2/19/2014
Chapter Sixteen
The Eighteenth Century:
“The Enlightenment”
From Rococo to Revolution
Pompeii, 79 AD
We know a lot about Rome because
of a terrible natural disaster
The destruction of towns surrounding the
volcano, Vesuvius, during its eruption in the
year 79 CE (AD).
Towns such as Pompeii, Herculaneum and
Oplontis were completely buried in ash—and
thus preserved as “time capsules” of Roman
life.
These towns remained buried for over 1700
years until they were rediscovered in the 18th
century by archeologists.
Life in Pompeii is good, so long
as you are a Roman…
Or at least it was good…
The eruption of Vesuvius destroys Pompeii, 79 CE (AD),
covering the entire city in choking ash. But in doing so, it
leaves us a remarkably preserved sample of Roman life as
lived sometime around breakfast.
Age of Reason, Age of
Anxiety
Unqualified optimism, extreme discontent
Trust in science and human reason
Conscious engagement with social issues
Revolutionaries and conservatives
Enlightened despots
 New emphasis on the welfare of citizenry; kingdoms
are trusts, not possessions
 Death of “Sun King” Louis IV in 1715 heralds end of
absolute monarchies
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The Late Eighteenth Century:
Literature in the Eighteenth Century
Time of Revolution
Intellectual Developments
Technological improvements
Increased literacy, circulation of ideas
Governmental abuses
Systematic examination of society
 Pessimistic views vs. Optimistic views
Renewed interest in Classical culture
 Louis XV: “Après moi le déluge”
 Translations, themes, forms, references
The Reign of Terror
Rise of Feminism
 Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794)
 Essentiality of constitutional government
 Mary Wollstonecraft, “Vindication of the
Rights of Women” (1792)
The Late Eighteenth Century:
Literature in the Eighteenth Century
Rational Humanism: The Encyclopedists
Time of Revolution
American Revolution
Encyclopédie
 Inspired revolution in France and French
Declaration of the Rights of Man
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Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence
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Optimistic, rational view
Political and social freedom
Equality and justice
Universality of man and nature
Denis Diderot (1713-1784)
System for the classification of knowledge
Compendium of human rationality
Freedom of conscience and belief
The Feminist Revolution
The Feminist Revolution
Mary Wollstonecraft (1739-1797)
Mary Wollstonecraft (1739-1797)
“Vindication of the Rights of Women”
Similar sentiments to French declaration of
rights of man and American declaration of
independence, both of which excluded
women
First statement of women’s inherent rights
 Women not subservient objects for men, but
free, rational beings possessed of strength and
dignity and deserving of respect
AFTER considering the historic page, and viewing the living world with anxious
solicitude, the most melancholy emotions of sorrowful indignation have
depressed my spirits, and I have sighed when obliged to confess, that either
nature has made a great difference between man and man, or that the civilization
which has hitherto taken place in the world has been very partial. I have turned
over various books written on the subject of education, and patiently observed
the conduct of parents and the management of schools; but what has been the
result?—a profound conviction that the neglected education of my fellowcreatures is the grand source of the misery I deplore; and that women, in
particular, are rendered weak and wretched by a variety of concurring causes,
originating from one hasty conclusion. The conduct and manners of women, in
fact, evidently prove that their minds are not in a healthy state; for, like the
flowers which are planted in too rich a soil, strength and usefulness are
sacrificed to beauty; and the flaunting leaves, after having pleased a fastidious
eye, fade, disregarded on the stalk, long before the season when they ought to
have arrived at maturity.
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The Feminist Revolution
Mary Wollstonecraft (1739-1797)
One cause of this barren blooming I attribute to a false system of education,
gathered from the books written on this subject by men who, considering females
rather as women than human creatures, have been more anxious to make them
alluring mistresses than wives; and the understanding of the sex has been so
bubbled by this specious homage, that the civilized women of the present
century, with a few exceptions, are only anxious to inspire love, when they ought
to cherish a nobler ambition, and by their abilities and virtues exact respect.
My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead
of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of
perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone. I earnestly wish to point out in what
true dignity and human happiness consists—I wish to persuade women to
endeavour to acquire strength, both of mind and body, and to convince them that
the soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of
taste, are almost synonimous with epithets of weakness, and that those beings
who are only the objects of pity and that kind of love, which has been termed its
sister, will soon become objects of contempt.
Literature in the Eighteenth Century
Rational Humanism: The Encyclopedists
Charles-Louis Montesquieu (1689-1755)
 Distribution of governmental power
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
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Humans=good, society=bad
The “noble savage”
Contempt for superficial, artificial
Belief in human equality
Critical Satire in the Eighteenth Century
Critical Satire in the Eighteenth Century
Voltaire (1694-1778)
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
A man engagé
Importance of freedom of thought
“Ecrasez l’infame”
 Fanaticism and persecution
Natural religion, morality
Candide (1759)
 Folly of unreasonable optimism
 Cruelty and stupidity of the human race
Critical Satire in the Eighteenth Century
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
A Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden
on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick.
by Dr. Jonathan Swift. 1729
It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great town, or travel in the country,
when they see the streets, the roads and cabbin-doors crowded with beggars of the female
sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for
an alms. These mothers instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced
to employ all their time in stroling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants who, as they
grow up, either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country, to fight for
the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes….
As to my own part, having turned my thoughts for many years, upon this important subject,
and maturely weighed the several schemes of our projectors, I have always found them
grossly mistaken in their computation. It is true, a child just dropt from its dam, may be
supported by her milk, for a solar year, with little other nourishment: at most not above the
value of two shillings, which the mother may certainly get, or the value in scraps, by her
lawful occupation of begging; and it is exactly at one year old that I propose to provide for
them in such a manner, as, instead of being a charge upon their parents, or the parish, or
wanting food and raiment for the rest of their lives, they shall, on the contrary, contribute to
the feeding, and partly to the cloathing of many thousands….
Hatred for human race
“Savage indignation”
 Animals capable of reason
Gulliver’s Travels
 Satire of human behavior
A Modest Proposal
 “Man’s inhumanity to man”
 Inevitability of human suffering
Critical Satire in the Eighteenth Century
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
The number of souls in this kingdom being usually reckoned one million and a half, of
these I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand couple whose wives are
breeders; from which number I subtract thirty thousand couple, who are able to maintain
their own children, (although I apprehend there cannot be so many, under the present
distresses of the kingdom) but this being granted, there will remain an hundred and
seventy thousand breeders. I again subtract fifty thousand, for those women who
miscarry, or whose children die by accident or disease within the year. There only remain
an hundred and twenty thousand children of poor parents annually born. The question
therefore is, How this number shall be reared, and provided for? which, as I have already
said, under the present situation of affairs, is utterly impossible by all the methods
hitherto proposed….
I am assured by our merchants, that a boy or a girl before twelve years old, is no saleable
commodity, and even when they come to this age, they will not yield above three pounds,
or three pounds and half a crown at most, on the exchange; which cannot turn to account
either to the parents or kingdom, the charge of
nutriments and rags having been at least four times that value.
I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to
the least objection.
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Critical Satire in the Eighteenth Century
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London that a
young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and
wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it
will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust.
I do therefore humbly offer it to publick consideration, that of the hundred and twenty
thousand children, already computed, twenty thousand may be reserved for breed,
whereof only one fourth part to be males; which is more than we allow to sheep, black
cattle, or swine, and my reason is, that these children are seldom the fruits of marriage, a
circumstance not much regarded by our savages, therefore, one male will be sufficient to
serve four females. That the remaining hundred thousand may, at a year old, be offered in
sale to the persons of quality and fortune, through the kingdom, always advising the
mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump, and fat
for a good table. A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends, and when
the family dines alone, the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and
seasoned with a little pepper or salt, will be very good boiled on the fourth day, especially
in winter.
The Rococo
fantasy life of the last
European aristocrats
Fragonard, Love
Letters (1773)
Watteau, Return from Cythera (1717)
Fragonard’s
“The Bolt”
Note how the
hunky fellow
in short pants
is bolting the
door.
What will
happen
next???
The tres rococo Salon de la Princesse, Hotel de Soubise, Paris
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The Visual Arts in the Eighteenth Century
Neo-Classical Art
Archeological inspiration
 New awareness of classical art
 Inspired by discoveries at Pompeii and
Herculaneum
 Appealed to revolutionaries in France and
America
Roman Republic, French Revolution
 Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825)
 United opposition to tyranny
 Modeled on ideals of Roman Republic
Austere poses, orderly decoration
 Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)
David’s neo-classical Oath of the Horatii (1784)
David’s Napoleon
Crossing the Alps
(1800)
The Visual Arts in the Eighteenth Century
Neo-Classical Architecture
Classical models of architecture
 Austere public buildings
 Thomas Jefferson’s State Capitol (17851796)
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