Eugene Delacroix, The Death of Sardanapcilus 1827
The subject of death, which had been previously treated by the Neoclassicists as a moment of universal nobility and the enduring triumph of human spirit, became for the Romantics an artistic device for the expression of individual tragedy. The same themes that had been illustrated by David or Canova had now become tinged with a certain darkness and began to operate not as inevitable occasions for nationalistic heroism, but as realizations of a new vision of mortality and time. Scenes of death became entropic analogies for disintegration and decay, particularly seen in the despairing figures favored by Gericault and Delacroix. The artists of the Romantic movement imagined the past as an organic and changing flux of dynamic disequilibrium rather than continue the static and crystalline monumentality of Neoclassical pictorialism. The Death of Sardanapcilus, which illustrates mythical antiquity with a characteristic lush and seductive detail, is similar in mood to that evoked by Gustave Flaubert's novel Salammbo (1862), set in ancient Carthage of the third century BC. Here Delacroix expresses the relentless certainty of man's progress towards death despite the opulence and magnitude of his material possessions; his use of sumptuous decoration is but a thin veneer that conceals the inevitable and unstoppable processes of time and tragedy. Eros will always be consumed by Thanatos. At the time the painting was sharply criticized for its rejection of French classicism in both subject matter and style, not the least in its bold and dynamic treatment of color.
3 comments:
the passage was originally a horribly written boiler plate for the painting from an online encyclopedia.
I corrected the bad english and added my own flourishes.
So I guess it's heavily edited plagiarism, which is still original.
I dunno..compare if you wan't:
The subject of death, which had been portrayed by the Neoclassicists as a moment of universal nobility for humanity in general, became for the Romantics an artistic device for the expression of individual tragedy. The same themes that had been illustrated by David or Canova were now burdened with a dark sense of tragedy. Dead or dying figures became symbols of disintegration and decay, particularly, as seen in the despairing figures painted by Gericault and Delacroix.
The past became almost an organic and changing state of decay rather than the static moment captured in Neoclassical painting. The Death of Sardanapcilus, which illustrates a mythical antiquity with precision and detail, is similar in mood to that evoked by Gustave Flaubert's novel Salammbo (1862), set in ancient Carthage. Delacroix expresses the relentless certainty of dissolution and decay; his use of sumptuous decoration is a veneer that conceals the inevitable progress towards death. The painting was harshly criticized for its rejection of French classicism in both subject matter and style, not least its bold and dynamic treatment of colour
It's funny, thinking about the big Courbet and Turner shows in NY recently, it occurred to me it must be about time for a Delacroix blockbuster.
A few years ago we had the Corot, and a Daumier, somewhere - I saw the catalogue and wished I'd been there. To my knowledge there hasn't been a decent Moreau show anywhere (or even an indecent one, come to that).
But Delacroix, is surely ripe for revisiting.
yes, all the Romantics for that matter
when Modernism crashes I think that this type of vision will re-emerge
It's kind of perverse to be betting on the failure of something.
but if it weren't for that enormous meteoric impact 65 million years ago, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
Shiva knows best....
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