In 1700, Louis XIV was ruling king of France. He died in 1715, but his taste for art lived on in the trending Salon culture and fine art of France. Other important and influential changes were taking place in 18th century Europe too. This was the dawning of the “Enlightenment” age, the Industrial Revolution in England, modern science, and a number of philosophical movements towards rationality, materialism, and individuality. The art of this period speaks for the societal, economic, and intellectual shifts in Europe. Neoclassic art countered the “Rococo” style in France by focusing on ancient Roman and Greek ideals instead of aristocratic tastes.
Rococo
Germain Boffrand, Salon de la Princesse, 1737-40, Paris
Francois de Cuvillies, Hall of Mirrors, early 18th century, the Amalienburg at Nymphenburg Palace Park, Munich
Balthasar Neumann, Church of Vierzehnheiligen, 1743-1772, Staffelstein Germany
Antoine Watteau, L’Indifferent, 1716, Oil on canvas, Paris
Antoine Watteau, Pilgrimage to Cythera, 1717, Oil on canvas, Louvre
Francois Boucher, Cupid a Captive, 1754, Oil on canvas, London
Jean-Honore Fragonard, The Swing, 1766, Oil on canvas, London
Giambattista Tiepolo, Apotheosis of the Pisani Family, 1761, Fresco ceiling painting, Villa Pisani, Stra, Italy
Clodion, Nymph and Satyr Carousing, 1780-90, Terracotta, New York
“Natural” Art
Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin, Saying Grace, 1734
Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Village Bride, 1761, Oil on canvas, Louvre
Elisabeth-Louise Vigee-Lebrun, Self Portrait, 1790, Oil on canvas, Uffizi
Elisabeth-Louise Vigee-Lebrun, Marie Antoinette, 1787
Thomas Gainsborough, Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1787, Oil on canvas, Washington D.C.
Sir Joshua Reynolds, Lord Heathfield, 1787, Oil on canvas, London
Benjamin West, Death of General Wolfe, 1771, Oil on canvas, Ottawa
John Singleton Copley, Paul Revere, 1768-1770, Oil on canvas, Boston
Antonio Canaletto, Riva degli Schiavoni, 1735-40, Oil on canvas, Toledo
Neo-Classicism
Angelica Kauffmann, Cornelia Presenting her Children as her Treasures, 1785, Oil on canvas, Richmond VA
Mengs, Parnassus, 1761
Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii, 1784, Oil on canvas, Louvre
Jacques-Louis David, Death of Marat, 1793, Oil on canvas, Brussels
Jacques-Germain Soufflot, Pantheon, 1755-1792, Paris
Richard Boyle & William Kent, Chiswick House, Begun 1725, near London
Thomas Jefferson, Monticello, 1770-1806, Charlottesville, VA
Thomas Jefferson, The Rotunda, 1770-1806, Charlottesville, VA
Jean-Antoine Houdon, George Washington, 1788-1792, Marble, Richmond, VA
Art History 