ARTH 206 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Classical Antiquity, History Painting, Fox Hunting
Document Summary
Gainsborough, robert andrews and frances carter, 1748-50, england: full length portraits, majority of the painting devoted to landscape, not typical elegance of aristocratic portraits, very young ---- newlyweds, casual, man is dressed for fox hunting. Tells us how they are using their land. Livestock and farming as well: despite their youth the couple would be good stewards of the land they inherited, horizontal landscape format rather than vertical portrait. Land is just as important as the people: frances lap has a blank, unfinished spot. Tells us that they will soon have a baby to be sitting in her lap. Wright of darby, an experiment on a bird in the air-pump, 1768, england: enlightenment ---- skepticism of religion and a growing interest in logic and science, artist member of the lunar society. He acknowledges this in the painting by including the moon peeking through a window around a curtain: the scientist is looking at the viewer.
