The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Arts and Architecture THEORY, PRACTICE, AND COMPETITION IN THE VISUAL ARTS: THE FORTUNES OF THE PARAGONE IN FRENCH AND BRITISH NINETEENTH-CENTURY ART A Dissertation in Art History by Sarah Jordan Lippert © 2009 Sarah Jordan Lippert Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2009 The dissertation of Sarah Jordan Lippert was reviewed and approved by the following: Brian Curran Associate Professor of Art History Chair of Graduate Programs in Art History Dissertation Adviser Chair of Committee Sylvia Neely Associate Professor of History Jeanne Porter Professor Emeritus of Art History Elizabeth Walters Associate Professor of Art History *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School. ii Abstract My topic springs from many years of studying the paragone, which is the ‘comparison’ or rivalry between the arts, such as that between poets and painters, painters and sculptors, or aesthetic theorists and visual artists. Typically artists have been motivated to participate in the paragone during crises, such as changes to the hierarchy of the arts, shifting aesthetic theories, cultural and social changes to the artist's status, personal doubt, or political activism and patriotic endeavours. This dissertation addresses the lack of scholarship addressing the paragone's survival in the nineteenth century. Rapid changes to the nineteenth-century art world contributed to the paragone's significance in this century especially. The shifting aesthetic theories and ideologies of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, the Académie des beaux-arts, and the École des beaux- arts resulted in the great instability of artistic genres, and waning respect for traditional artistic institutions, such as the Salon, thereby affecting both professional and public opinion regarding art's value. Moreover, the intensification and rise of art criticism made visual artists vulnerable to writers in increasingly threatening ways. As well, the writings of aesthetic theorists represented a trend that affected the paragone's survival in the nineteenth century; there was an increasing movement in aesthetic theory, beginning in late eighteenth century, to impose either ideological or practical limits on the arts. This movement escalated rebelliousness amongst certain artists, who sought to prove their clever genius and the superiority of their art forms, by breaking their supposed limits. Through my analysis of hegemonic artistic practice, my research has led to the discovery of motifs or subjects that are often evidence of the paragone manifested in a particular piece. My dissertation will begin with an examination of the proliferation of the beau idéal, or mastery of the human figure's ideal representation in painting or sculpture, which was, (since the Renaissance), indicative of artistic skill, and remained a signifier of artistic supremacy in early to mid-nineteenth-century art. Since antiquity, the mythological account of Narcissus, (the young man who falls in love with his own image, because of his astounding beauty), has represented the power of masculine beauty to entrance its viewers. This tradition, which paralleled the cult of male beauty propagated in Greek art, was inherited by nineteenth-century artists in the form of the beau idéal. iii Even though portrayals of the beau idéal recurred throughout the nineteenth century, the early preference for male figures was matched, by the mid-nineteenth century, to greater interest in the female nude. In particular, the Pygmalion myth became emblematic of the ultimate mastery of the nude figure in art; Ovid's account of Pygmalion in his Metamorphoses epitomised the crux of the paragone debate at this time. In this myth the sculptor Pygmalion, symbolic of the archetypal artist, creates a figure of a woman that in turn represents the ultimate artistic creation; she is so beautiful that he entreats Venus to bring her to life. This myth speaks to the image's power over the viewer, and therefore to the power of the visual arts. The final subject explores the legacy of Gustave Moreau's versions of Salomé, which engendered a host of competitive responses to his portrayal of this subject, such that Salomé became a signifier of artistic rivalry, as much as she was of the femme fatale. I will also explore a new interpretation of Salomé that emerged in the nineteenth century that heightened her visual and iconic impact on viewers. The narrative features of the Salomé subject made it an ideal source for paragonising artists. As a symbol of sensual and material beauty, she mirrored the material and decorative nature of the Aesthetic and decadent movements in the arts at this time. My research offers an interpretational tool that may be used by other scholars with respect to the examination of individual artists or writers, while providing a basis for further studies in this framework. Demonstrating the topic's ultimate potential is one of the most important scholars in the field: W.J.T. Mitchell. In his Iconology: Image, Text, Ideology, Mitchell addresses the paragone's importance to scholarship, and shows how its fundamental concerns continue to be played out by successive generations of artists, even in technological media, which is an indication of its relevance to a broad range of study in the humanities, including not only art history but theory and criticism, western literature, film studies, and the fine arts. My dissertation, however, focuses on the actual implementation of a paragonising artistic theory in artworks throughout the nineteenth century. In so doing it strengthens scholarly understanding of the themes, artists, and works addressed, while demonstrating the importance of acknowledging artistic competition. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 Chapter 1: A Brief History of the Paragone 9 Antiquity 10 The Medieval Era 13 The Renaissance 15 The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 30 The Nineteenth Century 41 A Brief Note on Methodology in Nineteenth-Century Scholarship 48 Chapter 2: The Archetype of Beauty: The Meaning of Narcissus and the Birth of the Beau idéal 52 Introduction: The Myth and the Poet 53 Narcissus as the Ideal Challenge 57 The Role of Shadows and the Birth of Painting 63 The Legacy of Narcissus’s Reflection in the Nineteenth Century 67 Narcissus as Beau idéal and the Cult of Male Beauty 80 The Sublime Nude: Defining the Beau idéal 96 The Problem with the Sublime for History Painters 108 A Style to Match an Objective: The Paragonising Motives for the Neoclassical Masculinisation of Painting 111 The Curse of Artistic Legacy: Finding a Way to Compete on your Own 125 Tactical Illumination: Endymion and Light 128 Girodet as a ‘Poet in Painting’ 141 Conclusion 144 Chapter 3: Pygmalion and Galatea: Invigorating the Icon of Divine Genius 145 The Emergence of the Female Nude and the Quest to Enliven Art 146 Ovid’s Pygmalion 147 The Romantic Pygmalion of the Eighteenth Century 155 Sculpture and Aesthetic Theory at the Beginning of the Modern Era 161 The Long-Awaited Manifesto: Girodet’s Pygmalion et Galatée 171 v The Burne-Jones Saga: Pygmalion and the Image 189 Jean-Léon Gérôme and the Struggle between Painting and Sculpture 213 Gérôme and Polychrome Sculpture: A Monstrosity or a Glorious Return to Antiquity? 226 George Frederick Watts and Another Galatea 241 Conclusion 257 Chapter 4: Salomé or Medusa: The Place of the Apparition in Artistic Rivalry 258 Why Salomé? 259 Gustave Moreau and the Reinvention of Salomé 263 Salomé’s Forerunner: Orpheus as the Archetypal Artist and Poet 272 Moreau and the Paradox of Salomé 277 Moreau’s Temporal Painting 286 The Magic of the Gaze 291 Salomé and the Iconographic Significance of the Dangling Eye 289 Huysmans Immortalises Salomé 296 Salomé or Medusa? 302 Medusa in England 310 Oscar Wilde and Cultural Impurity: Aesthete or Decadent? 315 The New Artist is an Art Critic 318 Is Wilde’s Salomé French or English? 321 An Ode and a Challenge: Wilde’s Salomé 324 Beardsley Confronts Wilde 329 Beardsley’s Artificiality 334 Beardsley and the Body Ugly 348 The Climax 355 Conclusion 359 The Place of Memory and Visual Culture in the Paragone: A Conclusion 360 Appendix: Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, "Sur le génie." Copied in its entirety from his handwritten essay held at the Getty Research Institute 364 Bibliography 367 vi Acknowledgements Although these acknowledgements will inevitably fall short of what they should be, I would like to briefly credit both the personal and professional sources of support for this dissertation. To begin, I am grateful to my husband David, and to my family, especially my mother and grandfather, for their encouragement and the many sacrifices that they have made, in order for me to complete my degree. Professionally, I have been honoured to work with Dr. Brian Curran, whose unfailing support as the chair of my dissertation committee has made this project possible. The complexity and uniqueness of my topic demanded an advisor who possessed a great familiarity with a vast span of art historical knowledge, as well as sensitivity to the theoretical and historical nuances of the paragone debate. Dr. Curran’s contribution to this project has made it into something of which I can proud. The rigour and dedication of Dr. Curran’s own scholarship will continue to serve as a reliable model for my own scholarship, as I endeavour to pursue new research interests. Along with Dr. Curran, I was fortunate to have an unusually accomplished, involved, and supportive panel of advisors. Drs. Neely, Walters, and Porter were exceptional in their willingness to encourage my research interests, and to ensure my success in the doctoral art history program at PSU. Each member of my committee exhibited such professionalism, ethics, and commitment to the integrity of academia, such that I could not have asked for a better group of advisors.