The Revolution & Napoleonic Era

1. The Revolution & Napoleonic Era The Propaganda Art of Jacques Louis David The Immortal Music of Ludwig von Beethoven Created by C. Culhane

2. Introduction • Radical concepts of politics and society were accompanied by comparable changes in literature & other arts during the revolution. • Early C19th was marked by the Romantic Movement

3. Romantic Movement • Part revolt against Classicalism & Enlightenment • Characterized by: • emotional exuberance • unrestrained imagination • Spontaneity in both art and personal life

4. Romantic Movement con’t… • Common themes amongst Romantics: • suicide • duals • madness • strange illness

5. Jacques Louis David • 1748 -1825 • Rejected rococo for moreacademic, classical subjects and styles. • Painter/Ideologist of Neoclassical art of the French Revolution/Napoleonic Empire.

6. JLD con’t… • He reworked the classical and academic traditions (“rococo” was an “artificial taste”) • Classical Art • “the imitation of nature in her most beautiful and perfect form”. • JLD believed “the art must … contribute forcefully to the education of the public”.

7. JLD con’t … • The French Revolution offered him the opportunity to create an art of propaganda. • His connection to the French Revolution • Jacobin friend of Robespierre • Member of the National Convention that voted for the death of Louis XVI • Quasi dictator of the Committee of Public Education

8. JLD con’t… • Enlightened thought • Subject matter should have a moral and present “marks of heroism and civic virtue offered. The eyes of the people will electrify its soul and plant the seeds of glory and devotion to the fatherland”

9. JLD con’t… • Enlightened thought • Subject matter should have a moral and present “marks of heroism and civic virtue offered. The eyes of the people will electrify its soul and plant the seeds of glory and devotion to the fatherland”

10. Oath of the Horatii

11. Oath of the Horatii

12. Death of Marat

13. What, then, was the force that moved nations? … Power, what then is power? Power is the sum total of will as expressed by one person.” • War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

14. Napoleon Crossing the Alps

15. Coronation of Napoleon

16. Coronation of Napoleon

17. 1770 – 1827 German composer/pianist Linked with the French Revolution and Napoleonic adventure. Ludwig von Beethoven

18. Beethoven con’t … • “Beethoven’s music sets in motion the lever of fear, awe, of horror, of suffering and awakens just that infinite longing which is the essence of Romanticism.” • German novelist Ernst Hoffmann

19. Beethoven con’t … • Was never a court musician like Mozart. • 3rd Symphony “Eroica” (hero) was dedicated to Napoleon. • He worshipped the patriotic hero and the republician ideals of the revolution until Napoleon declared himself emperor.

20. Opera Fidelio • Tells a story of people struggling to gain their freedom from unjust imprisonment. • “Freedom of oppression”

21. Beethoven con’t … • He poured out “Immortal Music” • Never heard much of his later work as his last years were spent in deafness. • Eg. 9th Symphony “Ode to Joy” • Music composed to the poem written by German poet Johann von Schiller