Theodore Gericault's Evening - the Landscape of the Aqueduct - Essay Example

Evening: Landscape Evening: Landscape Theodore Gericault was a profound French artist who was an influential lithographer and painter. He was highly known for his artistic paintings such as the Raft of the medusa and several others. Although his death came early, he succeeded in becoming a pioneer of romanticism. Gericault was born in Rouen, France and was educated in the English sporting art tradition by Carle Vernet and in composition of classical figures by Pierre- Narcisse Guerin. The latter was a rigorous classist and recognized his talent, though disapproved of his impulsive temperament as a student. Gericault then left the classroom and instead chose to study at the Louvre. Here he copied ideas from the paintings of Rubens, a Titian as well as Rembrandt for a period of almost 6 years from 1810-1815. He found vitality that he preferred to the existing school of Neoclassicism. The influence of his experience at Rubens reflected in his first major work, exhibited in 1812 at the Paris Salon. This work also revealed interest in the contemporary depiction of subject matter. The ambitious and monumental youthful success was then followed by a change in direction in the production of a series of studies of cavalrymen and horses. Theodore had independent wealth and could thus indulge both of his twin passions- horses and painting, when he wished.1 However, he was less formally trained than most of the artists during his time. He only applied seriousness to his art whenever inspired, For instance, with the raft of the medusa as his great masterpiece. He was influenced by Antoine- Jean Gros and he himself powerfully influenced Paul Delaroche and Eugene Delacroix, the former, who then became a great romantic artist. Gericault was among the best portrait artists and was noted for his realistic studies on asylum inmates. However, his untimely death came following long time suffering after falling from a horse. Newer artistic styles tend to come up against dominant old ones. Classicism rejected the previous style-Baroque or Rococo. Rococo favored much exuberance and ornamentation, and in architecture and music, that exuberance was asymmetrically expressed with great dynamism in light and shade, color, rhythm and movement. Romanticism saw the rise of rationality and science and thus rejected Rococo and thus looked backward to the aesthetic values of Roman and Greek antiquity.2 This favoured harmony, balance, restraint and proportion and as a result, romanticism sought a newer way of depicting the human condition from a world whose classical values were being left behind. Gericault’s painting, “Evening” began to get realization during this period of rapid change in the context of landscapes. His artistic make comprising the times of the day made him too be realised as a pioneer of romanticism. He used an artistic approach that took into consideration harmony and balance as well as insisted on rules and decorum. This new art showed the notion of changing landscapes by embracing change and responding to the urge for personal liberty and freedom, with free and individual forms. Works of art according to Gericault arise from products of own demands as well as the perception of the world of the artist and the pressure of its own demands.3 Personal expression mattered better in romanticism than arbitrary rules. The modern transformation of landscape printing has decreased to geometrical shape, amiable harmonies and soft colors. This variety is found in nature. The closer a thing was in its natural state the more likely it was to reveal fundamental truths. Landscape painting thus became the pillar of the new movement. The romantic view was not limited to waving fields of sunflowers as well as dappled hillsides. It was more fascinated by rocky landscapes and lashing thunderstorms. The nature’s destructive forces and its stunning power became a subject for Gericault and various other artists. In 1989, when the ‘Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET)’ purchased Theodore’s Gericault’s painting entitled’ Evening: Landscape with an aqueduct (1818), the art world felt an elevation. This is because the museum was short on romantic paintings in French and this consequently meant shortage in Gericault’s works.4 While a pioneer of romanticism, Gericault depicted a notion of modern paintings in the context of the revolving notion of landscapes. Description of “Evening: landscape of the Aqueduct” “Evening” was depicted as a more vivid colored and a composition modelled intricately, after a thorough cleaning process by the museum. Other related paintings, drawings and prints show a presentation of 30 works which serve to justify the significance of purchase by MET as well as explain cruciality in the evolution of landscape painting in French.5 Gericault in his painting had a view of making these large-scale landscapes elevate the genre to such a stature that was accorded at a time of images of historical subjects. He depended on art-historical sources other than nature in order to put together such scenes. For instance, Evening borrows from the works of artists such as Claude Vernet and Antonio Carraci. The notion of romanticism is signalled by the disproportion of disorienting elements. The representation of the times of the day including-morning, evening, night and noon were a common cycle of decorating for artists of the 18th century. Gericault’s landscapes relied upon sources of the 18th century, such as by Vernet on the view of the fine landscape of French. The fourth landscape was never completed by Gericault because he got involved with the “raft of the medusa”. Evening” is rich detail in the town rendition and its ruins. Its bathers are directed to the Michelangelesque rhetoric which Gericault perfected in “Raft” the metropolitan got a striking image of ambitions and grand themes of French romanticism.6 The timeline for Geracault’s “Evening” was between 1800 and1900 A.D, in France. His thematic essays include: romanticism and the aesthetics of the sketch in the 19th century, France.”Evening” by Geracault encompassed painting in oil on canvas of aqueduct and classical ruins. According to MET, this painting fits the following description: the image top is lighter as a result of the existing conditions of light in the museum, the yellow or white colour is not strong enough while the structure’s left side according to the Met site miniature is slightly red-tinged. However, the painting could do with a little colour adjustment. “The evening” was painted during the summer of 1818 in Paris. The landscapes had a conception of decor, exhibited at the salon or to be placed as interior design. Extant receipts to enable the delivery of canvasses to the studio of Gericault enable these works to be dated precisely. These landscapes fuse the souvenirs of ruins in the countryside of Italy, which Gericault visited in 1817 comprising of turbulent moods and stormy skies, which is characteristic of the emergence of romanticism aesthetics as well as the concept of Anglo-French sublime.” Gericault painted these landscapes at a moment of personal turmoil: his uncles second wife was about to give birth to a child whom Gericault had fathered.” This happens to interrupt his painting on the “Times of Day” and this explains the reason why only three of four landscapes were realized. In conclusion, Gericault’s history is entirely that of innovation and change. His daring, fiery personality as well as shorter life fit a mold of artists of his time in the romance field. His controversial paintings also had a profound influence on art of the 19th century. Gericault was self taught and he also serves as an influence to several scholars who have since then expanded the notion of romanticism with changing landscapes. However, his untimely death in 1824 and at a tender age of 32 years came as a result of long suffering following a fall from a horse. Some of his last works were discovered about fifty years following his death. Such paintings offered a fresh concept that appropriated seriousness in painting. Notes 1. Clement, Charles, Gericault: a bibliographical and critical study with a catalogue raisonne of the masters’ works ( New York: Da Capo, 1974), 28 2. Ibid., 35 3. Gericault, Théodore, “Evening: Landscape with an Aqueduct," Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, 1989, http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1989.183. \ 4. Eitner, Lorenz, Gericault, his life and work (London: Orbis Pub, 1983), 67 5. Gericault, “Evening” 6. Eitner, Lorenz, Gericault, his life and work (London: Orbis Pub, 1983), 54 Bibliography Clement, Charles. Gericault: a bibliographical and critical study with a catalogue raisonne of the masters’ works. New York: Da Capo, 1974. Eitner, Lorenz. Gericault, his life and work. London: Orbis Pub, 1983. Gericault, Théodore. “Evening: Landscape with an Aqueduct." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.1989. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1989.183. Read More