1. Rene Laudonniere and Native American
Chief at Ribault Column ca. 1570
● 10 x 7.5 in.
2. ● First painting of new world
● Work = lithograph (easier to transport)
● Column = center; noblemen = right
● Functions as map: NW on left, OW on right
● Cornucopia = brought by all; in foreground = visual
dominance = offerings of natives
● Low horizon line = typical of this period
– Shows vastness and expanse = We love land!
● Vibrancy + clarity, relies on symbols; fruit = fruit of
land
3. ● Column built in 1562 by Jean Ribault, a French navy
officer, explorer, and colonizer
● In Jax, FL! Statement to claim land 4 France
● Meant to document historical event but did Le Moyne
ever see it??
*About memory
● Natives naked = statement of uncivilized + kneeling =
no pwr
● Le Moyne settles in England;
● documenter of settler life
4. Jonathan Freake ca. 1671 3.5x3 ft
● Commissioned by sitter
● Wealthy lawyer associated with
John Calvin, who thought wealth
= assigned favor of God
● Not what you've done, but who
you are
● Hands awk, little modeling,
porcelain skin, glove = gentleman
● Buttons create balanced
composition & structure within
● Lace, broach, ring = overload of
wealth
5. Jonathan Freake cont.
● Sense of elegance conveyed
● No wig = no British association
● Imported fashions – distinguished from Brits + wrking class
● Long hair = not puritan, but hair length = medium = balance
puritan and wrking class = intersection of 3 IDs
● Flushed cheeks, direct gaze, position of confidence
● Freake portraits = identity + balance
6. Elizabeth Clarke Freake and Baby
Mary ca. 1671/4 3.5x3 ft.
● Baby added later (art can
change with time)
● New regard 4 visual
representation
● Flat, 2D surface, pushes
against plane
● Attn paid to lace, decorative
elements
● These pull work together, like
use of color red
● Modeling, sense of 3D
7. Elizabeth Clarke Freake and Baby
Mary cont.
● Typical madonna + child placement/motif = conscious
Xtian reference
● Gold + silver displayed; tapestry (Baroque flavor)
● “turkey-work”: gesture to Middle Eastern influences
→ suggestion of worldliness
● Her clothes probably from all over Europe
● These portraits set precedent of including furniture as
sign of affluence (Cromwellian chair)
8. Margaret Gibbs, ca. 1677
● Un-Ided artist
● Lace = costly (attn to detail)
– Red in trim and shoes
● Displayed like an adult – kids not @
play
●
17th
cent. Art thinks about happenings
in Europe
● Lots of empty space – makes you look
at figure
= Baroque influence, but not baroque (no
modeling)
● Looks 2 England – lrgly medieval;
flattened; attn to display of wealth
● Detail; flat; staid; controlled; distinct
light; limited gesture
10. Oak Chest by Thomas Dennis
● Furniture, dress = material culture = manmade objects
● Jules Prown (scholar) thought manmade works reflect values
of those who made them & society in which they live
● Owned by wealthy, ornate, careful detail
● High skill required (usually thru apprenticeship)
● Covered in decorative patterning = low-relief (sculptural)
● Intricate patterns
● Artisans make material culture
● Displays skill of carver, aesthetic + technical skill liked
● Blend of artistry + practicality
● Art served greater purpose than hanging in museums
11. Elizabeth Paddy Wensley ca. 1670S
● 1670's = Shift in style
● Un-Ided Boston artist
● Beginnings of change: stiff, awk
presentation, basic modeling...BUT
fleshiness, feels more human-like,
more like representation of individual
● More sophisticated use of lighting;
adds gentle qualities (hint of shadow
under cheek)
● Emphasis on wealth: ring, dress, lace
(like Limner works)
● Artist gentle – sense of line/elegance
12. Elizabeth Paddy Wensley cont.
dow device: gives perspective = challenge for
scape hard 2 read, but Baroque influence with
sh court styles (rich color)
t aware of what needs to be added to show
acteristic of sitter (wants to make her pretty)
e comfort among artists in New World
13. Major Thomas Savage ca. 1679
● In Boston (3.5 x 3 ft)
● Impressive lace, military man, coat of arms
helps us ID him
● Savage = colonialist + soldier
● “meager” beginnings in middle class (dad =
blacksmith)
● Helped found RI in 1638
● Pic late in life
→ captures him at point of reflection
● He's established himself (outside = gesture to
his role as military leader)
● Seascape points to his role as merchant
● 3D understanding, anatomy + color
● Thought out palette (gold woven through)
Thomas Smith (1650-1690)
14. Captain Thomas Smith ca. 1680
● Self portrait; 2 x 2 ft
● Wealthy mariner (seen many styles) like
window motif (present after 1670)
● Marks arrival of Baroque in America
→ Stylistic Shift
● Work layered, expressive
→ curve of face + flesh captured
● More sense of portrait than template
● Diverse color, subtle + rich
● Sense of rhythm: repetition in lace
→ repeats shape in his body (hair) + tassel
→ layers of motifs
15. Captain Thomas Smith cont.
● 1. portrait 2. seascape (naval engagement = his time in
navy) 3. still life (skull + poem)
● Smoke quality repeated in hair + lace
● Work = autobiographical summary of his life
● Poem = farewell from evils of world – impending death
● Skull: momento mori/vanitas
● Portrait to read like text to read
● *His vanitas shows he's in conversation with Western Art
16. Fairbanks House, 1636 – Dedham, MA
● Oldest wooden frame house in America
● Effective use of wattle & daub
● Timber frame, clapboard siding
● Pitched/angled roof for weather
● In England plaster used, but not here
● Basic interiors, double-duty spaces,
mostly open
● Later added on to
● Lacks symmetry; windows off center
(glass teuer!)
● Interior off-center = medieval influences;
low ceiling
17. The Parson House June 8, 1683, Topsfield, MA
● Date = day frame raised
● Built for Rev. Capen
= farmer + political leader
● The fact that town built it for
him showed his status in town
center
● Pitched/gabled roof = early
characteristic
18. The Parson House cont.
● Straight, large beam = simple
● Planks convey sense of importance
● Largely asymmetrical = public statement = propaganda
● Conscious gesture toward medieval style (comes directly from England)
– Gables, sharply sloped roofs
● Prominent chimney = sign of wealth – here we have 2 chimneys, but back to
back to look like 1
= Modesty
→ comes from Puritan vein
19. Portrait of Mrs. James Pierpont (Mary Hooker)
ca. 1711
● Pierpont Limner, 2.5 x 2 ft
● Bust-length, all about her
● Artist telling us she's pretty – direct gaze = confidence
● Soft, feathery outline + brushwork
– Quicker brushwork = more energy + easier to make
subject look pretty
– Fluid, confidence of artist
● Style of Queen Anne's Court
● Lace only enhances her – no statement of what she
owns
● Minister's wife: ease & grace offered in work
● How she looks = wichtiger als who she is in society
● Hair in style of Queen Anne (= her big role of Queen)
20. John van Courtlandt ca. 1731
● Pierpont Limner
● Tree + building = interior + exterior
● Courtly gesture: hands of goodwill/confidence
● Turn of foot – don't need to hold gloves – another
way to convey class
● Sense of finery: split ext. + inter. Spaces
● Individual in middle = harmony + natural
abundance
→ deer came right up – natural abundance with
material wealth + importance
● Artist figuring how to paint deer in space
● Clean composition, muted colors except clothing
call attention
● Artist has little sense of anatomy
21. Background...
Hierarchy
history + religious painting (meant to teach)
portraiture/landscape (in Western art)
still-life
genre (everyday life)
● Americans not painting history – have none and no true religious
foundation
● 1700: most colonialists of Euro descent
– Mainly Brits (300K) vs. French (600)
● Influences from Britain – many artists go there and come back
● Growing merchant class – have economic + cultural power
● Class awareness – partly comes from Brits
● Transatlantic Xchange – wealthy & use $ to act like Brits
● Increased emphasis on decorum + education
● Painting rapidly develops
22. Henry Darnall III ca. 1717
● First professional portrait artist in the south
Justus Englehardt Kuhn
● Patrons = upper crust in south = those who
own plantations
● Kid: height of fashion
● Leaning against bow = testament to skill as
hunter – we know he's good at it – hunting =
sport of the rich
● Slave behind him; metal collar
● Sits behind banister = lesser
● Earliest recording of an African American
in painting
● Kid = focal point
23. Henry Darnall III cont.
● Slave's head much lower, gazes on master
– Presentation of class + wealth
● Wondrous landscape in back – palatial, not America
● About grandeur + elegance – testament to Europe and
all family has and knows
● Loose brushwork though stiff & forward facing kid
● Loose curtain + tassel = baroque, trying to push forward
● New way to show wealth – not just by lace
● Kuhn slowly falls out of favor & dies in poverty
24. Gustave Hesselius ca. 1682-1755
● Born in Sweden moved in 1711 to Philly/DL
● Studied in London, then Sweden
● Has official artistic training. In 1712 = main portrait artist in Philly
● People wanted more artist training abroad
– Lots of economic contact btwn here + GB
● Art important statement – focus on fine art
– Still serves a purpose, but not just documentation or comment on sitter
● Different kinds of art – gesturing in to Biblical stories + mythology
● Grand tradition of European painting – theme taken from mythology
25. Bacchus and Ariadne ca. 1720
● A little ambitious – musculature off
● Lots of elements crammed in to show off
– Abundance of visual elements
● Influence of Baroque coming to painting
– Variety of body forms
● Hierarchies of Western art – wants to solidify it in colonies
● Partially nude; vibrant, sensuous colors
● Figures passed out
● Mythology story: must be educated to
understand
● Painted sculpture = gesture to Europe
– Statement that it's fine art
26. Tishcohan ca. 1735
● Native American chief of Lenape Tribe in DL
● Figures agreed to have portraits taken – document,
not for self-promotion
● They didn't have control over image
● Not in natural environment – puts them in
traditional portrait format
● Direct presentation: ½ length, little elements that
show who they are (blue cloth, pouch on 1)
● No truth in imagery – doesn't matter if they don't
look this way
● Differentiated through blue drape and skin tone
– Being sensitive to differences btwn them (skin
color)
27. Tischcohan “He who never blackens himself”
● Direct, forward presentation: about individual, not stereotype
● Coming for objectivity – he's recording
● Indians 2 be signers of Walking Peace treaty
● Sons of William Penn (John + Thomas) claimed they had
original treaty from 1680 promising to sell land as far as man
can walk
● Treaty = lie John + Thomas made indians sign it
● Portraits document treaty – not weighing in politically or
socially
● Commissioned by Brit named Penn
● Pushing toward noble savage
28. The Reverend Cotton Mather ca. 1728
● Print in Wuster, MA
● Ex of mezzotint – many artists start
working with it
– Popular in England
● Clean, crisp lines
● Pelham born in England; makes big
connections when he goes 2 US – starts
as Limner
– Favors mezzotint
● US artists considered 2nd
tier
● Pelham = force in Copley's life
● Work mass produced; stated as printing,
made print
– More $ to be made
29. Reverend Cotton Mather ca. 1728 cont.
● Emphasis on character of face/individuality
– We could see this guy on the street
● Goes beyond set presentation of face
● Attempt @ realism, not objectivity
● Part of set of artists – saw they could make $ as artists
● Limner + Hesselius have set rules
– Moves away from rules
30. Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio ca. 1720
● Considered best of 1. wave of immigrant artists
– Born in Scotland
● Has access to art + supplies; has sense of
materials
● 1. to set up career as artist
● Sehr wichtig in history of American art
● 1709: studied in London @ art school
● 1717-20: Grand tour in France+ Italy – studied
fine art
– Copied “old masters”
●
John Smybert (1682-1755)
in Boston
31. Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio cont.
● Copy of “Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio” by Anthony van Dyck ca. 1625
● American artists see in van Dyck rococo – more fluid + active brush
● Heavy palette, lighter brush = more flattering
● Not JUST about portraying social status
– Making sitter look attractive
– In copy: loose application of color
● Smyberts: firmer, blending not as smooth – see orange + yellow near red
● Emphasis on line = outline = what contains form
– Outline in ears, starkness, + harshness
● This copy = advertisement, not just learning opportunity
– Was way 4 artist to advertise himself
● Trying out the Baroque
33. The Bermuda Group...
● @ Yale, 69 x 93 in.
● Smybert's try at the Baroque – goes all out
● Self portrait on far left
● Smybert sets up studio in London
● Berkley wants to hire him to teach arts @ his Uni
– Supposed to be in Bermuda to convert ppl to Xtianity
● School falls thru – no $ but b4 Smybert commissioned to do work
● Dean = far right, wife holds son
● 2 gentlemen = college admins + John Wainwright (Berkley's friend)
● Baroque: different poses + direction of gazes & gestures in many ways – tells you where to
look
– Arms give lines, all very active 4 posed figures
● Red tapestry gives weight
1. Visually: light + airy @ top
solidity @ bottom (robust)
tied to Wainright, weight thru color
34. ● Red tapestry gives weight
1. Visually: light + airy @ top
solidity @ bottom (robust)
tied to Wainright, weight thru color
2. Commitment: very serious, w/ books we're learning
● Deep space: zig zag water – idyllic landscape
– Understands perspective
● Balance of idyllic w/ reality of individuals (+ family portrait)
– Smybert signs it
● Who has power here?
– Men standing, vertical w/ columns, encase work, man touches book
– Women horizontal, holds baby
– Gender norms play out = revealing of society
● Womein in lighter colors = less serious, but holds gaze = her importance signified by
those around her
● Smybert holds our gaze = very serious = here to work
35. ● Smybert knows modeling
● Uses naturalistic colors and selects
flattering palette
● Nothing meant to distract from her
– Sheen of fabric = hard!
● Smybert's work starts to get plain –
not aesthetically interesting
37. ● @ Harvard Law, 56 x 78 in.
● Isaac Royall Jr. shown
● Accomplished artist but gone by 1750s
– Takes over Smybert's patronage
● Born in Long Island; mariner, son of preacher
● Self-taught status, but can paint on grand scale
– Grand scale 1720-1760
– Gives weight to figures + table
● Stark lighting = harder quality – less naturalistic
● Emphasis on outline + form = colonial impulse
– Reminds of early Limners
● Gender: formula followed
– Man standing in robust, eye-catching form, captures visual interest, becomes
viewer's resource
– Women = horizontal, emphasized by table
– Formulaic composition
38. ● Royalls made $ off slaves + rum – strong ties to London
loyalist cause – had sugar plantation
● Tree/foliage behind undeveloped = gesture to family
● Baroque-like presentation – not much drama in body
positions but in gazes + tilts of head + powerful palette =
vibrant
● Break from Smybert = palette
● Challenge 4 Feke = skin tone – so porcelain-like
● Insistent outline, individuality
● Feke paints youthful, ambitious, adventurous set of Boston
= those up and coming
● Smybert = tride + true – painter of those already established
39. Smybert vs. Feke
● Both part of Boston gang, along with Greenwood
● Smybert studio = where artists gathered + talked of aesthetics
● Both: grandeur, movement, thru eye + gesture
– Solidity of form
● Energy, zigzagging
● Grandeur thru primary colors
● Group portrait attraction
● Cutting edge with Baroque elements
●
Sidenote: towards 19th
cent. More history painting rather than
portraiture
40. Feke
● Women portraits: grace, dignity, ease, charm = aristocratic values
● Women = principle of femininity – presentation of self
● Emphasis on line, understands fabrics
● Women = central, but to R = landscape
● Feke = popular + taking over; follows similar structure
● Baroque → Rococo: Serious → playful
● What americans borrow:
– multiple gazes solid form + grander
– naturalistic presentation of interior (not lighting, but body placement)
– Purpose + message = serious
● Rococo: fun, central pleasures, lighter, brighter palette, curvy →
emphasis on narrative, less moral direction
● Sensuous line – over the top – Americans don't go far w/ it
41. Portrait of a Woman ca. 1748
● Emphasis on natural
abundance, femininity,
repetition of flowers
● Flowers = fertility, softness,
flattering, sheen of fabric
● Rococo becomes gender style
in US
● For men, Feke holds
“masculine present”
● Firm, solid, grand
42. Brigadier General Samuel Waldo ca. 1748-50
● Feke has limited time frame
● Formal presentation, soft baroque/hard
rococo – not fully in either
● Pastel-like landscape(rococo)
● red jacket comes out @ you
– Red, gold framed by burgundy
– Contrasting play of color (background fades)
● Ankle = he's a gentleman
● Commissioned by city of Boston (big for
Feke) = opportunity to be Boston painter
● Faithful likeness 2 individual
– Not natural presentation
43. ● Background tells this is Boston: natural + city qualities
● Conventional pose + baton = trope
– Manmade instrument of action – sense of power
– All emphasis on him
● #1 native born painter @ end of work + 1. native q/ aesthetic
impact on color & changes he made on Smybert's formula
44. The Greenwood – Lee Family ca. 1747
● John Greenwood (1727-1792)
● Completes group portrait = hard +
statement of his ability
● Technically interesting – includes
self
● Greenwood = engraver, but not
enough $ so moved to painting
● 1745 in Boston, then S. America +
London
– Thought London important
– Get art by source
● Knew Smybert + Feke – hung out @ Smybert's studio
45. The Greenwood-Lee Family cont.
● Work = bold presentation of artist
● Ambitious with lots of movement
● Little anatomical knowledge
● Domestic scene – gives sense of sitters
– Women circle table = domesticity
● Dark color: sense of solidity
● Sheen of fabric
● Greenwood follows business (itinerant)
46. Sea Captain Carousing in Surinam ca. 1758
St. Louis Art Museum, 38 x 75 in., Greenwood
*Only example of genre painting in America
47. Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam, cont.
● Genre painting: scenes of everyday life, usually mult. Narratives, complex
– Big in the 19th
century
– Just what you see
● Bound by vignettes – different pockets of activity – move eye thru canvas
– Viewer meant to enjoy activity taking place
● Eclectic group: cptns., workers, slaves
– = vision of social diversity
● Image of leisure – what one does after hours
– Not idealistic → trying to be naturalistic
● Men in Pub – Dutch mariners: trade rum, lumber, slaves
● Genre usually anonymous – operate through types/larger statements
– Looked to William Hogarth: “A Midnight Modern Conversation” ca. 1732
● Greenwood seems egalitarian, but slave nude
– Works: popular ideas/perception – what groups usually do – meant to enjoy activity/laugh
48. Isaac Winslow and His Family ca. 1755
● Blackburn worked in sphere of Hogarth
● 2nd
tier – bad in London, good in colonies
● Went back to England 1762, politics becoming big
– Artists must decide loyalties
● Borrows/brings back rococo
● Light, rosy palette, feathery brushwork
● Colonial impulse = hard line
● Feathery quality = lighter touch, little marks
Joseph Blackburn
(1730-1778)
● Fantasy image, not documenting, puts emphasis on family
● Idea that family works and is important
● Informal: Isaac leaning – relaxed, everyone at peace
● Male-female split; men = vertical
● Public statement: in house (what do sitter + artist want to say?)
49. Mary and Elizabeth Royall ca. 1757
● Trying 2 merge European w/ colonial
●
By 18th
cent finally have history of painting
● Complicated composition
● So much satin = signature quality
– *materiality of goods
● Drapery = grandeur (Blackburn's influence)
● Refined sense of anatomy
● Active use of color – contrast/give vibrancy
– Provides movement, activity, light,
theater
John Singleton Copley
(1738-1815)
50. Mary and Elizabeth Royall cont.
● Hand on shoulder = physical contact = warmth, family, ease
● Balance theatricality w/ warmth
● Dependence/emphasis on line
● Focus on detail (fur of dog, starkness of satin)
– Accurate likeness: individualized, but flattering
● Complete Clarity: not about what eye does
– Copley asserting aesthetic presence – controls what you see
and how you see it
51. The Boy with the Flying Squirrel ca. 1765
● Boy = Henry Pelham – ½ brother
● Not commissioned – starts Copley's career as big artist –
self conscious demonstration of talent
● Made to ship to London exhibit w/ big exhibition at Society
of Artists
– Makes art to be shown, not for $ - invested in
relationship with British artists
●● Now conversation, transmission
● Big emphasis on line + drawing (framing + structure)
● Colonial = extreme clarity, line, “truth” (gestures of technical skill)
● Boy in profile (adolescence), dramatic sweep of color pushes sitter out
(negotiates distance btwn viewer + sitter)
● 3D, roundness, modeling – psychological quality
52. Paul Revere ca. 1768
● Sense of informality
● Everyday guard, seated @ table, sense
of familiarity
● Table: creates line btwn us + subject
(impediment)
● Table: invites us 2 engage w/ subject,
sit down with him
● Added 2 w/ sensory detail – want to
touch table
● Sense that he's thoughtful, direct gaze
= interaction
● Many connections made:
– Touches face + pot = connection of
mental + physical labor
53. Paul Revere cont.
● Idea of pot, pot came from mind
● Draws eye between intellect, what he's made
● Reflective surfaces – good @ perspective
● Weight given to figure in part thru background
● Takes visual + physical space
● Materiality of objects: etches name on pot as maker
● Visual qualities of American art: line + detail (Puritan values
find their way in to this kind of art – doesn't work w/ Copley
54. Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Winslow ca. 1774
● Husband + wife, but individuality
● Experiments w/ portraiture
● Different gazes (she = wistful, he = direct)
● She has reserved posed, counteracts his gaze
● Open palm and body = friendliness,
invitation, materials, want to touch
● Mrs. shown dignified & pretty
● Color dark in left = gender presentation
– Solidity + seriousness but then soft
yellow
● Repeats red (makes viewer's eye work in X
formation making work active)
55. Watson and the Shark ca. 1778
● 6 x 8 ft, 4 diff versions, APEX of western art
● About Watson Brook who fell off boat in Havanna Harbor
● Gift 2 orphanage, about perseverance, succeeding despite
adversary
● Very personal – relationship between Copley and Watson
● Emph on Watson: only guy in water, w/ imminent threat, standard
pyramidal arrgment, ppl seek to help him, naked?, shark + him =
action
● Brings intense emotion
● Comment on slavery + dismemberment of British Empire
● American revolution disruptive personally + professionally
● Prof wanted to make aesthetic art convo with England
– Wanted to be part of royal academy
56. ● Wants 2 push into history painting, but court already had official painter
● Work meant to be hopeful = biographical
● = symbolic work in realistic style = REALISM (history painting goes to it)
– Recognizable forms + elements, suggests truth
● Dramatic lung of shark
1. lower ½ of nature + man – altered visual detail 2 show importance
2. upper ½ = dramatic rescue
● Theatrical, pyramidal structure (=stability, balance), though it leans
– Gives surging drama, heightens emotions
● Focus/weight @ hopeful contact: is he going to make it?
● Viewers become +savvy – coincides with rise of sensationalism
– Ppl want excitement, this work feeds this
● Symbolism: loss of leg (perseverance), shark (adversary) – has reflective surface
which heightens artificiality of work – loses materiality..doesn't really pull it off.
Normally it seems like artist was there in history works
57. ● Representative of nature + the exotic
● Caribbean port = specific of exotic locale (shark lives in colonial waters)
● *scholars don't agree on visual sources
1. Grouping with movement/action
– Copley looks to Lacöon → sense of flow + movement, turn + twist
– More movement than seen before
– Rope coiling, connects visual elements; surging/diagonal
– Figure of African descent meant 2 be white, but made black later
– = comment on slave trade, black body at top = inversion of practice of
overthrowing sick slaves *Copley doesn't take a position
2. Source from Prometheus by de Ribera ca. 1630
– Circulating in London, mid 18th
century, moment of suspending animation, dark
palette = focus on body
● *Fated Exchange: commentary on occurring contest → ppl fight over America
● Colonies being dismembered (like leg)
3. Biblical Image but no longer accepted
58. The Death of General Wolfe ca. 1770
● National Gallery Canada, 5x7ft
● History = grand themes + grand ideas = pinnacle of painting
– = belief from 16th
century → hard 2 do therefore important
● Painting = visual form of history, has greatest potential 2 affect viewer
– Meant to impress/instruct
● Place, person/hero (to express ideals) + EVENT needed (should be dramatic!)
● Viewers meant to feel inspired by his sacrifice
● West = court painter to George III; makes career in London but born in PA
● **1. american artist to achieve international acclaim
● In NY, travels, Grand Tour (Italy 1760, London 1763)
● Royal patronage influences what he paints
● West founds ROYAL ACADEMY in London
59. ● This work gets West in trouble with George III = beginning of his end
● Exhibits @ Royal Academy in 1771, widespread acclaim
– ISSUE: contemporary in subject
– Never before put people in contemporary clothes
– Takes moment in Battle of Plains of Abraham, French and Indian War in
1759, war was precursor to Revolution
– Brits vs. French fight for Quebec, Brits win
● NEOCLASSICISM: Wolfe knew @ death that Brits won, fighting all around
● Set 3 Groupings: center = drama: light on body – elegant pose, emphasis on
pyramidal structure, draws eye to location
● Death scene: heightened drama → The Lamentation, 1612 Rubens
– = moment of contact btwn Christ + mourners
● Wolfe = prone – has contact w/ soldiers around him
● He tried to get lots of portraits to capture sense of grief
60. ● Reference to Bible = big deal, BUT contemporary history painting
● *How do you get sense of marvelous/extraordinary – no blood, only evocation of
violence
● Political Undercurrents:
– Reference 2 America → Native American
– = creative departure, pose of contemplation, bears witness – plays role of
noble savage, Passive body, unconcerned
– Celebrates GB, warning to colonies (France = threat!)
– Exotic landscape (like Copley), eye-witness account
● Copley + West study landscape
● Historical authority: GB's story to tell → affirms state and its power
● So many layers to political works → nothing left to chance
● Artists construct history like construct painting = “real”, “accurate”
62. ● Commissioned by Thomas Penn (William's son)
● He wanted to document the founding of PA
● Set on Delaware River, settlers vs. natives
– Not about integration = mtg btwn 2 different groups (ca. 1682)
● = “Treaty of Friendship”
● Natives shown in typical garb – historical accuracy of clothes?
● Native Americans presented as type
● Quakers, Merchants, Indians all = in act of settlement
● Madonna scene – says Indian existence not compromised by treaty
● All =, peace, friendship + historical document of treaty
– References physical document
● “Stately Elm” = @ site @ time = way West makes image have historical
accuracy
63. ● *American painting, American treaty = between natives
● All about here and now
● Sense of harmony, reserve, grandeur
● Cohesive color – all level + equal → how bodies nebeneinander
● West: 1.) surging drama 2.)treaty equal + peaceful
● = Source for Copley
64. The Death of Major Pierson ca. 1782-84
●
In England, date January 6th
, 1781, 8x12 ft
● Very recent event (2 years prior)
● Battle of Jersey: French vs. Brits 2 secure island
● Heated tensions = shifts in Empires – fighting 4 control
● 1781: engagement assoc. with American Revolution
● Pierson died → American/British history painting
● Surging diagonal w/ blood, falling body
● Collection of soldiers catch body, showing honor, delicacy
● Color red = urgency, drama
● Lamentation reference: compositional quality; 3 Groupings:
1.) Soldiers: lined = dramatic background, drummer's hand guides view
65. ● Black figure = historically accurate, avenges Pierson's death
– Important visual + narrative part (not an outsider)
– Integrated visually, repetition of color
2.) fleeing women + kids: higher stakes in fight – families
3.) Middle: surging diagonal, cannon moves us to ladies, L → R
● Bold colors meant to make you part of history
● 17 complete studies of this work
● Invested in detail, careful composition: feels staged, fixed, dramatic but located
→ Baroque quality
● Flag = pseudo-cross, propaganda (Pierson = Christ)
● *contemporary events with contemporary people can be just as valuable
– * = create new pantheon of history painting
– Stakes higher!!
66. Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827)
● From Maryland, starts art in his 20s
● Has craftsman skills, taught by John Hesselius
● Sees Smybert's works, meets Copley + West (1767-1769)
● Studies with West for 2 years in London
● Paints portraits, patriot, served in military
– Made maps
● Heads = ovals = Smybert's influence
● *colonial: clarity, hard line, drawing
● Merged colonial with Rococo (tries to stray from set
presentation)
● Affection shown
67. Charles Willson Peale cont.
● Rococo influence in portraits = informal pose, sense of connection between
individuals
● Oval head (Peale stayed with this shape, while Copley wanted accurate likeness)
● Family interested in the arts (his family portrait in academic style)
– References to old influential people, ex: bust of West
– Pyramidal shape, order, stability
– Not Smybert, no committed gender presentation
● Family lineage of art
68. General George Washington Before
Princeton ca. 1779
● PAAcademy Fine Arts, 8 x 5 ft
● Tiny, oval head, but figure in command
– Sense of grandeur (=lifesize)
– Historically accurate
● Commemorates victories @ Trenton + Princeton
● GW oversaw defeat of Brits & drove them out
● *1. American Government Commission
– Hired by PA
● More portrait than history
– Calm, relaxed (meant 2 relax viewers)
69. ● Clouds: dark, smoke passing on, skies clearing
● Colonial elements add strength
– Various manmade details = items transformed America's win
● Contemporary event = in the moment
– Creates heros @ moment events happen (feels like document)
● Metaphor: rising American nationalism (flag shown), 4reignors lost
● Deco adds grandeur + color + drama in foreground
● Peale wants to make heros out of war
– Nation defines itself through these representatives
● Emphasis on self-made individual
– No sense of humility – more individualistic
– Natural aristocrats ascended socially through hard work
– Get sense of importance/status
70. ● All else is simplified → desire of accurate likeness
● *direct gazes, neutral backgrounds to emphasize making of hero
– → less emphasis on material wealth
● Peale wants to exult Benjamin West
● Sees importance in museums → invested in archives
● Wants to institutionalize American history through representation
71. The Staircase Group ca. 1795
● Deliberate convo btwn viewer + art
● Deliberately individual
● Sons shown = celebration of art in the family
● Poignant work (Titian dies later): What's its purpose?
● Emphasis on vertical = look @ stairs
● Invitation to move into work
●
Portrait + trompe L'oeil (fool the eye): 17th
century Dutch
● Tromp L'oeil: witty, serious, offshoot of still-life
● Game artists play with viewer bridges convo btwn artist + viewer
● Peale asserts mastery over allusion
– Makes you aware of nature of painting (smart of Peale 2 have done)
72. ● Grain of wood emphasized, ticket on steps (=exhibition ticket)
– References moment – work on exhibition = centerpiece
● Establishes museum in Philly, open to public
● 1801 collection moves to Independence Hall
● Not limited to art, but also liked technology
● Portrait artist, history painter, still-life?
● Excavation of mastodon; from experience comes work
– 1. archeological dig in US
– Generational element: showed moment – cultural convo
– Broader issues btwn man + nature (how does it fit into Xtian
narrative?)
– This dig possible through divine God,
73. The Artist in His Museum ca. 1822
● 9x6 ft, PAAcademy of Fine Arts
● Commissioned by board of trustees of museum
● Self-portrait w/ dramatic gesture of welcome –
shows museum
● Has palette + brushes + bone = references to
himself
● Distinctly American = turkey in 4ground
– ex. of animal life in US
● Avid interest in science, art, + display
● Space/museum = democratic + intergenerational
● Dramatic + staid, looser brush on face + swag
● Light vs. dark, textures, movement + flow
● Welcomes us into space, directs us where to look
74. John Trumbull (1756-1843)
● Goes to Harvard, joins Army, drew maps
● IDs himself like Peale as having nat'nl importance
● Son of wealthy merchant/ CT governor
● 1778: rents Smybert's studio, later in London with West 1784
● Wants to paint history, but can't do it in London b/c political reasons + West
already there
● Neoclassicism: influence on West, Copley, Trumbull
– Based on ancient Greek + Roman sources
– Emphasize aesthetic + cultural ideas
● = direct reaction to Rococo
● Before Romanticism, coincides with Enlightenment
75. The Death of General Warren at the
Battle of Bunker's Hill ca. 1784-86
76. ● Contemporary history work: big, noble ideas
● Trumbull saw this battle at a glance
● So dramatic/staged → Ex: surging flag
● Here = authenticity → bodies littered
● Drama shows stake here in battle (more carnage)
● Bodies strewn, variety of poses, lines veer off = chaos
● *Sublime element: dying for one's country
– Thing of greatness/ importance – so big and massive
– Creates pleasurable terror in you
– Noble death gives sense of sublime
● Convo with West + Copley = not possible without their examples
● High moral value, Warren sacrificed himself
● *About America! Establishes national history
● = art with ideological purpose
77. Enlightenment Influence on Neoclassicism
1. Human affairs ruled by reason + common good
→ not simply tradition/established rule
2. Activity @ foreground
3. Controlled brushwork = emphasis on contour
4. Rich, saturated, vibrant colors
5. About noble ideas = fits in w/ what America is + wants to be
→ America crafting what it wants to be
→ convo between American artists + David in France
6. Loss sense of informality – staged quality
7. Set in ancient Greece/Rome
79. ● 2 copies, 1 in Capitol, 1 at Yale
● Trumbull more comfortable on small scale
● Met TJ in Paris, gave him 1. hand info on what room looked like, though
had partially forgotten
● In Independence Hall in Boston
– Documents important ceremony
●
= 2nd
Continental Congress (June 26th
, 1776)
● Wanted meeting to have meaning
– Includes all big players (not wholly accurate)
– Creates vision of historical event
● 48/49 portraits in work, TJ in center = accurate likenesses
= witnesses 2 event + tell viewer how to look at work
● Dramatic moment = signing of work
80. ● Tells us who's wichtig = propaganda
● Ppl coming together, conflict resolution
– Put aside individual desires for common good
● Tighter brushwork
● Repeated colors, balanced, equality
– Heads aligned, no surging dramatic lines
● Became gov't portrait painter in 1810 = lots $$
● American Rev influenced how artists trained – brought back more
Euro styles
– Doesn't transform American culture overall
– Remnants of “folk/home” style
– Greater divide btwn home taught + those who studied
81. Roger Sherman ca. 1775
● Ralph Earl from CT, self-taught, loyalist
● Roger Sherman = 1. mayor of New Haven,
Founding Father
● = masterpiece of Earl, continues early
American tradition
● Blunt quality – little deco – reminds of older
works
– Neutral palette + background
● Awkward perspective
● Staunch patriot → shown in his reserve
● Natural coloring; should be natural pose, but
stiff
● Red drape = earlier, royal style
● No details that speak 2 wealth – all about
man + space
82. ● Itinerant limner style in bluntness of presentation
● Little embellishment, almost crude
● Though swag and red color echoed in clothes
● Obvious presentation – viewer has full access
● Not much sophistication needed in part of viewer
● Lines + lighting reveal status of artist
84. ● Ralph Earl, 6x7 ft, in Wadsworth Collection, CT
● Gesture to grand manner taking hold in American art
● Land = center (almost its own portrait)
● Female dress speaks to status
● Proportions off → chief has long torso
● Many facial details → the face was the most important for Earl
● Rug + fringe = finery that speaks to sitter
● Gender norms: books behind him, nature close to her
● Sitting @ estate, looking @ estate
– = celebration of what they own
● Emphasis on outline + palette relying on “local color” – nothing startling
● Modeling on face, but not much on body
85. The Westwood Children 1807
● For a family, showed $$
● Sons of John + Margaret
– John = stagecoach mnger
– Commissioned
● Shallow foreground + neutral
lighting
● Neutral background forces kids
at viewer – feels awkward
86. Joshua Johnston (1763-1822)
● 1. African American to be established portrait painter
● 1796: gained freedom in Baltimore
● Modeling limited, anatomy limited
● Early itinerant limner tradition
● Flat background, flat use of color
● All have similar head + shape
● = composed individuals, but you're a part of the family
● Flat black dog pops out = silhouette feel
● Still life + portrait + landscape = demonstration of skill
● *associated with folk art, or nonacademic
– In 19th
century, folk + intellectual art split wide open
87. Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828)
● Principle portraitist 1790s – 1825 = FEDERAL PERIOD
● Apprenticed with Scottish portraitist
● 1775: Stuart meets West, stays 5 years there
● 1790s: moved back to US, Boston in 1805
● *early style = colonial style
– Emphasis on line/linearity, figures stuck to canvas, froze in space
– Little knowledge of anatomy, direct gaze, neutral background
● Exposed to West and things change
– Adopts British style = looser brush, subtly in tones, concept of
authority
● Only did portraits + traveled around
88. Side Notes
● Trumbull + Stuart push for nationalistic art to serve republic
– America still suspicious of art bc of its sensual quality
– Battle/push + pull affects fates of artists
– Fine, European art associated with aristocracy
● GS: invested in showing new kind of hero
● Thinks about American art as itself – an independent style
89. The Skater ca. 1782 ● 8x9 ft, @ National Gallery
● Gentlemanly, relaxed crossing of legs
● Sense of lean/tilt = sophisticated movement
of body w/ variety of convincing details
● Invested in texture
● Brush so light – whispy quality
● Feathery, monochromatic work
● Where is the viewer?
● Tilt to work → figure tall, horizon line low
● Gives sense that part of scene but that he's
above us = his importance
● Made w/ intent of showing @ Royal
Academy, not for $
90. Mrs. Richard Yates ca.1793
● 2.5 x 2 ft, National Gallery
● Standard portrait
● *tonal harmony: tans, browns, blacks
● Spotlight effect: light surrounds her, not
even
● Loose brushwork of shawl, but not smooth
application of paint
– About effect = make pretty to eye, not
accurate likeness
– Renders sitters attractive
● Selects pose that downplays bad attributes
● No S-curves but through paint, color gives
seriousness
Gilbert Stuart
91. ● Well to do, but not aristocratic
● Sewing = female activity
● *immediacy of work through loose brushwork
– Doesn't look frozen
● Complexity in position of hand = delicacy w/ solid form
*What will be the American art style of the New Republic?
● Desire to create independent art ID – up until 1945
– Push/pull with Europe
● Limners more American
– Not touched by Euro influence
– Wrestling with European undercurrent
92. Gilbert Stuart GW Studies
● Best known for his works of GW
– Goes to Philly
● Vaughn-type: more of right side
● Antenaeum-type: more of left side
● GS softened likeness – sense of directness
● Exchange between viewer + subject
● Not about accuracy, but about conveying hero
● Once you solidify icons, no longer about documentation
93. The Lansdowne Portrait ca. 1796
● 8x6 ft, commissioned by Lord Lansdowne
● Of GW giving farewell address
● Associated with column = stability, strength
● Black dress gives attn to face = seriousness
of purpose
● Gesture of welcome + farewell (thought +
reason = Enlightenment ideas)
● Rainbow = hope, fortune, passing of storm
● Next 2 table suggested weighted importance
● Cloth: regal, dramatic quality
94. ● In regular clothes: humility
● Sword: gesture to time as general
– Successful not thru violence but thru thought + reason
● Quintessential aristocratic portrait of new republic, but not
aristocratically shown
● Dramatic use of color = stateliness
95. Sarah Morton
ca. 1802
● 2x2.5 ft
● Sarah = poet, wife of politician
● GS adjusts style to get personality of sitter
● Released her from linearity defining
colonial style – energetic quality
● E around painting, invested in light + dark,
no hard edges
● Subtle toning harmony
– Where is she? In heaven?
● Flattering, accurate likeness
● Sad quality + immediacy (quick brush)
● Subtly of shading: about paint, not drawing
– Thickness of paint – not smooth
96. John Vanderlyn (1775-1825)
● Wants grand manner of painting
● Art that was associated with aristocracy on the defensive
● Artists don't want to hold to European ideals they just broke from
● How do you adapt? Evolve?
● *Leads to American High Manner!
● Von NY, family invested in his art training: read + copied engraving
● American high art developing in communities + small circles
● Goes to France for education: *1. Ami to study in France
– Bc of Burr and his political ideas, doesn't like GB
97. ● France ca. 1800 = Neoclassical style
1. Emphasis on Line
2.Action pushed to Frontal plane – little in background
3.Sentiment on high ideals (truth, honor, justice → pull from
classical sources)
4.Emphasis on anatomy – what Vanderlyn takes away
● Vanderlyn becomes supreme draftsman: good @ balance → learns
from David, realizes doesn't want to be portrait painter
● Heard this with Copley – wants to do more, but Amis have little
interest in such works
● Does what Copley did: history painting on recent event + includes
Americans
● *Looks to recent history, then to Roman hist. Then to the nude
98. The Murder of Jane McCrea, ca. 1804
● 2x3 ft, NEOCLASSICAL
● Native amis + woman framed against
frontal plane
– Directs eye to narrative
● Trees + woods = dark, makes scene pop
– Man in back posed to action
● *based on poem by Joel Barlow
– Spent time in France until 1805,
diplomat, patriot
– Had dreams of grandeur, poem: “The
Columbian”
– Glorifies America & her progress von
discovery to reovlution
99. ● Barlow underwent religious conversion from Xtianity to atheism
● Retells Ami founding w/o religion, includes science
● Wanted poem to be Ami project, also thru illustration
● Based on real murder in 1777
● Her fiance = loyalist
● We're given drama, amped by race + gender
– She = double victim: white woman attacked by racial men
– Hints to this thru bodice of chest = sexual threat
● Unforgiving, animalistic native ami face = departure von earlier works
● Emphasis on musculature
● Blue = innoncense, red = impending bloodshed
● Men have rich colors = symbolism (red = Brits)
● Man has blue coat = representative of Patriots
100. ● According to poem, Brits paid Native Americans to suppress colonial
population
– Work + poem = ANTI BRITISH
● Propaganda (like all history works) uses gender + race
– She's also a maiden
● Shows in Salon of 1804 – hosted by Louvre = big deal
● Lots of drama, but controlled
● In French Grand Style
– Presents honor, pure emotion, containment of emotion – overall
controlled
● Lighting everywhere on her body: emphasis on muscles threatening her
● Louisiana Purchase: indians stand in way of progression – justifies
more aggressive policies, slowly vanish in Ami art
102. ● Vanderlyn solidifies role as neoclassical artist
● Likes dramatic foregrounds with neutral background = seriousness
● Invested in research == wants authoritative feel to works
● Work shown @ Salon of 1814
● Work = reworked Greek myth narrative
● Ariadne = daughter of Minos, left by Thessius
● *Theme of abandonment
● Nude study: adopts from classical sources so he can do one
● Pose becomes trope in art
103. ● Action @ picture plane, lush red = drama
– Line + form = 3D; modeling + shading
● Not liked by Ami audience – appreciate technical ability, but
why select subject not related to America or her ideals?
● Must be educated to understand (rules out mercantile class)
● Work has neoclassical tradition
● Goes back to US and brings art to masses
– Builds gallery = the Rotunda behind City Hall in NY
*Vanderlyn's career shows frustration of artist trying to transplant
European culture in America
→ can it be done or must there be a process of adaptation
