Conflicting Artistic Styles In The Enlightenment

Rococo was an art style that originated in France in the mid-17th century. Rococo itself evolved from the earlier Baroque period, and shared several elements with it. Indeed, Rococo is often referred to as Late Baroque for this reason. Both placed a heavy emphasis on ornate, highly sculpted detail and ornamentation, especially in regards to architecture and sculpture. Likewise both featured artwork rooted in more realistic depictions of people. However, they were also different in several important ways, and reflected changing social attitudes. Where Baroque was rooted in religion and promoted by the Catholic Church as a response to the Protestant Reformation, Rococo flourished during the “Age of Enlightenment”, a time where

Although art and music before the Enlightenment era provided an outlet for emotionally intense and dramatic performances which people looked to for entertainment, the Enlightenment period in Europe from the 16th to 18th centuries created a turning point for art and music by adding a level of complexity, a sense of balance, and by incorporating ideas from reality into the art piece which embellished the fine arts genre throughout Europe.

Since 1400 to 1700, the population of the world has seen three periods that affect them; the renaissance period, the baroque period and the Rococo period. Each period has a different kind of paintings, a different kind of art, and a different way to affect the society.

In the eighteenth century, reason and emotion no longer worked together. Emotion was kept down and was considered inferior. Social conventions were more important than individual convictions. In other words people considered form more significant than content. As regard art, this period was called Classical period. The opposite of this was slowly being prepared to burst out at the time of the French Revolution. This period was called Romantic.

The styles we call High Renaissance, Baroque style, Scientific Reformation, The Enlightenment Era, and The Romantic Era are all shaped by historical forces, the most significant being the Protestant Reformation’s successful challenge to the spiritual and political power of the Church. Martin Luther, son of a rural coal miner had a mass impact in all these eras but Scientific Reformation was more prominent than the rest. Luther was a German monk and Professor of Theology at the University of Wittenberg. Luther’s studies were put on hold by a political crisis in Augustinians. He found himself agitated due to the corruption and lack of spirituality he saw in Rome. He saw openly corrupt priests who would taunt the rituals of their faith. Luther sparked the Reformation in 1517 by posting his "95 Theses" on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The 95 theses were a list of statements which expressed Luther's concerns about many Church practices. These ‘Theses’ traveled around Europe. He felt in a manner, that the church was not always right. He did not believe that the Pope was spiritual heir to Saint peter. The Church known now as the Roman Catholic Church was very powerful politically and spiritually in Western Europe. I believed that Martin Luther Help spark the Scientific Era was due to the fact when he mad the 95Theses people began to second guess themselves. People began to have changes in thought & belief.

The Enlightenment and Romanticism periods are two historical periods that consist of some of the world’s greatest work. The Enlightenment Era evolves around the time of the mid 1600’s, to the late 1700’s. This period of time has beliefs of cause and effect and determinacies to explore human existence (The Norton Anthology p.4). The literary piece that I have chosen for the Enlightenment age is titled Tartuffe, by the Author Jean-Baptiste Moliere. This play has several characteristics pointing toward the Enlightenment period, including the desire for equality. On the other hand, you have the opposite of the Enlightenment, which is the Romanticism period. Indicated by The Norton Anthology, the duration

History has had a tremendous effect on everything we believe, know, and love in today’s society, and this will continue on forever. The past has a way of manifesting a long lasting effect on society, beliefs, culture, music, and many other important aspects of life. Two time periods that exemplify this are the Enlightenment and the Romantic Period. The Romantic period is the Hegelian antithesis to the ideals of the Enlightenment in a number of ways, and both have managed to equally impact the world. The Enlightenment took place from 1685 to about 1815, and is referred to as the “Age of Reason”. The Enlightenment is known for its intellectual and scientific progress. The Romantic Period took place just as the Enlightenment ended, and then diminished around 1850. This time period is well known for the transformation of poetry, ballet, paintings, music, and all other forms of the arts.

Art takes on many different forms such as visual, decorative, performing, and interactive. Art is strongly influenced by the cultures and ideas surrounding it. Although strongly influenced, art has been a staple throughout history used to show appreciation, as a means to communicate, and as an expression of imagination. One of the most influential times of art was during the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries that focused on reasoning and individualism rather than traditional lines of authority. Philosophers helped promote Enlightenment ideas. Of the many philosophers, Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau were the most influential for this painting. A Soldier on the Field of Battle by Horace Vernet relates to the Enlightenment because it is influenced by the three philosophe’s beliefs about individualism, freedom, and war. Under this influence, art helped promote Enlightenment ideas.

Americans in the Enlightenment period strongly connected themselves with the classical age in terms of how they approached their art. The Enlightenment period lasted for about 150 years, from approximately 1700 -1850. Throughout this time period many artists took inspiration from the classical age which occurred in ancient Greece and Rome hundreds of years before. We can see examples of this in buildings like The White house and Monticello in America, and Kedleston Hall in England. These three buildings, though located in very different parts of the world, all have a number of aestheticly similar attributes.

The Music of the classical and Romantic era is a period of time where it shows the development and different styles of music. This can be shown through the manipulation of musical elements, (dynamics, pitch, tempo, rhythm, texture, meter, tonality, structure, melody, harmony, instrument) while contrasting them, but it can also be shown through the composers of the music, the size of the orchestra, musical directions, emotional content, and non-musical developments through that period of time.

Art during the Italian Renaissance differed from art during the Middle Ages. The two have contrasting characteristics and concepts. To the people in the medieval world, religion was their life. Everything in daily life focused around the church and God (Modern World 164). Medieval culture influenced the arts; this was evident in the religious themes. During the Italian Renaissance, painters and other artists focused on the portrayal of a more humanistic way of life. Renaissance artists’ work portrayed realism with “lifelike human figures in their paintings” (Modern World 164). Renaissance artists wanted to express ancient Greek and Roman cultures in their work (Modern World 162). Italian Renaissance

The establishment of the French regime began to deteriorate as the economic and social difficulties began to increase. Not only that but the enlightenment quest to promote reason as the basis for legitimacy and progress began to grow. The philosophes were a group of people who emphasized the idea of thought and challenged the authority of the monarchy and the church. The enlightenment era included the age of Neoclassicism, a movement in attitude toward art and human existence. Many neoclassical paintings showed emphases on the distribution of light, serious theme and realistic. Various arts were reproduced or imitated from the structures and times of Greek and Roman originals.

The Romantic age, although having been in the background in literature in particular since 1750, really began to evolve into mainstream music with the shockwaves caused by the French Revolution. Opera was immediately modernised in France -- in particular a style later known as 'Rescue Opera', which typically depicted the capture of a heroine by an evil tyrant and then rescued gallantly by her lover. This genre showed the new way of thinking, that the evil was undone by human effort and not by the intervention of an almighty, superior being.

The renaissance or “rebirth” was a cultural awakening which spanned from the fourteenth to sixteenth century. A growing interest in humanist traits and classical ideas heavily influenced the art during the renaissance. A growing community of artists provided much needed competition for their profession. The renaissance introduced many different and modern ideas but also remained obedient to classical belief. The unique art of the renaissance spread throughout Europe. Northern European art differed tremendously from Italian art.

When the new upper class movement, Renaissance, occurred in Italy around the 14th century, a revival of the classical forms originally developed by the ancient Greeks and Romans, an intensified concern with secular life, and interest in humanism and assertion of the importance of the individual began. Thus, artists such as Mosaccio and Giotto depicted art that unlike the Middle Ages, showed emotions, feelings, and bright colors, thus demonstrating the deep concern for naturalism in the society. Other artists during the Italian Renaissance period such as Giovanni Bellini began to express their art through secular and religious themes and ideas that were exhibited through landscapes and portraits. As new styles of