Classical era - The French and American Revolution

     During the 1700s, revolutions in both America and Europe happened which has influenced our lives greatly today. We can often get a good insight and some clues of how the people and lives were lived during the time the art was created with some analysis. The revolutions happened because of similar reasons such as economic struggles, monarchy, and unequal rights. A revolutionary war happened as a consequence of this as we can see in the first painting The Battle of Bunker Hill by John Trumball in 1786.

    John Trumball is the artist behind The Battle of Bunker Hill that occurred in June 1775 and was both the first major battle of the revolutionary war and the first of a series of paintings that John Trumball did of major events during the American Revolution. The battle occurred two months after the opening battles but was the first major one where the British troops wanted to win Boston after the patriot troops had succeeded in their patriotic siege of Boston. This was the respone of the British troops and after more reinforcements from Great Britain, the patriots were forced to retreat. 

    Don't worry, I have not forgotten about the art perspective in this painting. For me, it is clear that the british people are having the upper-hand on the patriots in the painting and the main reason for this is Dr. Joseph Warren, a leader of the patriotic response, laying lifeless in the central of the painting. According to the American Revolution Institute, Dr. Joseph Warren is today seen as a martyred hero in his heroic sacrifice for the patriots. It is a somewhat brutal painting where you can see the murdering that are happening during this battle. Another thing that I noticed was the use of colors from Trumball, making the central event of the painting "pop" more. The three people dressed in bright white catches your eye right away and this is likely why Trumball chose to present it that way. I believe it is very smart because it lets the viewer know or at least assume what you should focus on the most. You can find this painting at the Yale University Art Gallery today.

    As I explained earlier, the French Revolution started off as their leader, King Louis XVI, had a extravagant spending habit which caused the country to become closer and closer to bankcruptcy. This forced him to try to raise the taxes to get some more capital for himself to run the country but this is where the people started to resist and protest and eventually became more radical and violent. The people wanted more liberty because they felt like the rulers had to much power and was misusing it. This brings us to the next painting which is this one: Liberty Leading the People. 

        Liberty Leading the People is made by Eugene Delacroix and shows the celebration of the July Revolution in 1830 where the people took down the former leader, King Charles X of France. In this painting, we can see that Delacroix is presenting it in a similar way as Trumball did in The Battle of Bunker Hill with forcing the viewer's eyes to the central and most important thing of the painting. The central event of the painting is a woman of the people, showing and symbolizing patriotism for the country France when she is holding the flag with authority. As Trumball's first painting, patriotism is something that was expressed well and is something I can miss in my home country, Sweden, today. Today's perspective in Sweden is that it is bad to be a patriot and the national anthem has been taken away on sports events etc. This is just a new perspective in today's society that makes me appreciate this painting even more. This painting is usually confused with the "real" french revolution that happened during 1789-1799 but this was the July revolution in France during 1830. I just thought this was a good connection between the American revolution and this, where in my opinion, a lot of United States today represents liberty and freedom and that is exactly what I am thinking of this painting. 

    The most famous artist from the French revolution was David-Jacques Louis. His style was neoclassical and he is famous for many paintings during his lifetime. The example The Oath of Horatii gives the best connection to the French Revolution and was made 1784. 

    The painting is in Roman-Greco style and shows three soldiers fighting the father while he is protecting his family. David's style of presenting the empty background with a clear message to the viewer is typical for him. The Roman-Greco style was a fashionable trend but no one did it like David with his bare-setting background, creating no distraction for the viewer to understand the real meaning for the painting. The father protecting his family can be seen as the heroic sarifices the people did for its country. A show of selflessness and patriotism can also be seen in this image and be connected to the French Revolution but not only the French Revolution, I can also see connection to the previous paintings by Delacroix and Trumball, showing great patriotism, which mentioned earlier, I can miss sometimes in our society. Another big word that comes to mind from this painting is unfairness. The situation seems unfair to me, battling three soldiers versus one father. This is something David could have wanted to explain and get across in the painting since he was not just a great artist, but a prominent member of the Jacobin party and a leader of the French Revolution. His paintings and works worked as propaganda for the radical groups around France, helping them get more people in the fight against the rulers and I can see this in the painting where he is trying to explain how unfair the society is currently. 

    My second painting by Delacroix was not really during the French Revolution but I still wanted to include it because of the connections and similarities we can see with both the American and French Revolutions. This painting below is The Battle of Princeton by James Peale in 1782. 

    

    Peale has here illustrated George Washington's first battlefield victory against british troops in Princeton. This painting is similar to the two first one's by Trumball and Delacroix with the battlefield in the background, showing an image of war. This specific scene that the painting shows is when Washington is rallying his troops for the final push against the british troops, knowing that they will win the battle. 

    I can see great details in this painting by Peale in the uniforms of the soldiers. I cannot see the "force" of attention that Trumball, Delacroix, and David did in their paintings above. Trumball and Delacroix were using the bright white colors to show the central event of the painting which worked greatly on me. But David was using another technique to show the main message which was the bare-setting background with nothing but the three soldiers and the family in the picture. This makes you put your focus and attention to that right away. That is two different techniques with the same outcome. 

    To summarize this, I really enjoy seeing the strong symbolization of patriotism that all of these paintings express. As I mentioned earlier, my home country, Sweden, is far from patriotic right now and it is viewed as a bad thing to be. Therefore, these pictures brings emotions into me and I believe that you should love your origin and where you came from, not belittle it by removing the national anthem from big events as an example. This is the main reason to why I would love to own a copy of one of these painting but one thing that I would appreciate even more is to own a painting like this but showing patriotism from Swedes, in war with Denmark for example. I would connect to that even more. 

Sources:

“David Paintings, Bio, Ideas.” The Art Story, https://www.theartstory.org/artist/david-jacques-louis/#pnt_1.

“Ten Great Revolutionary War Paintings, 1775-1790.” The American Revolution Institute, https://www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org/treasures-of-the-american-revolution/revolutionary-war-paintings/.

Marks, Julie. “How Did the American Revolution Influence the French Revolution?” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 1 May 2018, https://www.history.com/news/how-did-the-american-revolution-influence-the-french-revolution.