Tutor HuntResources History Resources

How Important Was The Influence Of ‘nationalism’ On The 18th Century Arts?

A historical analysis of art and culture in the 18th century

Date : 07/10/2020

Author Information

Imogen

Uploaded by : Imogen
Uploaded on : 07/10/2020
Subject : History

How important was the influence of nationalism on the 18th century arts?

The 18th century was a period of great change for the arts in Europe where a variety of influences affected the production and styles of painting, architecture, music and literature that were produced. Although each country underwent a slightly different experience, a clear trend of influences can be seen in the 18th century. At the beginning of the century dynasticism still held great sway where the arts remained largely under the control of royal patrons and served to legitimise royal authority. However, with the rise of the Enlightenment and the focus on universalism and nature the Baroque and the Rococo of the courts fell out of fashion to be replaced by greater internationalism and the influence of popular culture. Although the influence of nationalism emerged alongside the public sphere, it held little sway over 18th century arts until the last decade of the 18th and the early 19th century. It was only at the end of the 18th century when countries began to feel threatened and reacted against the threat of the French Revolution by becoming insular that art came to specifically be identified with individual states, drawing on a common sense of identity within individual nations and a rejection of international artistic influences.

At the beginning of the 18th century rulers used the arts to create a dazzling court culture as a projection of their majesty. Courtly absolutist culture reached its apogee under Louis XIV s patronage of the arts allowing France to gain international recognition of power and ensuring Paris [became] to Europe what Greece once was to the ancient world. [1] The marriage of power and culture can most clearly be seen with the art at Louis XIV s palace at Versailles where from the mid 17th century he used the motif of the sun to depict himself as Apollo, including commissioning Jean-Baptise Tuby to create a sculpture of Apollo s chariot. Frederick the Great highlighted the desire for power behind Louis XIV s patronage of the arts: Greedy for every kind of glory, he wanted to make his nation as supreme in matters of taste and literature as it was already in power, conquests, politics and commerce. [2] Louis XIV s desire to display royal grandeur ensured France did indeed achieve cultural hegemony and not merely in establishing Baroque as the fashion for European courts, but the patronage of literature and music ensured the French style of culture dominated European courts. The patronage of the arts, and the use of them to gain international recognition of power ensured the flourishing of arts that supported the power of the state. Almost all the great literary names of the day such as Corneille, Racine, Moli re all enjoyed an intimate relationship with the state and could gain high levels of status through pensions and appointments. However, artists were subservient to their patron, and this influenced what arts were produced. For instance, the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II s restriction of large-scale instrumentally supported church music ensured that Mozart composed virtually no such music, mentioning in his letters his need to indulge Joseph II s fondness for fugues.[3] Likewise, Haydn s compositions were directly the property of his patron and fully dependent on his taste. However it is important to note that artists were occasionally able to carve out their own agendas, for instance Mozart became a Freemason in 1784, his composition of the Magic Flute in 1791 full of Masonic symbolism, clearly going against upholding the power of the state as such views had been condemned by the pope and was considered by many to be subversive of religion and social order. Yet overall the monarch s use of the arts to uphold their power at court and the control of artists through patronage ensured that representational culture heavily influenced which arts were produced, and which styles survived.

The culture of the courts never entirely disappeared, revitalised by each regime s need to seek legitimation, however as the 18th century progressed reason had taken the wind out of the sails of baroque art. [4] The influence of the Enlightenment greatly affected 18th century arts leading to a turning away from legitimising the power of the church and the state, towards reason and education. The beginnings of Enlightenment influence can be seen still at the courts where the grandeur and pomposity of the baroque style of Louis XIV fell away in the 1730s, prior emphasis on glory and duty was replaced in France by the decorative and light-hearted style of the Rococo whose focus was more on love and the benefits of education. However, a new concept of Europe emerged within Enlightenment thought based on universal truth, nature and reality which displaced the artificial and frivolous Rococo of the ancien r gime. With this removal of focus from court culture, the influence of the court on the Baroque and Rococo can be seen in their decline, as Levey notes by the mid-18th century there was no one to champion the rococo it had only patrons or enemies. [5] The first challenge to the Rococo came with Watteau s and Rubens greater focus on the simplicity of human nature in everyday life as depicted through sexual passion. But this was taken further with the rise of neo-classicism in the 1740s where an international movement around truth and knowledge evolved around a natural view of antiquity that rejected the rich ornamentation of the Baroque and the frivolity of the Rococo. This desire to harness painting to serve the Enlightened pursuit of truth and knowledge can be seen across a huge variety of paintings from the Englishman Wright s The Experiment with an air-pump displaying contemporary interest in scientific experiments, to Goya s Horrors of War which displays man s cruelty to his fellow man in his concern with humanity. Overall, the Enlightenment influenced the production of art liberating it from the control of the courts to a greater focus on nature and the human.

Courtly patronage and influence over the arts was even further diminished as the 18th century underwent a period of rapid urbanization leading to a broadening social access to wealth and power and to the arts. From then on art had to cater to a wider and more varied audience. Craske describes the emergence of new art publics in France, Britain and Germany which are associated with the birth of a consumer culture [6] in which art works began to assume the status of products. Due to the improvement in technologies, amongst the Enlightenment interest in education the printing press ensured a massive expansion in the market for prints and illustrated books in France, Britain and Germany where even households of modest income could own sophisticated art images. The emergence of the Bourgeois class allowed cultural media to become accessible to the public through reading societies, theatres, museums and concerts. This broadening of social access to the arts enabled culture to transform from something which had been representational into a commodity in what Blanning describes as cultural industrialization. [7] With the transfer of cultural power from the nobility to the bourgeois the arts, such as music which had been tied to the representation of power in the propagation of Christianity or the entertainment of aristocrats was liberated from dynastic influence. William Hogarth reveals the financial liberation from the state thrown up by the advent of a new public strike the passions, and by small sums from many thus secure my property to myself [8] it was commercialisation rather than aristocratic patronage that now informed the content of the art. However, the necessity of relying on the now public patron did not necessarily provide more freedom of expression for artists. To appeal to this larger public, artists removed the requirement for elite learning which acted as a barrier to the appreciation of the arts, and instead focused on the more accessible passions. [9] Greuze s Girl Weeping over a Dead Bird is one such example of art becoming an increasingly egalitarian medium of communication, astonishing Le Brun in its effect: brought forth tears from souls indifferent up until that day of the magic force of painting. [10] Although many art commentators of the late 18th century, such as Fuseli[11], were hostile towards the idea that the public should dictate the standards of taste, artists continued to accommodate the public in their works. Blanning notes that it is the London public who should be thanked for eliciting the expansion of expressive boundaries in Haydn s last twelve symphonies. [12] Rather than expressing the glory of the patron, the emergence of the Bourgeois public freed artists from potential tyranny, providing perhaps greater uncertainty in their livelihoods but allowing a flourishing of popular culture and their celebration of the glory of art for its own sake.

The expansion of access to the arts under the Enlightenment also led to an international sharing of culture in which Europe not only became a Republic of letters in a community of enlightened minds, but also became a Republic of the arts. During the 18th century artists brought cultural influences from across Europe to create new art forms in their own countries. The influence of Parisian culture under Louis XIV came to be implemented in various courts around Europe, despite the removal of French influences from Prussia after the breakdown of the Franco-Prussian alliance, the internationalism of the Enlightenment continued to influence the production of the arts particularly in Italy and in Russia under Empress Elizabeth from 1741-1762. Outside Rome, in Italy there was an enthusiasm for all things French, Levey attributes the spiralling pattern and tonality of sea colours in Pittoni s Three Saints for instance to the Rococo wave of Parisian sophistication. [13] The same sharing and building on other cultures in an international artistic movement can be said of Rome which became a compelling centre of interest for architects throughout Europe in the first half of the 18th century due to the combined impact of Piranesi and the presence of young architects at the French Academy. Piranesi s evocative representations of the monuments of ancient and modern Rome caught the imagination of Europe. Consequent Roman influences can be clearly seen in England in the work of Dance, or in Adam s Plan of Syon House 1762-9 recreating antique Roman splendour for modern domestic purposes. Rome s influence also reached Sweden and Denmark where Le Lorrain s wall decorations articulated with Ionic columns provided one of the earliest neo-classical interiors. Likewise, the British influence can be seen in the Jardin anglais adopted by Poland from 1770 onwards and in Scottish born Cameron s service to Catherine the Great of Russia from 1779. Although Europe was far from Levey s view of a monolithic European civilization, Montesquieu s statement je suis homme avant d tre Fran ais seems to ring true in the international sharing of art forms in the mid 18th century.

However, as the 18th century drew to a close, the influence of nationalism on the arts grew increasingly stronger as the universalism of the Enlightenment dwindled in the face of fears over the survival of individual cultural identities. Although there were high levels of internationalism in the 18th century, it is important to note as Craske does that international fraternity was evidently an ideal that some artists embraced wholeheartedly and others reluctantly. [14] Before Napoleon s yoke of conquest turned the nationalism of the Europeans against France, international ideals coexisted within a growing influence of nationalism in the 18th century. Alongside the rise of the Bourgeois, the nationalisation of education and public life went hand in hand with nationalism of public loyalties to the state, creating tensions between the ideal of cosmopolitanism and the practice of national prejudice. The growing infiltration of foreign ideas and consumer goods into Europe s urban communities created disharmony. Internationalism did not favour regional styles of production but according to Craske shook these communities sense of their own cultural identity. [15] An active turning away from internationalism can be seen in the 1737 when Hogarth warned the art-buying public against emulating the tastes of pretentious cosmopolitan connoisseurs. [16] Rejection of foreign tastes in favour of creating new ways to see the nation can be seen in Prussia, where Friedrich Wilhem II summoned three German-born architects to create the Brandenburg Gate from 1789-94 as an expression of German culture. Other examples of nationalism can be seen in a focus on creating a common history to allow a collective identity to come into being. In Russia Lubki, prints and chapbooks circulated to serve as important sources for the expression of national identity, likewise the Germans revived the memory of Herman the German to provide common ancestry in the late 18th century. Finally, the dissertation of James Barry countering the suggestion that Britain could not possibly provide the conditions for a modern classical renaissance demonstrates how at least from the 1770s internationalism far from uniting the international community in a shared Classical and Renaissance inheritance rather created nationalistic rivalries. Art was becoming more insular, developing to uphold collective identities rather than seeking to draw and add to emerging international styles.

Overall, in the 18th century the arts were influenced by state propaganda, nature, reason education, and cultural histories as well as the particular passions of individual artists themselves. Nationalism was undoubtedly important in influencing more insular art forms and xenophobia, creating a movement away from the universal nature of the Enlightenment towards upholding and creating national identities. However, it was certainly not the most important influence on the 18th century arts. The biggest effect on the style and production of 18th century arts was the emergence of the Bourgeois public out of the Enlightenment due to the freedom this gave artists from their prior reliance on expressing the glory of their patron. Although artist s self-expression was limited to securing a livelihood based on the popularity of their works in the public sphere, they were able to treat emergent ideas of science, rationalism, the nature and what it is to be human without the threat of imprisonment or censure from conservative patrons. Nationalism undoubtedly constrained the universal nature of the Enlightenment and the resulting culture of sharing art forms, however it was not so important that it overshadowed and removed all international influences in art works even at the close of the 18th century.

Bibliography:

- D. Beales, Mozart and the Habsburgs (1990)

- D. Watkin, A History of Western Architecture (2nd edn., 1996)

- H. Honour, Neo-Classicism (1968)

- M. Craske, Art in Europe 1700-1830 (1997)

- M. Levey, Rococo to Revolution. Major Trends in Eighteenth-Century Painting (1966)

- T.C.W. Blanning, The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture. Old Regime Europe 1660-1789 (2002)

[1] Louis R au in T.C.W. Blanning, The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture. Old Regime Europe 1660-1789 (2002), p.177

[2] Frederick the Great in ibid, p.38

[3] Mozart in D. Beales, Mozart and the Habsburgs (1990), p.11

[4] M. Levey, Rococo to Revolution. Major Trends in Eighteenth-Century Painting (1966), p.16

[5] ibid), p.111

[6] M. Craske, Art in Europe 1700-1830 (1997), p.12

[7] T.C.W. Blanning, The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture. Old Regime Europe 1660-1789 (2002), p.9

[8] Hogarth in M. Craske, Art in Europe 1700-1830 (1997), p.14

[9] ibid,p.14

[10] Le Brun in ibid,p.15

[11] ibid, p.16

[12] T.C.W. Blanning, The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture. Old Regime Europe 1660-1789 (2002), p.168

[13] M. Levey, Rococo to Revolution. Major Trends in Eighteenth-Century Painting (1966), p.50-51

[14] M. Craske, Art in Europe 1700-1830 (1997), p.143

[15] ibid, p.90

[16] Hogarth in ibid, p.108

This resource was uploaded by: Imogen

Other articles by this author