Hum Final

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1. What was the reason Napoleon gave to the Spanish for sending troops into Spain? What was his real reason?

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An interesting analysis of Napoleon's involvement in Spain is provided by Stendhal in A Life of Napoleon, chapters 36 to 43. Stendhal argues that Napoleon's basic error was to see Spain as susceptible to the imposition by the French of the kind of enlightened reforms which had been welcomed elsewhere in Europe. Stendhal particularises, in a way characteristic of Romantic writers, on what he considers a highly distinctive Spanish national character, which in his view explains the hostile reaction to Napoleon's intervention. ‘Cowardly despotism’, ‘rogues’, ‘idiots’, ‘stupid’ ministers, a people not yet ready to enjoy liberty – these are among the forces Stendhal names as resistant to the (beneficial) government reforms Napoleon sought to introduce.

While Napoleon probably intended to annex the Iberian peninsula to his French empire in any event, his immediate involvement arose from his decision in November 1806 to impose the Continental Blockade or European boycott of British goods, in the hope of defeating Britain by means of an economic stranglehold

Taking advantage of the presence of French troops in the heart of Spain and of these dissensions within the reigning house, Napoleon lured the Spanish royal family to France, ostensibly to mediate between Ferdinand and his parents. At a meeting at Bayonne, however, Napoleon placed them all under house arrest and browbeat both Charles and Ferdinand into renouncing the Spanish throne in favour of Napoleon's elder brother, Joseph Bonaparte. Charles, Ferdinand and Godoy went into exile in France.

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2. Why did the populace of Spain react differently from those in most other countries invaded by Napoleon?

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Napoleon's insult to Spanish pride provoked a violent popular reaction which spread across the country. Anti-French riots at Madrid on 2 May 1808 (dos de mayo) were suppressed on 3 May (tres de mayo) by Napoleon's brother-in law, Joachim Murat, commander-in-chief of the French army in Spain. Resistance to the French by regular Spanish forces under General Castanos and by irregular guerilla forces sprang up across Spain, and a French army under General Dupont was forced to surrender to Castanos at Bailen in July 1808. This capitulation was a significant blow to France's reputation for invincibility. Meanwhile a British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley landed in Portugal, and forced the French to evacuate that country (August 1808).

Napoleon rushed part of the Grande Armée to Spain, took personal command (November 1808), restored the ousted Joseph to the throne, defeated the Spanish forces and drove the British out of Portugal. Wellesley's successor, Sir John Moore, was killed at La Coruna, but his army was safely evacuated by sea, while Portugal and southern Spain remained unsubdued. Napoleon returned to Paris to deal with the threat from Austria, leaving the Spanish question unresolved.

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4. What was Goya’s attitude towards “Academic” development of artistic talent?

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In his 1792 address to the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Goya had stressed the importance to artists of studying nature, as opposed to the uninformed, servile copying of Greek statues or the following of rules proposed by those who have written about art:

It is impossible to express the pain that it causes me to see the flow of the perhaps licentious or eloquent pen (that so attracts the uninitiated) and fall into the weakness of not knowing in depth the material of which he writes; What a scandal to hear nature deprecated in comparison to Greek statues by one who knows neither the one, nor the other, without acknowledging that the smallest part of Nature confounds and amazes those who know most! What statue, or cast of it might there be, that is not copied from Divine Nature? As excellent as the artist may be who copied it, can he not but proclaim that placed at its side, one is the work of God, the other of our miserable hands? He who wishes to distance himself, to correct it [nature] without seeking the best of it, can he help but fall into a reprehensible and monotonous manner, of paintings, of plaster models, as has happened to all who have done this exactly?

(Quoted in Tomlinson, 1994, p. 306)

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6. Why didn't Goya publish his Disasters during his life?

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8. Give the factual background of Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa. How does it reflect Romantic themes?

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the story is based on real facts. In 1816, Louis XVIII, back from exile, calls the Royalist Schmaltz to become governor of Senegal. They start from Rochefort on the Medusa and at the coasts of Senegal, the Medusa, commanded by a mad captain, Chaumarey, strands on a sand bank in the open sea. The rescue boats take all the rich and leave behind 150 men on a raft built with the remaining wood of the ship. The accompanying boats where supposed to pull them to the land by a long cord. But Chaumarey cut them off and left the raft on the spot. The 12 days following that event is a struggle for life, hunger, thirst, canibalism and only 6 men survived that tragedy that became one of the biggest political scandals of that time. Inspired by that, Gericault has painted that frame to show this to the world and remind this tragic moments in human history.

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It isn't romantic in the sense that a bunch of nearly naked people are on a cruise together. It's from the Romantic art movement. It was a reaction against the Industrial revolution and science being used to describe the natural world. The Romantic art, music and literature was emotionally charged and often depicted natural landscapes. The word romantic was often used to mean something for natural phenomena like sunsets or waterfalls. It was a reaction against the Age of Enlightenment and brought emotion back to art.

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10. What are some aspects of French Romantic art and artists, such as Delacroix?

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Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (French: [ø.ʒɛn də.la.kʁwa]; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.[1] Delacroix's use of expressive brushstrokes and his study of the optical effects of colour profoundly shaped the work of the Impressionists, while his passion for the exotic inspired the artists of the Symbolist movement. A fine lithographer, Delacroix illustrated various works of William Shakespeare, the Scottish writer Walter Scott and the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

In contrast to the Neoclassical perfectionism of his chief rival Ingres, Delacroix took for his inspiration the art of Rubens and painters of the Venetian Renaissance, with an attendant emphasis on colour and movement rather than clarity of outline and carefully modelled form. Dramatic and romantic content characterized the central themes of his maturity, and led him not to the classical models of Greek and Roman art, but to travel in North Africa, in search of the exotic.[2] Friend and spiritual heir to Théodore Géricault, Delacroix was also inspired by Lord Byron, with whom he shared a strong identification with the "forces of the sublime", of nature in often violent action.[3]

However, Delacroix was given to neither sentimentality nor bombast, and his Romanticism was that of an individualist. In the words of Baudelaire, "Delacroix was passionately in love with passion, but coldly determined to express passion as clearly as possible."[4]

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12. What was the argument between poussinistes and rubenistes? Name one French painter for each category.

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Followers of Poussin, called poussinistes, argued that line (disegno) should ... to the intellect, while followers or Rubens, called rubenistes, argued that color

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14. Compare a neoclassical painting to a Romantic work in terms of subject matter, source and content.

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16. Many Romantic artists have a style that may be referred to as “Neo-Baroque.” Explain.

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In 17th-century Europe, the Renaissance was drawing to close and new political and spiritual ideas were emerging. Power, both secular and religious, was soon held by a small number of people across all of Europe. These people were flush with the money that Imperial Colonialism provided and invested heavily in building new civic buildings, churches and palaces. The style used--known as Baroque--became common throughout most of Europe and much of eastern North America.




Look for signs of wealth. Baroque architecture was born out of an abundance of wealth and power. The buildings are lavishly decorated and often very large. This served to show off the wealth and influence of the person who commissioned the building.

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Check the building for a large number of windows. This style prided itself on the use of natural lighting even when deep inside a structure. Tall narrow windows were common, as they allowed direct sunlight to enter the building through much of the day.

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18. What was Orientalism? How did it affect the arts?

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Orientalism is a term used by art historians and literary and cultural studies scholars for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Middle Eastern, and East Asian cultures (Eastern cultures) by American and European writers, designers and artists. In particular, Orientalist painting, depicting more specifically "the Middle East",[1] was one of the many specialisms of 19th century Academic art.

Since the publication of Edward Said's Orientalism in 1978, much academic discourse has begun to use the term "Orientalism" to refer to a general patronizing Western attitude towards Middle Eastern, Asian and North African societies. In Said's analysis, the West essentializes these societies as static and undeveloped—thereby fabricating a view of Oriental culture that can be studied, depicted, and reproduced. Implicit in this fabrication, writes Said, is the idea that Western society is developed, rational, flexible, and superior.[2]

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3. The Napoleonic War in Spain is usually referred to as the Peninsular War. What do the Spanish call it?

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The ‘Spanish ulcer’ and Peninsular War were a major contribution to Napoleon's defeat.

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5. What were the Caprichos and what were their intended purpose?

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Observation of nature, in the form of his contemporaries and their lives, certainly nourished Goya's own art. Increasingly, however, he engaged in a liberated form of artistry in which imitation became subservient to creativity: this was one of the key shifts inherent in the move from Enlightenment to Romanticism. His etching from the Los Caprichos series, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (Plate V2.1) encapsulates this shift as a contest of truth and imagination. When first drawn and etched in 1797, this was envisaged as a frontispiece and was accompanied by the caption: ‘The Author Dreaming. His only intention is to banish those prejudicial vulgarities and to perpetuate with this work of caprichos the sound testimony of truth.’ Creatures of the night represent those ‘prejudices’. We see owls and bats (which then represented ignorance and the forces of darkness) and a lynx, emblem of the power of sight. It is an ‘ignorant’ owl that prompts the artist into action. The total effect is one of ambiguity. Will darkness predominate in the artist's mind, or will his vigilance and alertness help to expose and banish these creatures of the night, as befitted the satirical intention of the series?

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7. What did the Third of May, 1808 represent?

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The Third of May 1808 is "the first great picture which can be called revolutionary in every sense of the word, in style, in subject, and in intention".[5]

The Third of May 1808 marks a clear break from convention. Diverging from the traditions of Christian art and traditional depictions of war, it has no distinct precedent, and is acknowledged as one of the first paintings of the modern era.

is a painting completed in 1814 by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya, now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. In the work, Goya sought to commemorate Spanish resistance to Napoleon's armies during the occupation of 1808 in the Peninsular War

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9. How did Gericault prepare to paint the Raft of the Medusa?

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A painting inside the French Salon would have a huge impact, delivering in the heart of the establishment, a message of anger.

This event was a political scandal - and Gericault's painting - an exposé -- a 17th Century tabloid headline!

How to be a creative polemic in the 18th century French Salon

In many ways the canvas is a masterpiece for its guile and nerve alone.

The French Salon committee would have looked for a Rococo style to hang on the walls of their establishment. Figures of authority or social standing, painted with decadence and frivolity - a style that, with lightness of touch, would quietly assure the ruling classes of their superiority.

The Raft of the Medusa is anathema to this. It is realistic and concerns the plight of ordinary, nameless characters - a huge break from tradition. It adopts sharp light and shade, giving the canvas a darkness that reflects the horror of the subject matter on display. It confronts death and suffering. Rather than an illustration of Monarchy achievement, it depicts a failing and a weakness.

Nevertheless, the painting was accepted and exhibited, to an institution conservative in nature and one that monopolised the promotion of creative output. It acted as arresting reportage for those who saw it first exhibited, and acts as cultural heritage for us all to wonder at to this day. How is this so?

To depict a ship of state running aground would have been both obvious, heavy-handed and unacceptable. Gericault instead chooses to depict the moment of sighting of the ship, The Argus that leads to rescue. (the ship is depicted as a tiny speck on the horizon). Hope is injected into the scene and the image made immediately more palatable.

From the prostrate bodies of the dead and dying in the foreground, the composition is built up to an emotional peak, embodied by the frantically waving central figure. This forward surge of the survivors parallels the movement of the raft they stand on. This scores valuable points for acceptance - structure and content are harmonious.

Although realism is a central concern for Gericault, where a story is here to be told, there is still an adherence to ancient tradition. Despite 17 days at sea, and the gruesome accounts of deprivation, disease and cannibalism that he had from survivors, his protagonists are presented as muscular and healthy. Gericault draws reference from antiquity, and is displaying his mastery of presenting the idealised human form and consequently himself as a worthy Salon contributor

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11. Describe an archetypal Romantic painting in terms of its formal stylistic traits.

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13. Why did Romantics prefer the sketch over the finished oil, painting over sculpture, and music over everything else as the preferred expression of Romantic feeling?

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15. How did Delacroix reveal whom he believed to be the heroes of the 1830 revolution?

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17. Name some of the violent themes represented in the works of romantic artists.

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