Events from the year 1748 in art.
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David, The Lictors Returning to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons
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Neoclassical Art
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The Life and Artwork of French Painter Pierre Bonnard.
Transcription
SPEAKER 1: We're at the Musee du Louvre, and we're looking at Jacques-Louis David's Brutus and his Sons. SPEAKER 2: This is one of my favorite paintings by David, and dates to the very year of the revolution itself, 1789. SPEAKER 1: And it was tied beautifully to the revolutionary sentiment in subject. SPEAKER 2: Brutus has led the revolution against the kings in Rome. This is in ancient Rome. Brutus has discovered that his sons have committed treason in attempting to restore the monarchy to Rome. SPEAKER 1: So Brutus, as judge, has taken the extraordinary step of sentencing his own family to death for their treason, putting the state above his own personal family, above his own feelings, above his own needs. SPEAKER 2: And that's the thing that we also see in the Oath of the Horatii. The triumph of reason, of being moral and virtuous, over personal feelings and personal priorities. SPEAKER 1: But this is also a painting about the cost of that. It's not blind patriotism. There is a true emotional power and cost there, and it's tragic. SPEAKER 2: And Brutus sits in shadow, under a statue of Rome, holding this edict in his hand. His feet crossed beneath him, his hand up. He's obviously in thought. His back turned to the body of his sons, who we see being carried in behind him. While his wife and children, who form the other half of the composition, call out, fully illuminated, shielding their eyes, passing out. They can't believe what Brutus has done. SPEAKER 1: Brutus is quiet, he's calm, he's resigned, even if there is a kind of deep tragedy there. The women on the other side and the children have given in to their emotions. SPEAKER 2: In many ways, this fits in with ideas that were around during the revolution that only men really have the capability of sacrificing for the state, of being true citizens, because only men could rise above their emotions and their personal concerns to think about these greater goods. SPEAKER 1: That stoicism seems to be echoed in the very architecture of this space. We have a fairly complex classical environment-- Doric columns, the most pared down. And this is the truest of Greek architecture. But then that's softened, especially in the sphere of the women, in that that's draped with cloth, the softer material. This is a painting that's clearly informed by David's research into classical architecture, into classical furnishings. SPEAKER 2: And the figures themselves resemble ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, the way that the drapery clings to their bodies. The importance of anatomy here is so clear. Of a clarity of space, of a clarity of line. The colors are subdued, but the light comes in really strongly and illuminates these figures. And we have dramatic, powerful gestures. And you're right. This is sacrifice and virtue, but simultaneously the terrible emotional cost of that, not just for Brutus's family, but for Brutus, too. And it's fascinating to me that this painting was made the very year of the revolution, because it seems to speak to the virtues that were required for the revolution. The idea of sacrificing for the greater good. The idea that the revolution brings in ideals of equality before the law. So that even though Brutus is the leader, he's not going to excuse his sons. SPEAKER 1: Tragically, the revolution would turn against its own sons. And this becomes almost a foreshadowing of what will happen. Of course, in that case, you have the excesses of Robespierre and others, where the virtues that are expressed in this early painting by David are turned away from. In some tragic way, this painting does foreshadow the collapse and, in a sense, failure of the revolution.
Events
- The Paris Salon first introduces a jury.
- Patience Lovell, the first recognized American-born sculptor, marries Joseph Wright.
Works
- Canaletto – The South Façade of Warwick Castle (Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid)
- Maurice Quentin de La Tour – Marie Leszczyńska, Queen of France and Nazarre (pastels)
- Robert Feke – Portrait of William Bowdoin
- Thomas Gainsborough – Landscape in Suffolk
- William Hogarth – The Gate of Calais, or O, the Roast Beef of Old England
Awards
- Prix de Rome (for sculpture) – Augustin Pajou
Births
- May 22 – Thomas Roberts, Irish Landscape artist (died 1778)
- June 22 – John Carter, English draughtsman and architect (died 1817)
- August 30, Jacques-Louis David, French painter (died 1825)
- September 26 – Johann Sebastian Bach, German painter and grandson of the composer (died 1778)
- October 9 – Jacob Adam, Austrian copper etcher (died 1811)
- October 16 – Augustin Dupré, French engraver of French currency and medals (died 1833)
- October 13 – Johann Dominicus Fiorillo, painter and art historian (died 1821)
- date unknown
- Antonio Carnicero, Spanish painter in the Neoclassical style (died 1814)
- Christina Chalon, Dutch painter and etcher (died 1808)
- Marie-Anne Collot, French sculptor (died 1821)
- Charles Eschard, French painter, draftsman and engraver (died 1810)
- Pierre-Charles Jombert, French painter (died 1825)
- Louis Masreliez, Swedish painter and interior designer (died 1810)
- John Ramage, Irish American goldsmith and miniaturist (died 1802)
- Dionys van Dongen, Dutch painter (died 1819)
- Marten Waefelaerts, Flemish 18th century landscape painter (died 1799)
- 1748/1749: Henry Pelham, American painter, engraver, and cartographer (died 1806) (drowned)
Deaths
- April 12 – William Kent, architect and designer (born 1685)
- May 5 – Alessandro Galli Bibiena, Italian architect and painter, eldest son of Ferdinando Galli Bibiena (born 1686)
- June 11 – Felice Torelli, Italian from a family of painters, painter of altarpieces (born 1667)
- August 14 – Thomas Germain, silversmith (born 1673)
- September 15 – Johann Georg Schmidt, Austrian Baroque painter (born 1685)
- date unknown
- Ferdinando del Cairo, Italian painter of the Baroque (born 1666)
- Giovanni Casini, Italian portrait painter and sculptor (born 1689)
- Giovanni Battista Lama, Italian painter, active mainly in Naples (born 1673)
- Giovanni Pietro Ligario, Italian painter of historical pictures for churches and private collections (born 1686)
- Henry Scheemakers, Flemish sculptor (born unknown)
- Robert van Audenaerde, Flemish painter and engraver (born 1663)