nineteenth-century art

Rococo through Impressionism

Landscape painting


pre-class prep:  read Chu pp. 169-179 (German landscape) and 180-201 (British landscape) (PDF)

                read Wackenroder, excerpt from 'Outpourings from the heart of an art-loving friar' (PDF)

                read 'Art in Context' essay 'Sublime Art - The History of the Sublime Art Movement'

discussion questions for Tuesday 27 February: Those named for the questions below should come prepared to present a short (3-5 minute) response to that question.

1. (Max M.) Compare/contrast J. M. W. Turner's Dido Building Carthage and Snow Storm: Hannibal Crossing the Alps in relation to the differences between Classicism and Romanticism, as well as in relation to the different 'aesthetic modalities' of landscape discussed in class and in the Chu reading.

2.  (Genesis) Find two (2) examples of 19th-century European 'picturesque' landscape painting that are not reproduced in the readings or discussed in class (other works by the same artists as those discussed in class or covered in the readings is fine). Email me jpegs of the works with the artist's names, titles of the works, and dates by noon on Tuesday 27 February so I can project the images during class while you explain how the works exemplify picturesque landscape painting in subject-matter, style/form, and overall intent.

3.  (Alina K.) Find two (2) examples of 19th-century European 'sublime' landscape painting that are not reproduced in the readings or discussed in class (other works by the same artists as those discussed in class or covered in the readings is fine). Email me jpegs of the works with the artist's names, titles of the works, and dates by noon on Tuesday 27 February so I can project the images during class while you explain how the works exemplify the sublime landscape in subject-matter, style/form, and overall intent.

people, terms, and concepts: classical/ideal landscape, picturesque landscape, sublime landscape, 'cataclysmic' sublime, 'infinite' sublime, Hobbes vs. Rousseau on the 'state of nature,' noble savage, pantheism, the ‘argument from design,’ the pathetic fallacy

key points:

This topic examines the three main types or, as Chu calls them, "modalities" of landscape in the nineteenth century: the classical/ideal landscape, the picturesque landscape and the sublime landscape:

• What are the characteristics of the classical/ideal landscape? How did this type attempt to raise the status of landscape painting in the 'hierarchy of the genres'? How is it similar to Neoclassical history painting?

• What are the characteristics of the picturesque landscape? How does it differ from the classical or ideal landscape, in terms of subject and style?

• How does the picturesque landscape demonstrate a new attitude about the relationship between nature and humankind, as expressed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the mid-eighteenth century? Be able to discuss how Rousseau described the 'state of nature' (that is, how humankind lived before civilization), in contrast to the mid-seventeenth century theory of Thomas Hobbes.

• How is this difference in attitude toward nature, and the 'proper' relationship between humankind and nature, also seen in the difference between French garden design (as seen in Versailles, for example), and English garden design?  

• How does the rise in popularity of the picturesque landscape relate to the Industrial Revolution and the rapid urbanization that accompanied it? Who typically bought picturesque landscapes, and why?

• What are the characteristics of the 'sublime' landscape? How does it portray a different aspect of nature than the picturesque landscape? 

• What kind of feeling did sublime landscapes intend to convey, and how is that feeling related to spirituality?

• How do both the picturesque and sublime landscapes show nature as a spiritual presence, even replacing the traditional idea of God as 'supernatural' personification? Be able to explain in relation to the Argument from Design, pantheism, and the pathetic fallacy.

Runge, Morning (oil study), 1808

Philip de Loutherbourg, Coalbrookdale by Night, 1808

Friedrich, Monk by the Sea, 1809-10

Friedrich, Abbey in an Oakwood, 1810

Constable, Flatford Mill (Scene on a Navigable River), 1817

Turner, The Slave Ship, 1840

Turner, Rain, Steam, and Speed: The Great Western Railway, 1844