Romanticism and the Portrait
Diploma Lecture Series 2013 Revolution to Romanticism: European Art and Culture 1750-1850 Romanticism and the portrait Dr Christopher Allen 23/24 October 2013 Lecture summary: It would be tempting, but facile, to contrast the spontaneity, energy and individuality of the Romantic portrait with the artificiality and formality of earlier ones. In reality portraits have reflected or embodied complex and subtle ideas of what makes an individual from the time of the rediscovery of the art in the Renaissance. But how portraits are painted changes in step with evolving conceptions of what constitutes our character, of how character relates to social role, and how individuals interact with their fellows. In other words, an understanding of the history of portraiture really requires some appreciation of the physiological, psychological, epistemological and even political beliefs of the relevant periods. Thus Renaissance portraiture rests fundamentally on the humoral theory of physiology and psychology, eighteenth century portraits reflect the interest in empiricist psychology, and romantic portraits embody a new sense of the individual as a dynamic and often solitary agent in the worlds of nature and of human history. Slide list: Hyacinthe Rigaud, Portrait of Philippe de Courcillon, Marquis de Dangeau, 1702, oil on canvas, 162 x 150 cm, Versailles, Musée National du Chateau Eugène Delacroix, Frédéric Chopin, 1838; oil on canvas, 45.7 x 37.5 cm; Paris, Louvre Hyacinthe Rigaud, Portrait of Everhard Jabach, 1688, oil on canvas, 58.5 x 47 cm; Cologne, Wallraff-Richartz Museum Ingres, Portrait of Monsieur Bertin, 1832, oil on canvas, 116 x 95 cm; Paris, Louvre Leonardo da Vinci, Presumed self-portrait at about 29 from the unfinished Adoration of the Magi c.
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