Franz Pforr (German, worked in Roman countryside)

            Entry of Emperor Rudolf into Basel in 1273 (1808)

• In 1809, Franz Pforr and Friedrich Overbeck founded the Brotherhood of Saint Luke (St. Luke was the traditional patron saint of art), which was established as opposition to the historicism of the Vienna Academy. 
  
  • They wanted to find their German cultural identity.
  • Believed that traditional neoclassical art lacked spirituality.
  • Set up in abandoned monastery and became monks, long hair, vows of poverty and chastity. Everyone else called them the "Nazarenes".
  • They rejected the legacy of Baroque and Neoclassical art dominating the time, and instead drew inspiration from the Italian Renaissance.
  • Wanted to imitate and recreate medieval art and early religious works.
• The painting symbolizes Germanic unity under the Holy Roman Empire and demonstrates the artist's admiration for the first monarch of the Hapsburg dynasty to be elected emperor.
  • German pride
  • Defiance of Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon had Vienna academy shut down when he invaded). Napoleonic conquest.

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Friedrich Overbeck (German, worked in Roman countryside)

            Italia and Germania (1811-19)

• Painting deals with the question of what it means to be German or Italian. How does one describe national identity?
• Casts Italy (dark hair) and Germany (light hair) as 2 women holding hands (allegorical). The landscape portrays the Italian countryside juxtaposed with a medieval looking town.
  • Communicates that Italy and Germany do share common ground.
  • Embraces the idea that the two countries might have more in common (spiritual, cultural, and political beliefs) than one might expect.  

Philipp Otto Runge (German)

            Times of Day: Morning (1808)

• Runge was in Academy of Copenhagen but dropped out because he did not like Neoclassicism.
  • Interests included philosophy, study of the natural world, religion, spirituality.
• Morning is a painting in which Runge attempts to convey all of his interests. Wants painting to apply universally to everyone.
  • Allegorical treatment of the temporal cycles of life that unite the human and the natural, physical, and spiritual realms.
  • Shows the morning sun, marking the beginning of every day and symbolizing birth.
  • Shows infants and a maternal figure, alluding to biblical story of virgin Mary and birth of Jesus.
  • Shows a white lilly gradually blooming, symbolizing the stages of life: youth, adolescence/early adulthood, late adulthood, and death. These stages can be related back to the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.
  • Angels are present at the lilly's full bloom, symbolizing that the soul is ready to transcend from the physical world.
  • Life cycle repeats back to rebirth.

Philipp Otto Runge (German)

The Hulsenbeck Children (1805)

• Depicts large children, almost monstrous looking in size. They are intentionally depicted to look as tall as the mansion in the background.
• The children are painted beside sunflowers to show the connection between the rapid growth of the plants in the spring and human beings during their early years.

Caspar David Friedrich (German)

The Tetschen Altarpiece: Cross in the Mountains (1808)

• Painting depicts Jesus on the cross on top of a mountain.
• Altarpiece has the masonic "All Seeing Eye" of the supreme being, alluding to the Masonic Lodge. It was a place for people to voice their political opinions without fear of death or imprisonment. A social club that facilitated open talk about Napoleon.
• Painting alludes to anti-napoleonic sentiment and German nationalism, religious piety. Symbol of Germany's inevitable revival and restoration from the invasions of France, much like revival of Christ in Christianity.
• Message is that German lands are sacred/special.
• Fir trees, mountain top, and sun rays all try to affect a sense of Christ's love for humanity as well as hope.

Caspar David Friedrich (German)

Monk by the Sea (1808)

• Metaphysical reflection on the relation between humanity and the natural world.
• Shows the distinction between Romantic and Enlightenment beliefs.
  • Romantics believed the force of nature was supreme.
  • Enlightenment thinkers believed that men can conquer nature.
• Painting depicts a monk in the foreground of a large sea with fog. The landscape is intentionally made the focus of the work to show the awesome power of nature. The monk is depicted as diminutive compared to the sea in order to communicate the Romantic belief that man is insignificant compared to the universe.
  • Not meant to make man feel bad but to simply teach us that since our actions have no significant impact on the universe and eventually nature will reclaim everything, we should just appreciate nature's power and beauty, not try to control it.
  • Live life to the fullest, don't worry about trying to understand everything about the world and control it because that goal is futile.

Caspar David Friedrich (German)

Abbey in an Oak Forest (1810)

• Depicts the remains of medieval abbey.
• Nature has reclaimed the space of the abbey as seen by the pointed trees.
• The theme is that man's control will always be weakened and stripped by nature eventually.
• The oak trees and the architecture both ascend above and into the atmospheric ellipse of twilit sky, alluding to the idea that Gothic architecture was inspired by nature.
• Again the monks are very small compared to the overall scene, reaffirming the idea that man is insignificant in grand scheme.
• The funereal tone alludes to the fading hope for a redeemed German nation due to French occupation.

Caspar David Friedrich (German)

Shipwreck (1824)

• Depicts a shipwreck in arctic region
• The ship is small compared to the rest of the scene, which consists of ice-covered stone (icebergs). 
• Shipwrecks during the time would result in certain death and therefore the painting is a testament to nature's power over mankind.

*Compare with Napoleon Crossing the Alps

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JMW Turner (British)

Snowstorm: Hannibal and His Army Crossing the Alps (1812)

• Turner was a landscape painter and his goal was to make landscape painting more intellectual by connecting it to historical contexts.
• This painting depicts Hannibal and his men crossing the alps to expand the Carthaginian Empire. 
  • It is said that Hannibal crossed the alps with more than 30 elephants.
  • One small shadow of an elephant can be seen far in the background, which gives the landscape painting an historical context, thereby elevating its importance.
  • Both the elephant and the men are very small compared to the storm, which was done intentionally to emphasize the power of nature over mankind, like Friedrich's work.
• This painting can be compared to David's Napoleon Crossing the Alps because of the historical motifs present in both works. In David's painting, Napoleon's name is inscribed on a stone alongside Hannibal and Charlemagne, which serves to historicize his conquest. Turner is instead a landscape painter who tried to elevate his paintings by adding historical symbolism.
• In Turner's painting, the emphasis is the storm. In David's painting the emphasis is Napoleon.

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JMW Turner (British)

Dido Building Carthage (1815)

• Relates to the founding of Carthage, the empire led by Hannibal.
• Depicts Queen Dido of Carthage and Aeneas from Virgil's epic poem, the Aeneid.
• Based compositionally and stylistically on another painting
  • Claude Lorrain, Embarkation of Queen of Sheba (1648)
  • All of Lorrain's paintings had objects on both sides, no blank space. Objects were typically buildings or trees and the middle of the canvas contained some other features.
  • Turner consciously emulates Lorrain's artistic style by painting buildings on both sides of the work and illustrating the narrative in the middle.
• Neoclassical or Romantic
  • Tells an historical narrative and painted very linearly, indicative of Enlightenment style.
  • Turner was born into a period that prioritized historical/neoclassical paintings, so he tried to elevate his landscape paintings to the same level as neoclassical paintings by adding historical elements.
• Compare to Times of Day: Morning
  • There is a sunrise in the painting, and similarly to how the Times of Day: Morning painting connected the morning to the beginning of life or the seasons, the sunrise in the Dido painting can symbolize the beginning/founding of the Carthaginian Empire (larger historical periods).

JMW Turner (British)

Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus (1829)

• Depicts a ship and two other objects that seem ambiguous (painterly).
• Conflict between poetry and painting
  • Painters say painting is better because entire story can be told in one image.
  • Poets say that poetry is better because it is subject to interpretation, unlike prose writing.
  • Turner intentionally paints Polyphemus in an ambiguous way to make painting more poetic. If we look at the painting without first reading the title, we will think that Polyphemus is just a rock mass.
  • The title of the work tells us that it is actually Polyphemus kneeling down in agony after being blinded by Odysseus.
  • Sunrise symbolizes Apollo's riding of his chariot across the sky. Metaphor for the dawning of a new day, end of one adventure and start of another.
  • Homer's the Odyssey is a poem and therefore subject to interpretation, and Turner's painterliness in depicting Polyphemus and Apollo is a reflection of the subjectivity of the poem.

JMW Turner (British)

Burning of the Houses of Parliament (1835)

• Depicts people watching the Westminster bridge and Houses of Parliament burning.
• People are painted with unrefined brush strokes to make painting appear "poetic".
• Very painterly
• People are witnessing historical moment
• Fire is main focus of the work.
  • Force of nature that will overcome man-made structures.
  • Nature is all-powerful and will reclaim things made by man.
  • Message is to live life to the fullest

JMW Turner (British)

The Fighting Temeraire (1838)

• British started building textile mills along the banks of rivers (start of Industrial Revolution). Used hydro-power to produce work.
• British soon came out with the coal-fired steam engine, so textile mills could be built anywhere.
• Romanticism around new technology being able to advance the world.
• Romanticism around nostalgia as well.
• The Temeraire was a French naval ship and during the time of its inception it was the leading technology. French tried to use it against the British but it was captured and the British used it to defeat the French in subsequent naval battles.
• Painting depicts the Temeraire being towed to scrap yard by steam-powered vessel.
• It is ambiguous whether the sun is rising or setting, so we don't know Turner's exact opinion on the Industrial Revolution (is technology good or bad). Reflects his ambivalence on the subject.

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JMW Turner (British)

            The Slave Ship (1840)

• Britain was first to abolish slavery.
  • Face of evolution
• Extremely painterly almost to the point of abstraction.
  •  Blotches of paint used to depict sun, water, slave ship, slaves, sharks
• Subject of painting is from Britain's own slave trading history. A slave ship from Liverpool called the Zong was carrying slave cargo.
  • The slaves became sick and there was no insurance given for slaves that died from disease.
  • The crew decided to throw the slaves overboard to get the insurance money for slaves lost at sea.
  • Insurance was not given because the real story was uncovered and it became a scandal for the English slaving industry. Major case of insurance fraud.
• Dark painting: depicts shackled slaves being eaten by sharks.
• The sunset is a metaphor for the death of the slaves.
• Painting champions the underdogs of this story: the slaves
• Poetic because title leaves it open to interpretation as to which slave ship this was.

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John Constable (British)

The Haywain (1821)

• Constable was born near Essex
  • Anti industry
  • Nostalgic
  • Landscape painter, contemporary of Turner
• Painting presents an idyllic view of rural country life.
  • Attempt to romanticize the simple rural lifestyle.
• The cottage in the painting presumably belonged to Willie Lott, a man who claimed to never go too far from his home to where he couldn't sleep in his own bed.
• Constable admired Willie Lott and made the painting in his honor.
• It is ironic that Constable's paintings inspired many painters from far away but he himself never wanted to stray too far from home. Painting goes farther than he ever does (inspires French artists) while Constable just wants to stay in England.
• Meant to juxtapose with the economic depression civil unrest of the agrarian working class during the time.

John Constable (British)

Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop’s Grounds (1823)

• Cathedral is symbol of England's newly adopted Anglican religion.
• Gothic architectural style presumably inspired by nature and the arching trees in the scene connect with the church's arch, thereby naturalizing the architecture.
• Church is natural-looking, almost as if it has grown out of the ground
• It is said that Gothic architecture was first envisioned through watching trees in the forest.
  • Gothic architecture is naturally derived.

Theodore Gericault (French) 

Mounted Officer of the Imperial Guard (1812)

• Imitated Gros's artistic style (patchy) and David's Napoleon painting on horseback
• Hoped for imperial commissions
• Romantic fascination with Imperial pomp and military regalia
• Not suitable as political propaganda so Napoleon doesn't like it. Doesn't depict a specific battle or military hero, or anything political or something from history.
• Unsuccessful

Theodore Gericault (French)

 Blacksmith’s Signboard (1814)

• Depicts a blacksmith as stoically commanding a horse with one hand.
• Heroic pose and muscular stature
• Painting served as a signboard for a blacksmith's shop.
• Blacksmith is of a lower class however
  • Gericault elevates the Blacksmith's social status by presenting him as a strong and heroic-looking individual
• Romantics often tend to champion the underdogs of society.
• Gloppy and loose brushstrokes, dark in terms of color palette, Goya-looking

Compare with the Slave Ship

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Theodore Gericault (French) 

Raft of the Medusa (1819)

• Depicts the story of a shipwreck of the frigate Medusa off the West African Coast.
• The commander of the ship was a returned emigre aristocrat who had spurned the advice of the experienced naval officers under him (told him to avoid a storm and he sailed right into it)
  • The privileged commandeered the inadequate lifeboats and the rest of the men (about 150) were forced on top of a makeshift raft where the water still rose to their waists.
  • The officers became impatient with towing the raft and cut the line, leaving the majority to their fate.
  • The men became delirious and attacked each other, committed suicide, resorted to cannibalism
• Nepotism dictated the position of the head sailor, not merit and therefore he did not make the right decision. 
• Gericault contacted one of the survivors from the wreckage and they made a painting to memorialize the sailors.
• Gericault couldn't display the painting in France because of the political corruption and nepotism of the revived Bourbon Monarchy, so he displayed it in England.
• Comparison/Contrast
  • The Raft of the Medusa relates to an actual historical account like the Slave Ship and both paintings serve to champion the underdogs, to shed light and make right of a historical tragedy.
  • Both paintings depict a dark and ominous subject matter in the attempt to describe the struggles of the unfortunate.
  • As opposed to Turner's The Slave Ship, this painting is very linear and clean, all of the characters have well defined bodies and clear facial expressions, body language so that we can see their plight.
  • Turner's painting instead is very painterly and romantic, objects are not clearly defined and there is metaphorical significance and symbolism to make painting seem "poetic". Also, Turner does not explicitly state which slave ship in the title, leaving the historical relevance open to interpretation.
  • Both paintings convey nature's indifference to the struggles and cruelty of humanity.

Theodore Gericault (French) 

Kleptomania (1822)

• During the 1800s the mentally ill were treated as criminals and were imprisoned.
• Dr. Pinel was a psychiatrist who advocated helping the mentally ill by treating them in sanitariums.
• Dr. Pinel taught Dr. Georget, who treated Gericault after his 3 attempted suicides in England.
  • Georget believed in physiognomy, which theorizes that a person's mental state as well as their character and intelligence is manifested in their face.
  • Georget conducted a study where he rounded up a sample of kleptomaniacs and tried to find common denominator in their faces.
• Gericault created collection of paintings called Monomania, which includes images of people with different fixations like Kleptomania, Envy, etc.
• The psychiatry of the time was romantic because Dr. Esquirel published books on case studies of particular patients who exhibited incredible talents in one instance and raved like a madmen in the next.
  • Patients could sometimes have moments of clarity in which they recite perfect Latin or draw beautiful sketches or demonstrate other genius abilities.
  • This demonstrates the blurry line between the creative genius and insanity.
  • Just like Romantic paintings can be ambiguous and open to interpretation (duplicitous in presentation of subject matter), psychiatry is romantic.

Eugene Delacroix (French)

 Barque of Dante (1822)

• Inspiration of painting is Dante's Inferno - written in Italian Renaissance vernacular
• Delacroix's family was very wealthy before end of Napoleonic empire, but afterwards he lost everything so he became an artist for money.
• Depicts the scene where Dante and Virgil visit the 5th circle of hell (wrath). They are taking passage on a boat and we see the souls of the damned attempting to capsize the boat on the River Styx.
• The scene is macabre in nature and the composition is dark and gloomy. 
• Delacroix mimics Gericault's artistic style in depiction of bodies (similar to that in Medusa). Painting is of a narrative from literature, so due to the subject it is neoclassical. The figures are painted as muscular and they are well defined, however, there is some painterliness as evidenced by the blotches in water, sky, and the figures.
• The faces of the damned are similar to the faces of the insane.

Compare with Raft of the Medusa and The Slave Ship

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Eugene Delacroix (French)

Massacre at Chios (1824)

• Painting relates to the Greek's war for independence from the Ottoman Turks.
• The Ottomans had diplomatic relations with European powers, including France, so the disaffected French liberals had no avenue to affect change.
  • The ordinary French citizens understood the plight of the Greeks because they themselves had gone through a revolution and series of upheavals.
• Like Gericault, Delacroix championed the Greek underdogs in their war for independence by painting this picture.
  • Attempt to galvanize the French government and the people to help Greece.
  • The Greeks are intentionally painted light-skinned (pale white) to convince Europe to help the Christian Greeks, who are direct descendants of ancient Greeks. Their ancestors are from Classical antiquity which is the inspiration for neoclassical art.
  • Depicts dead woman and child, which is a reference to Jesus and Mary (Christianity).
  • Turks are depicted dark and menacing, clearly the artist is trying to sympathize with the Greeks.
• The painting primarily serves to show the suffering of the survivors of the Battle at Chios, the dying as well as the anguish of the living. The living will be sent into slavery.
• The Turks are depicted as indifferent to the pain and suffering of the Greeks, which would have stirred emotions in the French because they too knew about the misuse of power by those in the upper ranks of society.
• Comparison/Contrast
  • This painting describes a scene of historical significance and champions the underdog much like Gericault in the Medusa and Turner in the Slave Ship. 
  • In the Medusa painting however there is something heroic about the stranded sailors trying to catch the attention of a passing boat but in Delacroix's painting there is no heroic ending because despite the heroism of those fighting for independence, their efforts only lead to slavery.
  • In David's Oath of the Horatii, it is considered honorable to fight for one's people, and that fight led to a heroic ending, but this is not true for the people of Chios. 

Eugene Delacroix (French) 

Liberty Leading the People (1830)

• Discontent soon rose among the French people during the corrupt reign of Charles X and a revolt occurred. Charles X's cousin, Louis-Philippe, was installed as the head of the July Monarchy. He was elected as the king of the middle-class.
  • Fight for restoration of constitutional chapter usurped by the Bourbon Charles X, right to work, right to a fair wage, right to organize trade unions
• Delacroix wanted him to become the next emperor because that would restore his family to power.
• Delacroix did not want to be labeled as a radical so he painted this after the revolt.
• Painting depicts the open-breasted Liberty (woman) carrying a freedom flag through the streets with a horde of French middle and lower-class people. They are fighting the restoration soldiers.
• This is an allegory for the charge against the constitutional monarchy led by the lower people of France.
• Lady Liberty represents a natural condition of humankind, suffocated by oppression but revealed again in revolt.
  • Born of the myth that the July Revolution was the creation of all of the classes of Paris acting in harmony.

Compare with La Grande Odalisque

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Eugene Delacroix (French) 

Women of Algiers (1834)

• Delacroix travels with King Louis Philippe to Morocco and documents harem life.
• The harem women are depicted as bored and stoned. They do not look flirtatious or aroused unlike the La Grande Odalisque. 
• The environment is in stark contrast to the La Grande Odalisque painting. The women are not sitting on posh pillows and do not look comfortable, instead they are seated on a cold hard tile floor.
• The women are not nude and therefore not in a constant state of availability as Ingres romanticized.

Compare with George Washington and others

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Ingres (French)

Napoleon on his Imperial Throne (1806)

• Napoleon is depicted sitting on his imperial throne in very regal attire (gold and red) and he has feet perched on top of pillow, symbolizing his rule and power over France.
• Napoleon's hieratic frontal pose is arranged in the manner of Byzantine and early medieval ivory carvings of quasi-divine rulers. Made it look like Napoleon's power was divine right. Similar to portrayal of Jupiter from Roman antiquity (Jupiter and Thetis by Ingres).
• Zodiac signs used to impart notion that Napoleon's rise to power was preordained.
• Used to fortify Napoleon's reign and legitimize his rule.
• Napoleon claimed to have republican ideals but eventually adopted the same ideas as early rulers of France: that rulers draw power from divine right.

Compare with the Women of Algiers

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Ingres (French)

La Grande Odalisque (1814)

• Romantic painting that depicts the exotic life of a harem woman.
• Ingres drew inspiration from middle eastern culture in trying to depict this exotic woman. However, it really looks like an exoticized European woman with turban, peacock feathers, and pipe.
• The woman is nude with her back turned to the viewer, suggesting an erotic tone but also her facial expression is aloof and distant.
• Woman is posed awkwardly with left leg positioned over her right leg and it looks as if she has extra vertebrae (anatomical inaccuracy). Done to enhance the aesthetic and sensual beauty of the female body.
• Romanticized harem life as fantastic or enjoyable when in reality it wasn't.
• The style is neoclassical/Enlightenment because it is linear but the subject is presented in a Romantic way
  • Contrast this with the Women of Algiers where the style is romantic due to the painterliness of the work, however, the subject matter is treated in an objective and Enlightened way. Delacroix portrays the real lives of harem women while Ingres romanticizes harem life by depicting it as enjoyable.

Ingres (French)

Vow of Louis XIII (1824)

• Louis XVIII commissions Ingres to paint his ancestor Louis XIII. The intent of the painting was to make people forget about the deposed monarchy in favor of the revived Bourbon Monarchy. 
• Painting depicts Emperor Louis XIII taking a vow to the Virgin Mary in an appeal for divine assistance in defeating the forces of the French Protestants.
  • Louis XIII is depicted giving the crown and scepter to Mary in return for her divine aid.
  • Mary is holding the baby Jesus in her arms and looks as if she's floating on clouds. Bathed in a heavenly glow with angels surrounding her.  

Ingres (French) 

Louis Bertin (1832)

• Bertin was a media mogul who owned many magazines and newspapers. Ingres was commissioned to paint his portrait but Ingres takes a long time to sketch him because he cannot find the right pose. Ingres doesn't feel inspired so he wants to leave and Bertin gets angry, and in that moment Ingres finds his pose.
• The portrait depicts Bertin as tense, annoyed, and impatient. He is seated in a pose typical of monarchs, rulers, and aristocrats throughout history.

Ingres (French)

Odalisque with Slave (1839)

• Depicts Odalisque with slave playing music for her.
• Demonstrates Ingres's detachment with reality because harem women in truth were not given slaves. Ingre's inspiration was from Western literature but he did not actually see and document harem life like Delacroix.
• Geometric design of environment is typical of Islamic or Persian works.
• Depicted as nude, writhing in ecstasy, orgasmic pose

Honore Daumier (French)

Rue Transnonain (1834)

• Louis Philippe outlawed labor unions, which incited street riots.
  • Curfew was set.
  • Marshall Law established
  • Barricades set up
• One person shot at military police, which caused the police to invade all apartments and kill everyone.
  • Happened on the street Rue Transnonain. 
• Painting depicts several dead people in apartment.
• Daumier hated the government of Louis Philippe and was trying to create lithographs of political propaganda, designed to convince the people to go against the king.
• Lithographs were better suited to spread his message because they are easier and cheaper to mass produce so people of many walks of life can see them. This is unlike paintings, which are exhibited mainly at Salons for a short period of time, bought, and never seen again by the general public.
• Sends a message to the viewer about the tragic killing of innocent people by the military without violating the censorship law imposed by Louis Philippe.

Paul Delaroche (French) 

Execution of Lady Jane Grey (1834)

• Henry VIII, founder of Church of England breaks away from Catholicism and adopts Protestantism.
  • He dies and his son Edward VI becomes King but he is sick and dies shortly after receiving the throne.
  • On his deathbed he says that he doesn't want his Catholic sisters to become Queen.
  • The British Parliament found Lady Jane Grey, a Protestant in the Tudor lineage and made her Queen.
  • Mary, the Catholic princess sentences Jane Grey to death by beheading after she serves as Queen for only 9 days.
• Painting depicts Jane Grey blindfolded trying to feel her way to the chopping block. There is an executioner present with an axe.
• Painting is Romantic in a way because it champions the underdog and tells of the tragic death of Jane Grey.
• In the painting, her hand is almost reaching out into our space and we can see the bits of straw almost coming out of the painting (illusion).
• No brushstrokes, can't see the artist's hand and thus this painting is deemed style-less.

Compare with David's version

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Paul Delaroche (French) 

            Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1850)

• The nephew of Napoleon comes out of the Second Republic as President Louis-Napoleon (later Emperor Napoleon III).
• Tells the realistic story of Napoleon crossing the Alps on a donkey led by local guide with his men following. The weather is inclement and freezing. Napoleon looks miserable instead of heroic as in David's version.
• David was forced to paint Napoleon in the best light so as to improve his political standing and strengthen his imperial rule. Delaroche, on the other hand, is motivated by the desire to convey a realistic view of the monarchy instead of romanticizing it.
  • Not meant to be satirical and critical of Napoleon.
• Very clean, linear, detailed
  • Neoclassical art style and conveys subject of work in a realistic way as well.

Camille Corot (French)

The Forum Seen from the Farnese Gardens (1826)

• Depicts a landscape of the Farnese Gardens in Rome. The piece is painterly.
• Corot inherited his wealth early and so he was able to fund his interests for purely landscape painting his entire life. He abandoned history painting. He learned how to create stylistic compositions from study of figure painting.
• Landscape painting is at the bottom of hierarchy of genres.
• Due to his wealth, Corot was able to paint with all of his materials in the field (canvas, paintbrushes, etc). Other artists had to sketch their scenes and then go back to their art studios to make the finished paintings, and therefore their artwork lacked the same quality of lighting as Corot's. 
• Due to his wealth, Corot consciously avoids politics.

Camille Corot (French)

Chartres Cathedral (1830)

• Corot does not want to get involved with politics or violence of July Monarchy so he takes a vacation and tours the French countryside. (apolitical)
• Depicts a cathedral that was built over course of centuries so it is inspired by different art styles from Romanesque at the base to Gothic at the arches.
• Romantic idea that the cathedral is part of the natural environment because it has been there for so long and the trees right beside it support this idea. The trees go upward towards the sky just like the arches, reinforcing the belief that Gothic architecture was inspired by nature.
  
  • The dirt and stone is the same color as the cathedral, which naturalizes the cathedral.
• Corot saw Constable's Haywain exhibited in Paris and Constable served as role model for Corot.

Theodore Rousseau (French)

Under the Birches (1843)

• Rousseau was one of the students of Corot. He and other artists established the Barbizon School.
• Depiction of series of Birch trees that serve as a metaphor for the life cycle of human beings. The Birch trees go from short, increase in length, and the ones at the end are breaking and dying. Metaphor for youth, adolescence, adulthood, and death.

Compare with Antonio Canova sculpture

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Horatio Greenough (American)

            George Washington (1832)

• Depiction of George Washington seated, right arm raised, one foot in front of the other, godlike pose. Reflects classical Greek/Roman sculptures of Zeus/Jupiter. Example: Jupiter and Thetis painting by Ingres.
  • Washington is depicted as regal, which he specifically did not want, he wanted to be portrayed in a more democratic and secular light.
  • Muscular
• He is most likely depicted in this way to affect a sense of timelessness (make him live endlessly in time).

Compare with Delaroche painting

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David (French)

Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1801)

•  Romanticized version of historical event. Used to elevate Napoleon's power and imperial command over France. Napoleon's name is carved into the stone with Hannibal and Charlemagne to solidify his place among other great rulers in history.
• In contrast, the Delaroche painting depicts a realistic version of the crossing. It serves to 

Antonio Canova (Italian, Venice)

Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker (1806)

Compare to sculpture of Washington by Greenhough

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Antonio Canova (Italian, Venice)

Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker (1806)

• Depicts Napoleon as a nude tall muscular man holding a scepter. Looks godlike and powerful.
• Is not an accurate depiction of Napoleon because he was short in stature. 
• Canova did not like Napoleon because he sacked Rome, Canova's home.
  • Pope pleaded with Canova to create Napoleon's sculpture and so he did, however, his intention was probably to humiliate him: make him feel as if he can never attain the level of perfection as in the sculpture. 
• Depicts Napoleon as someone who does conquest and gains control in order to instill peace.

Girodet (French)

            Ossian Receiving the Shades of Napoleonic Officers (1802)

• Depicts French soldiers killed in recent campaigns, arriving in Valhalla presided over by blind Celtic bard, Ossian. The painting is filled with all sorts of characters, unlike Davidian paintings that usually consisted of a few characters and told a specific story from antiquity. The Ossian painting, however, is difficult to understand and doesn't have a clear narrative, characters don't have clear purpose.
• Ossian was considered by the French to be a Nordic Homer. He was believed to have written many epic poems that were based in Nordic history, however, it was later discovered that the poems did not originate from Ossian but a Scottish writer, James Macpherson. 
• Painting symbolizes the idea of a heroic death because after you die you will join the great Celtic bard Ossian in the afterlife.