ART history
The Death Of Marat
This painting the Death Of Marat depicts Jean-Paul Marat slowly dying as a cause of being killed by a woman called Charlotte Corday – a fragment of her letter, to him, slightly bloodied, is held in the dying man's left hand.
Within the painting he is seen writing a list of those who are to be sent to death for opposing the French revolution. Marat was responsible for the death of hundreds post the revolution.
The artist Jacques-Louis Marat was a close friend to Jean-Paul Marat. This familiarity with one another may have effected the portrayal of Jean- Paul Marat as he is seen in a sentimental and saint like as he is depicted with a check to a charity that he was writing in his hand. Furthermore he is seen as a victim of his circumstances – trapped in a bath treating his illness showing that his death is sudden and abrupt. The idealisation of Marat is continued by Jacques-Louis as the painting contains no sign of his skin problems, his skin appears clean and unblemished. However, due to the close relationship between the two, items that actually belonged to Marat are still included within the painting, such as the green rug, the papers, and the pen.
Context As well as being the leading French painter of his generation, David was a prominent Montagnard, and a Jacobin, aligned with Marat and Maximilian Robespierre. A deputy of the Museum section at the Convention, he voted for the death of the King, and served on the Committee of General Security, where he actively participated in the sentencing and imprisonment of many and eventually presided over the "section des interrogatoires". He was also on the Committee of Public Instruction.
To Charlotte Corday, Jean Paul Marat was a traitor as he was a Jacobin and she was a Girondist . The Girondins, Girondists or Gironde were members of a loosely knit political faction during the French Revolution. From 1791 to 1793, the Girondins were active in the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention. Together with the Montagnards, they initially were part of the Jacobin movement. A Jacobin was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary political movement that was the most famous political club during the French Revolution. The club was so called from the Dominican convent where they originally met, in the Rue Saint-Jacques in Paris.
The Death of Lady Jane Grey
Delaroche has used many small details in telling the story and increasing the dramatic and emotive quality o the painting. Lady Jane being assisted by John Bridges further highlighted how young and innocent she was during her execution. The white dress signifies her purity and suggests at her innocence. At only 16 she became Queen of England after the death of her cousin Edward IV; she was only Queen for 9 days before being exexuted on 12th February 1553 at Tower Green
Delaroche painted the subject of Lady Jane's execution in 1833, nearly 300 years after the event, drawing upon contemporary historical sources to help him portray it accurately. Delaroche had built his reputation in the Paris salon with large, realistic portrayals of famous events from the previous few centuries.
The size of the painting itself is large therefore providing a life size illusion .
Liberty Leading the People
Liberty strides barefoot and bare breasted being an allegoric figure of a Goddess. Traditionally, in Romantic paintings, having women’s breasts on show indicated power and supernatural strength. The erotic realism of her nudity alludes to ancient winged victories. She spurs the men to their final victory.
A woman personifying the concept and the Goddess of Liberty leads the people forward over a barricade and the bodies of the fallen, holding the flag of the French Revolution – the tricolour, which became France's national flag after these events – in one hand and brandishing a bayonetted musket with the other. The figure of Liberty is also viewed as a symbol of France and the French Republic known as Marianne.
Furthermore, Lady Liberty being barefoot in the painting hints at her class background; which working class poor. She represents the proletariat rising up against the bourgeoisie. Despite being in a conflicting and violent situation the posture of Lady Liberty is angelic and smooth which greatly contrast's with surroundings chaos. Liberty as both an allegorical goddess-figure and a robust woman of the people. The mound of corpses acts as a kind of pedestal from which Liberty strides, barefoot and bare-breasted, out of the canvas and into the space of the viewer.
Context The fighters are from a differentiating social classes, ranging from the bourgeoisie represented by the young man in a top hat, a student from the prestigious École Polytechnique wearing the traditional bicorne, to the revolutionary urban worker, as represented by the boy holding pistols. What they have in common is the fierceness and determination in their eyes. Aside from the flag held by Liberty, a second, minute tricolore can be discerned in the distance flying from the towers of Notre Dame.
The identity of the man in the top hat has been widely debated. The suggestion that it was a self-portrait by Delacroix has been discounted by modern art historians. In the late 19th century, it was suggested the model was the theatre director Étienne Arago; others have suggested the future curator of the Louvre, Frédéric Villot; but there is no firm consensus on this point. Several of the figures are probably borrowed from a print by popular artist Nicolas Charlet, a prolific illustrator who Delacroix believed captured, more than anyone else, the peculiar energy of the Parisians.
The Raft of The Medusa
The cluttered bodies stacked upon each other highlight the death and need to survive such turmoil; despite being in a collective group the expressions and body language separates one from another, further highlighting collectiveness yet separateness.
Gericault interviewed the survivors and found out that they ate each other. So he included a bloodied axe in the painting.
In the far corner we can see the sister ship the Argus. We are almost on the raft this is Romanticism! Putting us in the awful situation
Most of the men are faced away from the viewer however we can see the profile of those already dead or given up on the situation.
CONTEX T
ThÊodore GÉRICAULT (b. 1791, d. 1824,) French painter, one of the prime movers and most original figures of Romanticism. He studied in Paris and was influenced by making copies of the Old Masters at the Louvre,, ( the main art museum in France) developing a passion for the baroque art of Rubens. In 1816-17 he was in Italy and there became an enthusiastic admirer of Michelangelo and the dramatic paintings of Caravaggio.
In order to get the detail of drowned flesh correct, Gericault visited the morgues to paint dead flesh. This is romantic as he wants the experience to be authentic.
Gericault interviewed the survivors and found out that they ate each other. So he included a bloodied axe in the painting. He also included a French officers uniform as he blamed the event on an old captain who caused the Medusa ship to sink. Central theme was the belief in the value of ones individual experience. A move away from the rationalism of science and the enlightenment and looking into the unknown.
the painting proved highly controversial at its first appearance in the 1819 Paris Salon, attracting passionate praise and condemnation in equal measure. However, it established his international reputation, and today is widely seen as seminal in the early history of the Romantic movement in French painting.
The Third of May 1808
The smooth yet stagnant paint strokes further exemplify the chaos. The posture of the man in white contrasts to those around him as he is seen with a bold expression kneeling compared to his counterparts who are reserved hidden and frightened. The white clothing suggests purity and biblical connotations as paintings of Jesus usually depict him in white clothing. Moreover, the stigmata furthers this biblical ideology, suggesting that he will be resurrected.
The night setting furthers the unsettling elements of the painting as it creates and unknown and questionable feeling to the violence; highlighting the Romanticism within the painting.
The contrast between violence and fear, power and inferiority within the painting shows a as jarring motif for the conflict that is being presented in the painting.
The 2nd and 3rd of May, 1808 On May 2, 1808, hundreds of Spaniards rebelled. On May 3, these Spanish freedom fighters were rounded up and massacred by the French. Their blood literally ran through the streets of Madrid. Even though Goya had shown French sympathies in the past, the slaughter of his countrymen and the horrors of war made a profound impression on the artist. He commemorated both days of this gruesome uprising in paintings. The Third of May, 1808 in Madrid is acclaimed as one of the great paintings of all time, and has even been called the world’s first modern painting.
We see row of French soldiers aiming their guns at a Spanish man, who stretches out his arms in submission both to the men and to his fate. A country hill behind him takes the place of an executioner’s wall. A pile of dead bodies lies at his feet, streaming blood. To his other side, a line of Spanish rebels stretches endlessly into the landscape. They cover their eyes to avoid watching the death that they know awaits them. The city and civilization is far behind them. Even a monk, bowed in prayer, will soon be among the dead.