Discovering the Humanities THIRD EDITION CHAPTER 11 Enlightenment and the Rococo: The Claims of Reason and the Excess of Privilege Discovering the Humanities, Third Edition Henry M Sayre Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc or its affiliates All Rights Reserved Learning Objectives Discuss the role of rationalist thinking in the rise of the English Enlightenment and the literary forms to which the Enlightenment gave rise Explain the relationship of the French philosophes to both the Enlightenment and the Rococo Learning Objectives Describe the results of cross-cultural contact between Europeans and peoples of the South Pacific and China Canaletto London: The Thames and the City of London from Richmond House (detail) 1747 Oil on canvas 44-7/8" × 39-3/8" Trustees of the Goodwood Collection, West Sussex, UK [Fig 11.1] The English Enlightenment • Although Christopher Wren's plans to redesign the entire London city center after the Great Fire proved impractical, requirements mandating the use of brick and stone over wood were made • For poet John Dryden, the Great Fire was not so much a disaster as it was an opportunity to commemorate the city in his "Annus Mirabilis." Christopher Wren Saint Paul's Cathedral, London, western faỗade 16751710 â Angelo Hornak Photo Library [Fig 11.2] The New Rationalism and the Scientific Revolution • The new London was, in part, the result of the rational empirical thinking that dominated the Western imagination in the late seventeenth century • According to these new ways of reasoning, Scientia, the Latin word for "knowledge," was to be found in the world, not in religious belief Francis Bacon and the Empirical Method • Developments in philosophy and science challenged the authority of both the Catholic and Protestant churches • In England, Francis Bacon (1561–1626) developed the empirical method, a process of inductive reasoning based on direct and careful observation of natural phenomena Francis Bacon and the Empirical Method • Bacon's writings circulated widely in Holland, where they were received with enthusiasm René Descartes and the Deductive Method • The French-born René Descartes (1596– 1650) lived in Holland from 1628 to 1649 • Descartes developed a separate brand of philosophy based on deductive reasoning Cross-Cultural Contact • While Captain James Cook would claim new territories for the British crown on his sponsored journey, his primary mission was to extend human knowledge: to map the South Seas, record his observations, and otherwise classify a vast area of the world then unknown to European civilization The South Pacific • One of the most distinctive art forms that Cook and his crew encountered in Polynesia was tattooing, a word derived from tatau, the Tahitian term for the practice • The islanders believed that individuals, places, and many objects are imbued with mana, a spiritual substance that is the manifestation of the gods on earth China and Europe • Trade with China brought luxury goods from Asia to European markets in vast quantities • This created a widespread taste in Europe for "things Chinese" (chinoiserie) China and Europe • The ceramists at Meissen, near Dresden (Germany), learned how to make their own porcelain based on the blue-onwhite Chinese porcelain ware • This allowed for almost unbounded imitation and sale of Chinese designs on European-manufactured ceramic wares China and Europe • European thinkers such as Rousseau and Voltaire thought that China offered a model of exemplary government Sydney Parkinson Portrait of a Maori 1769 Wash drawing, later raved and published as Plate XVI in Parkinson's Journal, 1773 151/2" × 11-5/8" The British Library, London Add 23920 f.55 The Art Archive [Fig 11.18] China and Europe • During the Qing dynasty, the West influenced China as well • The Jesuit artists Giuseppe Castiglione (1688–1766) and Jean Denis Attiret (1702–1768) introduced the Chinese to Western painting techniques William Marlow View of the Wilderness at Kew 1763 Watercolor 11-1/16" × 17-13/16" Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York V & A Images/Victoria and Albert Museum [Fig 11.19] Franỗois Boucher Le Chinois Galant 1742 Oil on canvas 41" × 57" The David Collection, inv.B275 Photo: Pernille Klemp [Fig 11.20] China and Europe • The scientific perspective was a practice virtually unknown in Chinese painting, and made Castiglione and Attiret very popular with the Qianlong court • But the Qianlong emperor valued traditional Chinese art above all else, and his court painters copied the masters of the Song and Tang eras Jean Denis Attiret The Presentation of Uigur Captives, within the series Battle Scenes of the Quelling of Rebellions in the Western Regions, with Imperial Poems ca 1765–74; poem dated 1760 Etching mounted in album form, 16 leaves plus additional leaves of inscriptions; 20-1⁄16" × 34-1/4" Wang Hui The Colors of Mount Taihang Qing dynasty (1644–1911) ca 1669 Handscroll, ink, and color on silk 10" × 82-1/2" The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Gift of Douglas Dillon, 1978 (1978.423) Image copyright © Art Resource/Photo Scala, Florence [Fig 11.22] Continuity & Change • Marie-Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun painted virtually all the famous members of the French aristocracy, including on many occasions MarieAntoinette • Jacques-Louis David famously sketched Marie-Antoinette as she was being transported by cart to the guillotine Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun Marie-Antoinette en chemise 1783 Oil on canvas 33-1/2" × 28-1/4" Hessische Hausstiftung, Museum Schloss Fasanerie akg-images [Fig 11.23] Jacques-Louis David Marie-Antoinette conduite au supplice (Queen Marie-Antoinette on the way to the guillotine) 1783 Ink drawing 61-5⁄16" × 31-5⁄16" Musée du Louvre DR 3599 Coll Rothschild © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre)/Thierry Le Mage [Fig 11.24] ... members met in and around Birmingham each month on the night of the full moon—providing both light to travel home by and the name of the society The Industrial Revolution • The Lunar Society's members... full member of the Society Isaac Newton: The Laws of Physics • The English astronomer and mathematician Isaac Newton (1642– 1727) demonstrated to the satisfaction of almost everyone that the. .. Library [Fig 11. 2] The New Rationalism and the Scientific Revolution • The new London was, in part, the result of the rational empirical thinking that dominated the Western imagination in the late