The European Age Of Reason Author: Hackett Date: 1992 Reflections Of The Age In Cultural Expression The eighteenth century, when Newtonian science exerted its greatest impact, was exceptionally noteworthy for European cultural expression. This was most evident in philosophy, which sought to find in human affairs natural laws similar to those science had discovered in the physical universe. This approach, with its optimistic utopianism, found some expression in literature, but it was much more obscured in the visual arts and barely noticeable in music. Because they were largely affected by tradition, individual feeling, and patronage, the arts were less responsive to scientific influence. They were, nevertheless, quite rich and varied, reflecting the increasing wealth, widening perspectives, and rising technical proficiency of European life. Developments In The Arts The quantity and diversity of artistic works during the period do not fit easily into categories for interpretation, but some loose generalizations may be drawn. At the opening of the century, baroque forms were still popular, as they would be at the end. They were partially supplanted, however, by a general lightening in the rococo motifs of the early 1700s. This was followed, after the middle of the century, by the formalism and balance of neoclassicism, with its resurrection of Greek and Roman models. Although the end of the century saw a slight romantic turn, the era's characteristic accent on reason found its best expression in neoclassicism. In painting, rococo emphasized the airy grace and refined pleasures of the salon and the boudoir, of delicate jewelry and porcelains, of wooded scenes, artful dances, and women, particularly women in the nude. Rococo painters also specialized in portraiture, showing aristocratic subjects in their finery, idealized and beautified on canvas. The rococo painting of Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) blended fantasy with acute observations of nature, conveying the ease and luxury of French court life. Watteau's successors in France included Francois Boucher (1703-1770) and Jean Fragonard (1732-1806). Italian painters, such a Giovanni Tiepolo (1696-1730), also displayed rococo influences. English painting lacked the characteristic rococo frivolity, but the style affected works by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) and Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), whose portraits tended to flatter their aristocratic subjects. Eighteenth-century neoclassicism in painting is difficult to separate from some works in the era of Louis XIV. Both Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) and Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) had earlier projected order and balance, often in grandiose scenes from antiquity or mythology. Jean Chardin (1699-1779) carried some of this over into the 1700s. The neoclassic approach, however, often expressed powerful dissatisfaction and criticism of the existing order, sometimes in stark realism and sometimes in colossal allegory. The most typical representative of this approach was Jacques Louis David (1748-1825), whose most famous work, Death of Socrates illustrates his respect for Greco-Roman tradition. His sketch of Marie Antoinette enroute to the guillotine clearly represents his revolutionary sympathies. The best examples of pure realism and social criticism are the London street scenes by the English painter William Hogarth (1697-1764) and the Spanish court portraits of Francisco Goya (1746-1828). The number of women painters increased during the eighteenth century, but they were so limited by traditions and so dependent upon public favor that they could hardly maintain consistent styles. Very few were admitted to academies, where their work might be shown; in France, they were not permitted to work with nude models. The result was their practical restriction to still-life and portraiture. Among rococo painters, the two best-known were Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), a court painter of flowers in Dusseldorf, and Rosalba Carriera (1675-1757), a follower of Watteau, who was admitted to the French Academy in 1720. Two very famous French portrait painters and members of the Academy, were Vigee Le Brun (1755-1842) and Adelaide Labille-Guiard (1749-1803). If possible, they were overshadowed by Angelica Kaufmann (1741-1807), a Swiss-born artist who painted in England and Italy. All three were celebrated intheir time. Each produced grand scenes in the neoclassical style, but their market limited them to flattering portraits, at which they excelled. Neoclassicism also found expression in architecture and sculpture. Architecture was marked by a return to the intrinsic dignity of what a contemporary called "the noble simplicity and tranquil loftiness of the ancients." The Madeleine of Paris is a faithful copy of a still-standing Roman temple, and the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin was modeled after the monumental entrance to the Acropolis in Athens. In England, where the classical style had resisted baroque influences, the great country houses of the nobility now exhibited a purity of design, which often included a portico with Corinthian columns. Mount Vernon is an outstanding example of neoclassicism in colonial America. The trend in sculpture often revived classical themes from Greek and Roman mythology; statues of Venus became increasingly popular. Claude Michel (1738-1814) and Jean Houdon (1741-1828) were two French neoclassical sculptors who also achieved notable success with contemporary portraits. Houdon's Portrait of Voltaire is a well-known example. At the opening of the eighteenth century, music demonstrated typical baroque characteristics. These were evident in instrumental music, especially that of the organ and the strings. The most typical baroque medium was opera, with its opulence and highly emotional content. The era culminated in the sumptuous religious music of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), a prolific German organ master and choir director. Bach's equally great contemporary, the German-born naturalized Englishman, George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), is known for his grand and dramatic operas, oratorios, and cantatas; he is best known today for his religious oratorio, Messiah (1742). Composers of the late eighteenth century turned from the heavy and complex baroque styles to classical music of greater clarity, simpler structures, and more formal models. Plain, often folklike melodies also became common. With the appearance of symphonies, sonatas, concertos, and chamber music, less interest was shown in mere accompaniment for religious services or operatic performances. The general emphasis on technical perfection, melody, and orchestration is summed up in the work of the Austrian composers Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). Haydn wrote over 100 symphonies, along with numerous other works. Mozart wrote more than 600 works, including 41 symphonies, 22 operas, and 23 string quartets, climaxing his career with his three most famous operas: The Marriage of Figaro (1786) Don Giovanni (1787), and The Magic Flute (1791). Musical expression at the turn of the century was touched by the genius of the immortal German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). The passion of his sonatas and symphonies expressed a revolutionary romanticism, which challenged the sedate classicism of his time. Reflections Of The Age In Literature More than in art, neoclassicism in literature came closer to voicing the eighteenth century's fascination with reason and scientific law. Indeed, the verbal media of poetry, drama, prose, and exposition were commonly used to convey the new philosophic principles. A typical poetic voice of the Age of Reason in England was Alexander Pope (1688-1744). In his most famous work, An Essay on Man (1733), Pope expressed the optimism and respect for reason that marked the era. He described a Newtonian universe in the following often quoted lines: All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Whose body nature is, and God the soul ... All nature is but art, unknown to thee; All chance, direction, which thou cannot see. All discord, harmony not understood; All partial evil, universal good And, spite of pride, in erring reason's spite, One truth is clear: Whatever is, is right. ^5 [Footnote 5: Quoted in G. K. Anderson and W. E. Buckler, eds., The Literature of England, 2 vols. (Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, 1958), vol. 1, p. 1568.] Two other poetic voices deserve mention here. One belonged to the English Countess of Winchelsea (1661-1720), who extolled reason and feminine equality in her verse. The other was that of a Massachusetts slave girl, Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784), whose rhyming couplets, in the style of Pope, pleaded the cause of freedom for the American colonies and for her race. Reflecting the common disdain for irrational customs and outworn institutions were such masterpieces of satire as Candide (1759), by the French man of letters, Francois-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire (1694-1778). Another famous satirist, England's Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), ridiculed the pettiness of human concerns in Gulliver's Travels (1726), wherein Captain Gulliver, in visiting the fictitious land of Lilliput, found two opposing factions: the Big-endians, who passionately advocated opening eggs at the big end, and the Little-endians, who vehemently proposed an opposite procedure. The novel became a major literary vehicle in this period. It caught on first in France during the preceding century and was then popularized in England. Robinson Crusoe (1719), by Daniel Defoe (1659-1731), is often called the first modern English novel. The straight prose of the novel satisfied a prevailing demand for clarity and simplicity; but the tendency in this period to focus on middle-class values, heroic struggle, and sentimental love foreshadowed the coming romantic movement. Writing along these lines Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) produced Pamela (1740-1741), the story of a virtuous servant-girl, and Henry Fielding (1707-1754) wrote the equally famous Tom Jones (1749), the rollicking tale of a young man's deep pleasures and superficial regrets. Each novel, in its own way, defined a natural human morality. In both France and England women found a uniquely promising outlet for their long-ignored talents in the romantic novel, with its accent on personal feminine concerns and domestic problems. Two among the multitude of able French women novelists were Madame de Graffigny (1695-1758), whose Lettres D'Une Peruvienne (1730) became a best-seller, and Madame de Tencin (1682-1749), who wrote The Siege of Calais, a historical novel of love and danger. In England, Fanny Burney (1753-1840) was universally acclaimed after publication of her first novel, Eveline (1778), about "a young lady's entrance into the world." Aphra Behn (1640-1689) was an early playwright whose novel, Oroonoko (1688), was a plea for the natural person, long before the works of Defoe and Rousseau. The Enlightenment And The Age Of Reason In Philosophy Western Europe's worship of reason, reflected only vaguely in art and literature, was precisely expressed in a set of philosophic ideas known collectively as the Enlightenment. It was not originally a popular movement. Catching on first among scientists, philosophers, and some theologians, it was then taken up by literary figures, who spread its message among the middle classes. Ultimately, it reached the common people in simplified terms associated with popular grievances. The most fundamental concept of the Enlightenment were faith in nature and belief in human progress. Nature was seen as a complex of interacting laws governing the universe. The individual human being, as part of that system, was designed to act rationally. If free to exercise their reason, people were naturally good and would act to further the happiness of others. Accordingly, both human righteousness and happiness required freedom from needless restraints, such as many of those imposed by the state or the church. The Enlightenment's uncompromising hostility towards organized religion and established monarchy reflected a disdain for the past and an inclination to favor utopian reform schemes. Most of its thinkers believed passionately in human progress through education. They thought society would become perfect if people were free to use their reason. Before the eighteenth century, the Enlightenment was confined to Holland and England. Its earlier Dutch spokesmen were religious refugees, like the French Huguenot Pierre Bayle (1674-1706), whose skepticism and pleas for religious toleration were widely known in France. Baruch Spinoza (1632-1687), a Jewish intellectual and Holland's greatest philosopher, was a spokesman for pantheism, the belief that God exists in all of nature. Spinoza's influence, along with Newton's, profoundly affected English thinkers. Mary Astell (1666-1731), perhaps the earliest influential English feminist, lauded rational thinking and cited Newton as proof of an ordered universe. Such ideas were given more credibility by John Locke (1632-1704), the famous English philosopher. Back home from exile in Holland after the Glorious Revolution of the 1680s, Locke applied Newton's recently published principles to psychology, economics, and political theory. With Locke, the Enlightenment came to maturity and began to spread abroad. After the Peace of Utrecht (1713), the Enlightenment was largely a French Phenomenon. Its leading proponents were known as the philosophes, although the term cannot in this instance be translated literally as "philosophers." The philosophes were mostly writers and intellectuals who analyzed the evils of society and sought reforms in accord with the principles of reason. Their most supportive allies were the salonnieres, that is, the socially conscious and sometimes learned women who regularly entertained them, at the same time sponsoring their discussion of literary works, artistic creations, and new political ideas. By 1750, the salonnieres, their salons, and the philosophes had made France once again the intellectual center of Europe. A leading light among the philosophes was the Marquis de Montesquieu (1688-1755), a judicial official as well as a titled nobleman. He was among the earliest critics of absolute monarchy. From his extensive foreign travel and wide reading he developed a great respect for English liberty and a sense of objectivity in viewing European institutions, particularly those of France. Montesquieu's Persian Letters (1721), which purported to contain reports of an Oriental traveler in Europe, describing the irrational behavior and ridiculous customs of Europeans, delighted a large reading audience. His other great work, The Spirit of Laws (1748), expressed his main political principles. It is noted for its practical common sense, its objective recognition of geographic influences on political systems, its advocacy of checks and balances in government, and its uncompromising defense of liberty against tyranny. More than any of the philosophes, Voltaire personified the skepticism of his century toward traditional religion and the injustices of the Old Regimes. His caustic pen brought him two imprisonments in the Bastille and even banishment to England for three years. On returning to France, Voltaire continued to champion toleration. He popularized Newtonian science, fought for freedom of the press, and actively crusaded against the church. In such endeavors, he turned out hundreds of histories, plays, pamphlets, essays, and novels. His estimated correspondence of 10,000 letters, including many to Frederick the Great and Catherine the Great, employed his wry wit in spreading the gospel of rationalism and reform of abuses. Even in his own time, his reputation became a legend, among kings as well as literate commoners. Voltaire had many disciples and imitators, but his only rival in spreading the Enlightenment was a set of books - the famous French Encyclopedie, edited by Denis Diderot (1713-1784). The Encyclopedie, the chief monument of the philosophes, declared the supremacy of the new science, denounced superstition, and expounded the merits of human freedom. Its pages contained critical articles, by tradesmen as well as scientists, on unfair taxes, the evils of the slave trade, and the cruelty of criminal laws. More than has been widely understood, the Encyclopedie, and many other achievements of the philosophes were joint efforts with their female colleagues among the salonnieres. Madame de Geoffrin (1699-1777) contributed 200,000 livres (roughly $280,000 equivalent) to the Encyclopedie and made her salon the headquarters for planning and managing it. Mademoiselle de Lespinasse (1732-1776), the friend and confidential advisor of Jean d'Alembert (1717-1783), who assisted Diderot in editing the work, turned her salon into a forum for criticizing prospective articles. Most of the philosophes relied upon such assistance. Voltaire was coached in science by Madame du Chatelet; and the Marquis de Condorcet (1742-1794), the prophet of progress and women's rights among the philosophes, was intellectually partnered by his wife, Sophie (1764-1812), who popularized their ideas in her own salon. Even Madame de Pompadour aided the philosophes in 1759, when she presuaded Louis XV to allow sale of the Encyclopedie. Perhaps the best-known of all the philosophes was that eccentric Swiss-born proponent of romantic rationalism, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). Although believing in the general objectives of the Enlightenment, Rousseau distrusted reason and science. He gloried in human impulse and intuition, trusting emotions rather than thought, the heart rather than the mind. His early rebuffs from polite society encouraged his hatred for the Old Regime. He also professed admiration for "noble savages," who lived completely free of law, courts, priests, and officials. In his numerous writings, he spoke as a rebel against all established institutions. The most famous of these works, The Social Contract (1762), was Rousseau's indictment of absolute monarchy. It began with the stirring manifesto: "Man is born free, but today he is everywhere in chains." ^6 [Footnote 6: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, trans. by W. Kendall, (Chicago: Henry Regnery Co., 1954), p. 2.] The French Enlightenment exerted a powerful influence on English thought. Many young upper-class Englishmen visited France to complete their education. Among them were three leading English thinkers: Adam Smith (1723-1790), the Scottish father of modern economics; David Hume (1711-1766), the best-known English skeptic; and Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), the founder of utilitarian philosophy. Another famous English rationalist was the historian, Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), whose Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire markedly criticized early Christianity. Among English political radicals after 1770, Joseph Priestley, Richard Price (1723-1791) and Thomas Paine (1737-1809) were also very much affected by French thought. Paine, who figured prominently in the American and French revolutions, was also a leader in English radical politics. The Enlightenment also affected English women. Hannah Moore and a coterie of lady intellectuals, known as "bluestockings," maintained a conservative imitation of the French salons after the 1770s. One atypical "bluestocking" was Catherine Macaulay (1731-1791), a leading historian who published eight widely acclaimed volumes on the Stuart period. A republican defender of the American and French Revolutions, Macaulay exerted a decided influence on Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), whose life symbolized the Enlightenment and the emerging English feminist movement. Born in poverty and burdened by a dependent family, Wollstonecraft became a teacher and a successful professional writer. She was personally acquainted with leading English radicals, including Richard Price, Thomas Paine, and William Godwin (1756-1836), whom she later married. Her Vindication of the Rights of Man (1790) was the first serious answer to Edmund Burke's diatribe against the French Revolution, which Wollstonecraft personally observed and ardently supported. The reforming rationalism of the Enlightenment spread over Europe and also reached the New World. A leading spokesman in Germany was Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786), who wrote against dogmatism and in favor of natural religion. In Italy, the Marquis of Beccaria (1738-1794) pleaded for humanitarian legal reforms. The Enlightenment was popular among the upper classes in such absolutist strong-holds as Prussia, Russia, Austria, Portugal, and Spain. French ideas were read widely in Spanish America and Portuguese Brazil. In the English colonies, Locke and the philosophes influenced such leading thinkers as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814), and Abigail Adams (1744-1818).
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