The Bath of Venus by François Boucher, 1766
The 18th and 19th centuries were complex and contradictory times, characterized by political revolution, industrialization, and social change throughout the Western world. These upheavals are reflected in the diverse approaches that contemporary visual artists took toward their work and the codification of—and rebellion against—rules laid down by various royal academies of the fine arts.
In a lavishly illustrated series, art historian Nancy G. Heller focuses on the principal European cultural movements of the 1700s and early 1800s—Rococo, Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Realism—as demonstrated in paintings by masters of the period. She also touches on parallel developments in European sculpture, architecture, literature, and music.
Heller is a professor emerita at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
October 19 Ornamental, Elegant, and Sometimes Naughty: The Intimacy of Rococo Art
French art dominated much of Europe during the 1700s. Heller focuses on works such as Boucher’s charming mythological scenes and the flattering portraits created by Marie Antoinette’s favorite painter, Marie-Louise-Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun.
October 26 Sober, Moralizing Art: Neoclassical Dignity and Stoicism
The paintings of Jacques-Louis David and Angelica Kauffmann were designed to impart moral and political lessons. Often employing ancient Greco-Roman heroes and heroines, they eschew excessive displays of emotion and stress the importance of the rational.
November 2 The Allure of the Exotic and the Fear (and Thrill) of the Irrational: Romanticism
In contrast to Neoclassical painters, Romantic artists reveled in depicting their human subjects in unfamiliar or exotic settings as they faced forces out of their control, such as nightmares, natural disasters, and death. Heller explores these and related themes in the work of Caspar David Friedrich, Francisco Goya, and Eugène Delacroix, among other masters.
November 9 Paintings of Modern Life: Realism
In the mid-19th century, a group of avant-garde artists did something unthinkable by creating paintings and prints that reflected the life they saw around themselves every day. Neither idealized nor full of heightened emotion, Realist works by Gustave Courbet, Honoré Daumier, and others in turn led to later developments such as Impressionism.
4 sessions
World Art History Certificate core course: Earn 1 credit*
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*Enrolled participants in the World Art History Certificate Program receive 1 core course credit. Not yet enrolled? Learn about the program, its benefits, and how to register here.
