a keyed stretcher
Dimensions: 39 3/8 x 31 1/2 in. (100 x 80 cm)
Metropolitan Museum of Art
This double portraiture demonstrates a distinct Rococo style in the aesthesis and fashion of the figures. The pastels was popular for its light and dreamy characteristic. The couple was in a standard portraiture postures with fanciful dressing of layers of the laces, massive decritive details and the symbolic wigs. They were married in a young age of eighteen and sixteen repsctively and the porturaiture was down two years after they married. For young couple with wealth, they were portraited relatively msture and dignified with almost mirrored mild smiles. Although spacially they seemed cling on each other, their body language tells that they are relaxing but maybe not that close to each other: the hand of gentleman is on the seatback; their hands are not holding or touch when its that close. We can come up with a inquiry: dose the object holdind by Marie is about to pass to the hand of François? The work presented a standard composition of the figures of a romance relationship of a couple.
ROCOCO
The Swing
LES HASARDS HEUREUX DE L’ESCARPOLETTE
Artist: Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Date: 1767-1768
Dimensions: 81 x 64.2 cm
The Wallace Collection
This masterpiece of Rococo painting depicted a romantic moment of what it is also known as the “The Happy Accidents of the Swing”. Reflecting a distinc feature of sophiticating and fanciful Rococo, not only the laces and ruffles on the dress of the girl are layered but the bushes on the foreground and the leaves and trees in the background are layered; creating a dreamy depth of the space and atomosphere. On the left adn lower left, the two sets of putti which is also a significant element for Rococo. What I love about this painting is that it depicted a couple of lovers in a situation that is so diffrent from the standard double portraits. Here we can observed that the girl is in the center of the composition. The young man on the bottom left totally “fall” for her. There’s also a male servant almost invisiblelly pulling the seing for the girl in the back. The puttis are also looking at the girl in the center. All these leading the eyes of the views to the focus of the painting, the girl, indicates a importance of the status of the woman possibly not only in the painting but also in the society of the time. This dreamy painting indicates a female-oriented needs of wanting to be looked at and being paid attention to in a romantic relationship.
ROMANTICISM
The Parasol
Artist: Francisco de Goya Y. Lucientes
Date: 1777
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 104 cm × 152 cm (403⁄4 in × 591⁄4 in)
Museo Nacional del Prado
With less attention on the spacial composition and the strict dealing on realistic lighting and orientation, the painting of Romanticism gives an visual impact by its smooth bushstrokes and the free-form momentum in the depiction of the couple. When the puppy is laying on girl’s lap quietly, the rest of the painting are in motion.Viewer can image the blow of the winds on the parasol from the tilted branches of the tree in the background. The scene seems unreal but joining the reality with imagination is the characteristic of the Romantic painting. The bright color composition of blue and yellow brings more liveliness to the figure of the young girl. In comparisim, the young man holding the parasol does not dress as fine as the noble lady in the front but the whole image is harmonious. Both of the figures are facing the source of light with vitality while the man holding this parasol to prevent the light to cast on the face of girl directly. This painting presented a relationship of serving–the young man holding the parasol–or perhaps it refects a role of protecting women from the any thing that might damage their beauty even if it is just sunlight.
NEOCLASSICISM
Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794) and His Wife (Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze, 1758–1836)
Artist: Jacques-Louis David
Date: 1788
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 102 1/4 x 76 5/8 in. (259.7 x 194.6 cm)
Metropolitan Museum of Art
This Neoclassical double portraits shows the masterskill of David. Neoclassicism provides a possibility for the new roles of women from Greek and Roman antiquities. In this double portraits, the wife is leaning on the husband and the sight of the man and even the wrinkle of the tablecover is leading towarda her. In other word, she is the focus of the portraiture, the focus of this couple at the moment they were captured. Although it makes sense as this portraiture is commissioned by Marie Anne, it is still interesting that her famous chemist husband would like to have such a portrait. This reflects the couple love each other in this romantic relationship. They are very close to each other and do not mind to show that to the others. In the left background we can see a chair and music score, portraiting a scene that the wife is tired with the music and decided to walk upon the husband who is writing and working with the containers (indicating his professional as a chemist). She leaned on the man at work, received a gaze with question and love, without any anger. She smile and the moment was captured by the paintbrush.
ROMANTICISM
Charles IV of Spain and His Family
Artist: Francisco de Goya Y. Lucientes
Date: 1800
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 9′ 2″ x 11′ 0″
Museo Nacional del Prado
This multiple figure portraiture is down by Goya when he was serving the royal family as a court artist. The Romanticim focus on the emothe rather than the realisticness of the details. It very interesting that in this portraiture most of the member of the royal family were not looking strait forwards as we take family picture today. They are looking at all directions. Some of them only got half side of their face captures. It seems like a leisure afternoon that all royals were gathered. The king is wearing the darkest color, making him the most powerful figure in the scene, In contrast, the queen who wears white dress layered by majorly gold brocade is also standing in the light, making her the lightest figure. The details on the dresses or the clothes of the royals are blur as the background, but the facial expression of each one of them are vivid with personalities. For example, the little boy in red starts to be impatient. Or the earring of the rightest noble lady catches the attenion of the baby in her arms. The romance is not limited to the relationship between one couple but could be all these storiese we can observe and guess from all of these figures.
NEOCLASSICISM
The Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon and the Coronation of Empress Joséphine on December 2, 1804
Artist: Jacques-Louis David
Date: December 21, 1805–November 1807
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 6.21 m; W. 9.79 m
Musée du Louvre
The masterpiece best represents the Neoclassicism in depiecting the historical moment. Although it is usually known as The Coronation of Napoleon, the giant painting captured the moment of the cornation of the empress instead of the emperor. Emperor and empress is a very unique relationship tied with the power and responsibility. There are less loving-romantic element in there. The scene is fill with the guests of both gender. The ritual of cornation is in an atmosphere of solemnity and reverence prevailed. At this moment, emperor shared or shall say gived the power to his wife. In another way, the cornation of the emperor cannot be recorded as the kneeling of the emperor should never be seen again. However, depiects the cornation of the empress by the emperor reveal his power in the event which is what the emperor want to be recorded and remembered in this historical moment.
CITATION
- Coypel, Charles Antoine. François De Jullienne (1722–1754) and His Wife (Marie Élisabeth De Séré De Rieux, 1724–1795), 1743. Paris, France. Accessed June 20, 2020. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/441183.
- David, Jacques Louis. Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794) and His Wife (Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze, 1758–1836), 1788. Paris, France. Accessed June 20, 2020. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436106?searchField=All&sortBy=Relevance&ft=jacque+louis+david&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=4.
- David, Jacques Louis. The Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon and the Coronation of Empress Joséphine on December 2, 1804, December 21, 1805–November 1807. https://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/consecration-emperor-napoleon-and-coronation-empress-josephine-december-2-1804.
- Fragonard, Jean-Honoré. The Swing, 1767-1768. https://www.wallacecollection.org/collection/les-hazards-heureux-de-lescarpolette-swing/.
- Goya Y. Lucientes, Francisco de. The Family of Carlos IV, https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-family-of-carlos-iv/f47898fc-aa1c-48f6-a779-71759e417e74.
- Goya Y. Lucientes, Francisco de. The Parasol, 1777. https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-parasol/a230a80f-a899-4535-9e90-ad883bd096c5.
