SO
this was a really nerve wreaking day only because class started late (at 2:30) and i was the last thing on the agenda (my presentation...at 4:30) so not only did I have the whole morning to freak out, but i also had the entirety of class to anticipate my professors probing questions.
This day, we returned to the Louvre to discuss french neoclassicism and the beginning of romanticism, with a focus on the portrayal of women. We began by looking at two of David's paintings, Oath of the Horatii and then the Sabine Women and discussing the role that women played. In the first painting, if you look, you can see that there is a gender divide present where the men are on the left and the women are on the left. There is also a color contrast with brighter colors focused on the men different from the sobriety of colors depicted on the women. They are also slumped over, and provide the emotional, expected response of the viewer. However, in the Sabine Women painting, a woman is the central focus. She is standing between two men, her arms held apart trying to stop her father Tituis (on the right) from fighting her husband Romulus (on the left). Behind her, there is an arrangement of women, all different ages, depicting the various stages of life that a woman goes through, from child, to lover, to wife, to mother, to an older age, and the cycle is reborn with the babies that are present. This representation of women is not only meant to show their societal importance, but since they are also present on the battleground, where dead bodies are strewn, it shows a sense of equality and that their presence was important in war time.
This is similar to the Romantic painting of Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix. here, a woman is depicted leading rebels during the 1830 revolution of France. She is carrying the french flag, which makes her seem like the allegory for france and liberty itself, however, critics with closer examination debate that the woman is more realistic and that she is more of a normal woman. The fact that she is not easily recognizable as an allegory (as all previous allegories) and her dirty appearance, and the faint trace of hair under her arm (a sign of humanity) make her seem like a regualar woman who did indeed participate in the revolution.
Contrast this with the painting I presented on, The Death of Sardanapalus. It is an example of french Romanticism mixed with orientalism (a sense of the unknown, an obsession with the eastern world) and it has tons of naked women strewn about. These are the concubines of the assyrian King Sardanapalus who is lying on the bed, seen best in the top left corner. This scene depicts the moments right before his suicide. his town is being attacked and at a loss of what to do (because he enjoyed wealth and pleasure more than he concerned himself with politics and war) he orders all his concubines to be executed and set on fire with his wealth which eventually envelopes him. His being selfish of not wanting to share any of the wealth he amassed left behind a tarnished legacy. Delacroix was the first French Romantic painter, starting the style, leaving behind the statuesque bodies (seen in the David paintings) to embrace more of a realistic body. This can be seen in the women in this painting as well as the woman in Liberty.
Hope I did well on my presentation
this was a really nerve wreaking day only because class started late (at 2:30) and i was the last thing on the agenda (my presentation...at 4:30) so not only did I have the whole morning to freak out, but i also had the entirety of class to anticipate my professors probing questions.
This day, we returned to the Louvre to discuss french neoclassicism and the beginning of romanticism, with a focus on the portrayal of women. We began by looking at two of David's paintings, Oath of the Horatii and then the Sabine Women and discussing the role that women played. In the first painting, if you look, you can see that there is a gender divide present where the men are on the left and the women are on the left. There is also a color contrast with brighter colors focused on the men different from the sobriety of colors depicted on the women. They are also slumped over, and provide the emotional, expected response of the viewer. However, in the Sabine Women painting, a woman is the central focus. She is standing between two men, her arms held apart trying to stop her father Tituis (on the right) from fighting her husband Romulus (on the left). Behind her, there is an arrangement of women, all different ages, depicting the various stages of life that a woman goes through, from child, to lover, to wife, to mother, to an older age, and the cycle is reborn with the babies that are present. This representation of women is not only meant to show their societal importance, but since they are also present on the battleground, where dead bodies are strewn, it shows a sense of equality and that their presence was important in war time.
This is similar to the Romantic painting of Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix. here, a woman is depicted leading rebels during the 1830 revolution of France. She is carrying the french flag, which makes her seem like the allegory for france and liberty itself, however, critics with closer examination debate that the woman is more realistic and that she is more of a normal woman. The fact that she is not easily recognizable as an allegory (as all previous allegories) and her dirty appearance, and the faint trace of hair under her arm (a sign of humanity) make her seem like a regualar woman who did indeed participate in the revolution.
Contrast this with the painting I presented on, The Death of Sardanapalus. It is an example of french Romanticism mixed with orientalism (a sense of the unknown, an obsession with the eastern world) and it has tons of naked women strewn about. These are the concubines of the assyrian King Sardanapalus who is lying on the bed, seen best in the top left corner. This scene depicts the moments right before his suicide. his town is being attacked and at a loss of what to do (because he enjoyed wealth and pleasure more than he concerned himself with politics and war) he orders all his concubines to be executed and set on fire with his wealth which eventually envelopes him. His being selfish of not wanting to share any of the wealth he amassed left behind a tarnished legacy. Delacroix was the first French Romantic painter, starting the style, leaving behind the statuesque bodies (seen in the David paintings) to embrace more of a realistic body. This can be seen in the women in this painting as well as the woman in Liberty.
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| LOOK HOW BiG THE PAINTING IS. GIGANTIC. The Death of Sardanapalus, Eugene Delacroix, 1828 oil on canvas, 3.92 meters x 4.62 meters |
Hope I did well on my presentation
Ro <3
Oh mah gud, that painting is huge. Also, does the Sabine painting have anything to do with the Rape of Sabine? I remember reading about that in Latin class and what a tragedy it was.
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