William Holman Hunt met Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais while at the Royal Academy Schools. They would go on to create the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The aim of their group was to paint serious subjects, to study nature closely, and to return to the sincerity of spirit of painters before the time of Raphael Sanzio. They painted mostly biblical and literary subjects with an obsessive naturalist quality and attention to detail. Their philosophy and style influenced many artists and movements after them. Holman Hunt was the only one out of the three who committed wholly to the tenets set out by the Brotherhood. He was highly influenced by the writings of John Ruskin and they worked off of each other to popularize the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
Holman Hunt’s paintings are characterized by their meticulous attention to detail and clear moral and religious symbolism. His use of colour really brings a luminosity and brilliance to the surface of the painting. His style did not change much throughout the course of his career, though he did focus more on religious subject matters later on as he was influenced by his trips to Syria and Jerusalem.
I find that Holman Hunt uses lighting for effect to bring attention to faces especially. Their expressions are lit up in a phosphorescent manner and they invite you in for a closer look at what they’re trying to say. The symbolism in his pieces are also interesting as he is able to tell another story beyond what meets the eye. Whether it’s a literary, biblical, or contemporary scene, he is able to add his own flair and underlying narrative, just like his fellow brotherhood members.
Queen Victoria was crowned in 1837 at the age of 18 and would continue on to reign for 64 years. Her time on the throne was the reason an entire era was named after her—The Victorian Era. The Queen undoubtedly had a huge influence on her subjects throughout the British Empire and beyond.
Fashion
The rise of white bridalwear
You can thank Queen Victoria for popularizing the modern day tradition of white bridal-wear. She decided to defy royal tradition at the time—instead of wearing her coronation dress for her royal wedding to Prince Albert in 1840, she chose a fashionable gown made of English-made Spitalfields satin, trimmed with Honiton lace.
Typical brides at the time tended to wear brighter and more colourful dresses that could be worn again for other occasions. Wealthy brides soon hopped on the trend of wearing white on their own wedding days which flaunted the fact that they could afford to have the dress cleaned—a task that was notoriously difficult in those days.
During the reign of Queen Victoria, the two opium wars happened. This was the first Anglo-Chinese conflict. The First Opium War lies in this survey’s time frame (1839–42) was waged by Britain against China to enforce the opening of Chinese ports to trade in opium. Opium from British India paid for Britain’s imports from China, such as porcelain, silk, and, above all, tea. The First Opium War resulted in the cession of Hong Kong to Britain and the opening of five treaty ports for trade (Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo, and Shanghai).
I chose to highlight two world fairs because they were a great jumping off point for connections. They were truly showcases for the locations they took place in and they both welcomed international influences which demonstrated what this period was all about as it came out of a high time of industrialization and globalization. I think that I gathered images for the Great Exhibition of 1851 that really captured the feeling of what the event was like. I chose to show paintings of the scenes at the fair to really get a sense of the whole fair was about. It was a showcase of Victorian grandeur.
I chose a smaller event —William Morris opening his decorating firm because it actually had a lot of impactful influence on many things. The Arts and Crafts Movement found its momentum there and went on to influence the Art Nouveau period (which I didn’t get to go into with this assignment). There was no shortage of connections here as Morris was well-connected and his firm worked on many different projects which gave this section a good sense of his style and work.
The Exhibition Universelle de 1889 was an event that also had many connections to the global community from Paris. I tried to capture what the style of the times were and show that this fair differed from the first. There were photographs at this time and technology had really took a leap forward compared to the fair in London three decades earlier. The way the fair was advertised also looked different and we’re over in Paris now where the fashion and graphics were vastly different than the first fair.
Grade
I’d give myself a 7/10 for this. I think I did the assignment as briefed. The writing could have been more engaging which is where I’d leave marks off. As a visual person, I sometimes think visuals speak for itself and I find it hard to articulate the words I feel for it, but as moodboards are often shared with clients/other team members, I understand that it’s best to add words in to clarify the exact feel you’re going after so everyone is on the same page. Though it wasn’t asked of for the assignment, I decided to pull some colour swatches from some of the photos to give each section a certain palette. It also worked nicely to fill in awkward gaps from the different sized images.
It was a challenge using InVision for the first time on this assignment as it had its constraints. What was the most frustrating was that the portrait-oriented images would always be cut off. I’m used to the complete freedom I get when making moodboards on Illustrator so this felt quite limiting, but I did what I could!
Bernini's Colonnato at Saint Peter's Sqare creates a grand Baroque entrance to the Basilica and is topped by 140 statues of saints.
Scientific Revolution + Baroque 1600 – 1700
This century brought about revolutionary scientific ideas by Newton in England. This was also the time when the Baroque style flourished under the use of Bernini in Italy.
In Britiain
Science + Tools
Newton and his productive pandemic
Isaac Newton had to leave Cambridge University to return back to his home in Lincolnshire during the plague year of 1665-66. In this isolated time (much like we’re going through now), he made three great discoveries (along with many more).
Gravity – Watching an apple fall to the ground from the tree outside his bedroom window in his countryside home made him question why it fell straight to the ground.
White light is made up of all the colours (eventually led to the fundamentals of physical optics) – He drilled a hole in the shutter of his bedroom window and held a prism up to the beam of sunlight that came through it to make the discovery
Calculus – He finally had the time to contemplate complex mathematical questions that he had began to think about while he was at Cambridge, and out of the year, he wrote three papers on fluxions (early calculus)
Illustration of Sir Isaac Newton showing how to disperse light with a glass prism.
This period was also the time when the Baroque style flourished. Baroque architecture was mainly characterized by complex shapes, extravagant ornaments, its movement, and theatrical drama.
One of the leading figures of Baroque architecture was Gian Lorenzo Bernini. He was an Italian architect, sculptor, and painter known for his work on the interior and exterior of St. Peter’s Basilica redesign in Vatican City. From from 1656-67, his was the sole architect of Piazza San Pietro outside of the basilica and it was a full display of his brilliance working with optical illusions and spatial ordering. Bernini’s main objective was to fully interpret the great meaning of the basilica and provide a sacred area where the faithful could come and be protected from the harsh outside world and feel like they’re being welcomed by the pope and surrounded by the arms of “maternal arms of Mother Church”.
(Offside: I visited Vatican City in 2012 when I was just a teenager touring with my high school orchestra, but I had no background knowledge on any of the architecture at the time. While I remember being impressed at how beautiful everything was, I wish I knew then what I’m learning now about the genius and creativity behind the architecture! But then again, this place was designed to be experienced by a naive visitor who would not have known all the work that went behind it.)
References
“Newton, Sir Isaac.” Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Britannica Digital Learning, 2017. Credo Reference, https://ezproxy.capilanou.ca/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/ebconcise/newton_sir_isaac/0?institutionId=6884. Accessed 14 Oct. 2020.
“Newton, Sir Isaac (1642 – 1727).” The Cambridge Dictionary of Scientists, edited by David Millar, Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition, 2002. Credo Reference, https://ezproxy.capilanou.ca/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/dicscientist/newton_sir_isaac_1642_1727/0?institutionId=6884. Accessed 14 Oct. 2020.
“Baroque.” Bloomsbury Guide to Human Thought, edited by Kenneth McLeish, Bloomsbury, 1st edition, 1993. Credo Reference, https://ezproxy.capilanou.ca/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/bght/baroque/0?institutionId=6884. Accessed 14 Oct. 2020.
Kurian, George Thomas. “Bernini, Gianlorenzo (1598-1680).” The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization, George Thomas Kurian, Wiley, 1st edition, 2012. Credo Reference, https://ezproxy.capilanou.ca/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/wileyenchci/bernini_gianlorenzo_1598_1680/0?institutionId=6884. Accessed 14 Oct. 2020.
Ingres was the main Neoclassical painter after his mentor Jacques-Louis David died in 1825. He was very much influenced by David an the works of antiquity he saw in the Louvre. His style was in opposition to Eugene Delacroix and the rising Romanticism style. He spent time studying art between Paris and Rome and had many ups and downs throughout his career and at the end of it, there was left no one to continue on the Neoclassical style that he carried on for David. He was varied with his subject matter throughout his career—ranging from historical paintings to portraits but at the end of it, he was the most sought-after society portrait painter in France.
As a student of David, Ingres also had a firm belief that more attention should be paid to the drawing of lines and contours rather than colour. This is what he thought set himself apart from the Romantics. While he held this belief, he still also had an excellent grasp on colour and texture in the way he handled fabrics and clothing.
I find the drawings so enlightening to Ingres’ process. You can see what he chooses to pays attention to in his sketches and how that plays out in the final paintings. He focuses on the softness of the face and hair and pays close attention to the way the fabric creases. All this forethought comes through in his final pieces.
Two Studies of Virgil (1812 and 1825)
Mrs. Edward Dodwell (1816)
Sketch for Madame Moitessier
Mrs. Charles Badham (1816)
He was known for his ‘obsessive perfectionism’ and Ingres was actually resented by his contemporaries because he was very good at what he did. His preciseness and smooth finishes are a part of his desire to depict ideal beauty which resulted in some distorted proportions of his figures. His painting of Mademoiselle Caroline Rivière in 1806 (shown below) gives her an elongated neck and nose which just doesn’t look quite anatomically correct.
To me, his figures take on a porcelain doll look—the texture of the skin is rendered to such an unblemished surface that it looks unreal and hard to connect with. The doll-like quality given to the females he paints is a bit uneasy, but at the same time the entire painting just demands to be examined all over as he pays such careful attention to all the elements in the painting.
Ghirlandaio operated a successful workshop where many great artists have trained and he is accredited as one of Michelangelo’s teachers. He was a master in fresco and was commissioned to do work in the Sistine Chapel amongst other chapels in his lifetime.
Ghiralandaio’s most prominent patrons were the Medici family and Tornabuoni family. They gravitated towards the way Ghiralandaio pleasantly depicted scenes of the times and maybe for the way he idealized people for beauty’s sake in his works.
Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni – 1489-90
Francesco Sassetti and His Son Teodoro – 1487
He was also known to incorporate portraits of his contemporaries in many biblical scenes which made him even more popular amongst the rich Florentines who wanted to see themselves immortalized this way. He even incorporated hints of ancient art in the backgrounds just to appeal to their tastes.
The Last Supper – 1486
His works were notably colourful and vivid, mirroring the fashionable, well-decorated lives of rich Florentines in his patronage. He somehow manages to not overuse colour to a point of garishness . It seems obvious that he knew what would catch the attention of the patrons he wanted and created works that would appease them and keep his business thriving. While some may see his work as a bit overindulgent to suit the tastes of the rich, it shows that he had business sensibilities and knew what he was doing to create works that would be attractive and beautiful and who could deny liking that?
Christ in Glory with St. Benedict, St. Romuald, St. Attinia, St. Grecinia and the donor, abbot Buonvicini – 1492
