Overview of David’s Neoclassicism, his teacher Guérin, the influence of Constable and Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa, his friends, and rival Ingres.
Ingres
One of the charges leading to Joan of Arc being burned at the stake was that she cross-dressed in male military clothing.
Achilles acquires himself a concubine, as does his commander Agamemnon. When the latter is forced to return his, and takes Briseis from Achilles, there’s trouble.
From the Renaissance, by convention dreams were shown as a dream view set within a framing real view. Examples by Raphael, Tintoretto and others.
Maternal love, Oedipus and the Sphinx, and a naked courtesan unveiled before a court of men, all demonstrate how important is gaze.
Pastel paintings were central to his art, from empty beach landscapes of 1869, through the ballet, to women bathing and dressing in the 1880s, and fantasy landscapes of 1892.
David’s Neoclassicism brought uniformity and lack of surface texture. Romanticism followed, with garments dissolving into brushstrokes.
Do Booker’s Seven Basic Plots reduce to a series of events leading to a change in fortune (reversal, peripeteia), and establishing the outcome?
One of the famous painted narratives, Oedipus and the Sphinx proves an exception to all rules, but is glossed over in discussion of the literary narrative.
Paintings of knights in armour from Raphael in c 1502, through Ingres’ rescue of Angelica, to Arthurian legends and the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
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