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THE AGE OF REASON 1700-1789

THE AGE OF REASON 1700-1789. Four Trends of the Age. A growing concentration of political power in the “great” states: France, Great Britain, Prussia, Austria, Netherlands, & Russia Return of the aristocracy to prominence

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THE AGE OF REASON 1700-1789

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  1. THE AGE OF REASON1700-1789

  2. Four Trends of the Age • A growing concentration of political power in the “great” states: France, Great Britain, Prussia, Austria, Netherlands, & Russia • Return of the aristocracy to prominence • Rise of the middle-class in politics and culture who supported social equality & justice, and a revamping of society as a whole • The intellectual & cultural movement to be labeled The Enlightenment

  3. The Great Powers • Saw a growing urbanization • A fairly rigid class system prevailed: aristocracy, upper middle class, broad middle class, lesser artisans, and metropolitan poor. • In Great Britain and France, the monarchy would diminish, while in Prussia, Austria, and Russia it would gain eminence

  4. The Enlightenment • The “thinkers” embraced humanism=believed that a human being becomes a better person through the study and practice of literature, music, philosophy, and the arts. Thus, a human could be “perfected”. This would agree with John Locke and his tabula rasa. • Had the greatest effects in London, Edinburgh, Paris. To a lesser extent in St. Petersburg & Moscow with Catherine II (the Great)

  5. Philosophes of the Enlightnment • Had full confidence in reason • Believed nature was orderly and fundamentally good, and could be studied empirically • Because humans were perfectable, so was society • Political, religious, and economic institutions should be reformed in a social utilitarianism for happiness • Advocated freedom of religious choice • Advocated an educational system free of religious control • Supported Deism

  6. Prominent Philosophes Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) 1694-1778 • Author of Candide in which he attached religious and political optimism • Wrote plays, novels, essays, letters • Source of quoted "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.“ While sounding pessimistic, it was really a comment on church bureaucracies • Ridiculed Muhammed, but of Islamism he wrote of it “a wise, severe, chaste, and humane religion.” • Counted Benjamin Franklin as a good friend

  7. Denis Diderot 1713-1784 • Chief editor of the Encyclopédie, intended as a compendium of all knowledge in the arts, sciences, and crafts • Attacked conventional morality • Was summoned to Russia to meet with Catherine the Great, who had become his patron

  8. Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu • 1689-1759 • Believed government should be set up so that no man need be afraid of another. This would influence James Madison and other Founding Fathers. • Opposed slavery • Believed women could head governments, but not families • Saw 3 forms of government: monarchies [honor], republics [virtue], and despotisms [fear]

  9. Physiocrats • Were concerned with economics in the Enlightenment; forerunners of Classical Economists • Examined mercantilism closely, believing it to be harmful • Recognized laws of supply and demand • Believed laissez-faire economics to be the best: keep government control out of a self-regulating economy • Believed both society and the individual benefits when people are allowed to serve their own self-interest • Prominent physiocrats were Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot and François Quesnay

  10. ARTS IN THE AGE OF REASONRococo and Neoclassicism • Rococo style arose in France under Louis XIV • Concentrated on frivolous subjects such as fêtes galantes (aristocratic entertainments) and themes • Embodied by the Flemish painter/decorator Jean-Antoine Watteau • Had an undercurrent of eroticism and sex (so the Brits didn’t adopt it)

  11. Departure From Cythera by Watteau

  12. Marie Antoinette and her Children By Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun

  13. Nude on a Sofa by François Bourcher

  14. The Swing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard

  15. The Countess’ Levée Or Morning Party From Marriage à la Mode by William Hogarth

  16. rocaille “Fanciful stucco ornaments in the shapes of ribbons, leaves, stems, flowers, interlaces, arabesques, and elongated, curving lines applied to walls and ceilings The effect of rocaille was to make solid surfaces look more like fleeting illusions.”

  17. Hall of Mirrors Amalienburg, Munich

  18. Salon de Princessa by Germain Boffrand

  19. Kenwood House (London) designed by Robert Adam

  20. Library of Kenwood House designed by Robert Adam

  21. Pantheon Paris designed by Jacques Germain Soufflot

  22. Prominent political philosophers were Baron de Montesquieu and Jean-Jacques Rousseau Political Philosophy

  23. Montesquieu • Wrote The Spirit of the Laws • Concluded climate, geography, religion, education, etc. account for world’s different types of laws and governments • Promoted idea that Separation of Powers provided an adequate defense against despots • Rousseau • Wrote The Social Contract • Humans are free and equal in nature • Humans can follow whims, so they possess no moral purpose

  24. The state is founded upon an agreement among people, gives its citizens basic rights (life, liberty & property) • Each citizen has right to vote, and votes on laws in accord with the General Will (what is best for community). • Citizens who obey laws become moral beings.

  25. Neoclassical Literary Figures • Alexander Pope (1688-1744) • Essay on Man • “The proper study of mankind is man.” • Edward Gibbons (1737-1794) • History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in 6 volumes

  26. Literary Figures of Realism • Advent of the novel • Focused on individual persons rather universal types, and on particular circumstances rather than literary custom • Focused on character development over time • Authors adopted a narrative voice

  27. Samuel Richardson focused on love between the sexes • Pamela • Virtue Rewarded • Clarissa Harlowe • Henry Fielding depicted a robust world of comedy and adventure • The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling • The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrew, a parody of Richardson’s Pamela

  28. MUSIC • In France, the style galant would be the rococo response to baroque music, with light, charming, graceful, and simple melodies. • Harpsichord would be a favored rococo instrument • The pianoforte appeared • Principal French composers were • François Couperin • Jean-Philippe Rameau

  29. Classical style replaced rococo music. It emphasized form and structure • The sonata form with its exposition, development, and recapitulation would be prominent • Sonata form would be come a basis for symphonic works, concertos, sonatas • If written in four movements, the third movement was either a minuet (French)or scherzo (means joke in Italian)

  30. COMPOSERS • Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) • 30 years as music director for a Hungarian noble family • Composed 104, 4-movement symphonies • Composed more than 70 string quartets for violins, viola, and cello • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) • Composed, concertos, symphonies, trios, quartets, quintets, serenades • Most famous opera is The Marriage of Figaro

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