Europe in The 17 th Century

1. Europe inThe 17th Century The Age of Reason, Enlightenment, and Scientific Revolution

2. Religion • Protestant Reformation vs. Catholic Counter-Reformation • Rise of Puritans and Anabaptists • Vicious sectarian violence throughout Europe 30 Years War:The Battle of Lützen, a Swedish victory, but one that saw the death of King Gustavus Adolphus on November 16, 1632.

3. Reformation Repercussions • Rivalry between Spain and England • 1588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada • Competition for colonies in the Americas • Religious Persecution • Revival of the Inquisition’s persecution of heretics • Religious wars in France (1560-98) • Witch-hunts (1550-1750) • The Eighty Years War (1568-1648) between Spain and the Netherlands • The Thirty Years War (1618-48) • English Civil War (1642-1660) and Regicide of Charles I (1649) • Migrations to the New World for religious freedom • French Huguenots to Florida – driven out by Spanish • Puritans to New England • Quakers and Amish to Pennsylvania • Roman Catholics to Maryland

4. Deism • Natural theology: Derives the existence of God from reason and personal experience rather than divine revelation or scripture • Cultural influences: • Reaction against sectarian violence in Europe • Growing knowledge of diverse religious beliefs both classical and contemporary • Textual study of Biblical scriptures • Advances in scientific knowledge – Bible could not be seen as authoritative for matters of science • Skepticism about miracles and books that report them • “Watchmaker God” • Unitarianism William Blake

5. The Age of Reason • 17th c. philosophers broke with Medieval and Renaissance scholasticism • System-builders — philosophers who present unified systems of epistemology, metaphysics, logic, and ethics, and often politics and the physical sciences • RATIONALISTS: Knowledge can be gained through the power of reason – mathematics as basis of knowledge • Rene Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried Leibniz • EMPIRICISTS: Knowledge comes through the senses, through experience – physical sciences as basis of knowledge • Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume

6. René Descartes1596-1660“Cogito ergo sum” “I think, therefore, I am” • “Father of Modern Philosophy,” “Father of Modern Mathematics” • Developed analytic geometry • Discourse on the Method: methodological scepticism – favors deduction over perception René Descartes. Portrait by Frans Hals, 1648

7. The Enlightenment • 18th c. movement in European and American philosophy and intellectual thought which advocated REASON as the primary basis for authority • Period is marked by: • Nation building • Government consolidation • Systemization of knowledge: academies, encyclopedias, dictionaries • Decline in power of authoritarian institutions such as the church and nobility • Greater rights for common people

8. Prominent Enlightenment Philosophers Voltaire Thomas Paine Jean-Jacques Rousseau Mary Wollstonecraft David Hume

9. The ScientificRevolution • Emphasis on experimentation and inductive reasoning • Scientific Method • New methods of observation: the microscope and the telescope • 1662: Charles I chartered the Royal Society of London for the Improving of Natural Knowledge A replica of Isaac Newton's telescope of 1672.

10. Sir Isaac Newton1643-1727 • Mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, and natural philosopher • Developed calculus contemporaneously but separately from Liebniz • PhilosophiaeNaturalis Principia Mathematica: described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion • Opticks: discovered that light was composed of particles Godfrey Kneller's Sir Isaac Newton at 46

11. Neo-Classicism • The consideration of Greek and Roman art and literature as “the canon” of art • Adoption of Classical conventions into art, architecture and literature • Desire for stability and order • Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns • The Ancients: Greece and Rome established standards and models never to be excelled • The Moderns: those standing on the shoulders of their predecessors could see farther – the new could excell the ancient

12. G. P. Pannini assembles the canon of Roman ruins and Roman sculpture into one vast imaginary gallery (1756)

13. Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii, 1784

14. A CLASS SOCIETY • The Aristocracy • Professionals • Scientists • Physicians • Attorneys • Clergy • Literati • Military Officers • Merchants and Bankers • Tradespeople • Working Class • Domestic Servants • Hired labor • Apprentices • The Unemployed: debtors, beggars,thieves • Peasants

15. The Royal Exchange. Engraving by Bartolozzi. The British Library Commerce The Rise of the Middle Class Increased Literacy Leisure Time International Trade Empire Building

16. Poverty and Unemployment • Displaced agrarian labor • No social safety net • Education only for the elite • Child labor • Cheap gin Gin Lane (1751). Etching and Engraving by William Hogarth. The New York Public Library.

17. Societal Ideals • Clear hierarchical structures • Public life more important than private life • Decorum: well-defined codes of behavior • Society:importance of the social group and shared opinion • Marriage and family as a social microcosm • Urbane: the city is the center of human discourse – the country is pastoral, an idealized refuge for renewal and relaxation, or the venue of the ignorant “country bumpkins” • Wit:the importance of language used well

18. Social Gatherings Prince of Wales Samuel Johnson Oliver Goldsmith James Boswell Hester Thrale Mary “Perdita” Robinson Duchess of Devonshire Vauxhall Gardens (1784). A drawing by Thomas Rowlandson. Victoria and Albert Royal Museum.

19. Coffee and News Periodicals and Newpapers Addison and SteeleThe Spectator Periodical Essays Literary Criticism Character Sketches Political Discussion Philosophical Ideas A London coffeehouse. The British Museum

20. Literary Salons • Intellectual and literary circles formed around women • Brought together members of society and philosophers and artists • Emphasis on conversation and wit A reading of Molière, Jean François de Troy, ca. 1728

21. Neo-Classical Artist • Social • Arbiter of Taste • Elitist • Moral • Intellectual • Critic Louis Michel van Loo Portrait of Diderot

22. Literary Conventions • Verisimilitude • a semblance of truth • Hazlitt: “the close imitation of men and manners… the very texture of society as it really exists.” • recognizable settings and characters in real time • elimination of fantastic and supernatural elements • Morality • Revelation of ideal moral patterns • Poetic justice: the good are rewarded and the wicked punished • God’s plan is inevitably just • Universality • Social norms are unchanged regardless of period or locale • Decorum • Appropriate adherence to contemporary behavioral standards

23. ARTIFICE J. S. Muller after Samuel Wale, A General Prospect of Vaux Hall Gardens Shewing at one View the disposition of the whole Gardens (after 1751).

24. ARTIFICE • Art as an improvement upon nature • Neo-classical ideals: balance, harmony, reason • Gardens • Major poetic forms: • Heroic couplets: rhymed iambic pentameter (English): ں / ں / ں / ں / ں / • Alexandrines:rhymed iambic hexameter (French):ں / ں / ں / ں / ں / ں / • Epic and mock epic • Poetic essay

25. Literary Genres • Drama:comedy and tragedy • Epistle:public letters in poetry or prose • Epic:didactic, idealistic, • Ode:occasional poem in praise of an event or person • Satire: exposure of public and private foolishness • Mock epics • Mock odes • Epigrams:pithy, witty ideas • Novels:realistic portrayals of bourgeois life

26. Social Satire • Voltaire, Candide • Alexander Pope • Mock epic: “The Rape of the Lock” • Literary Satire: “The Dunciad • Jonathan Swift • “A Modest Proposal” • Gulliver’s Travels

27. Entertainment Theatre Opera Symphony The Laughing Audience (1733). Etching and engraving by William Hogarth. The New York Public Library

28. French Neoclassical Theatre, 17th-18th C. • Modelled theatre on Greek and Roman examples • Disdained English Elizabethan theatre’s “messiness” and eclecticism • Neoclassical Conventions • Decorum • Verisimilitude • Universal truths • Poetic: Alexandrines • 5 act structure • 3 unities: time, place action

29. Tragedy and Comedy • Rulers/nobility • Affairs of state • Unhappy ending • Lofty poetic style • Revealed the horrible results of mistakes and misdeeds committed from passion • Corneille and Racine • Middle class/bourgeosie • Domestic/private affairs • Happy ending – often deus ex machina • Ordinary speech • Ridicules behavior that should be avoided • Moliere

30. Pierre Corneille1606-1684 • Known as “the founder of French tragedy” • Chafed under the critical strictures of Cardinal Richelieu and the Académie Français • Le Cid 1637Querelle de Cid

31. Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Moliére1622-1673 • Playwright, actor, producer – headed his own theatrical company • Favorite of Louis XIV – troupe was established at court: Palais Royale Theatre • Influenced by commedia dell arte and by Roman comedies and French farces – he used these forms to ridicule social and moral pretensions. • Le Misanthrope, (The Misanthrope), L'École des femmes (The School for Wives), Tartuffe ou l'Imposteur, (Tartuffe or the Hypocrite), L'Avare ou l'École du mensonge (The Miser), Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (The Bourgeois Gentleman).

32. First tragedies originally produced by Moliere’s company – he defected to the rival Hôtel de Bourgogne Most of his tragedies are based on classical themes and tragedies Considered the master of the Alexandrine line Major works:Andromaque (1667) Britannicus(1669) Bérénice (1670) Iphigénie (1674) Phèdre (1677) Jean Racine1639-1699

33. Tartuffe Mme. PernellFlipote Elmire---Orgon—deceased wife Cleante, Orgon’s friend DamisMariane>< ValèreDorine Tartuffe M. Loyal Officer of the Court a hypocrite a bailiff deus ex machina

34. Phaedra (Phèdre) AegeusMinos----Pasiphae-----Bull King of Athens King of Crete Minotaur Antiope------Theseus-------Phaedra Ariadne AmazonKing of Athens QueenOenone, Phaedra’s nurse Panope, lady-in-waiting Aricia><HippolytusTheramenes, tutor Athenian princess