Art in Detail: Academicism, The most notable Paintings

Art in Detail
Academicism
The most notable Paintings

GÉRÔME, Jean-Léon
Pygmalion and Galatea
ca. 1890
Oil on canvas, 88.9 x 68.6 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

Pygmalion and Galatea (detail)
ca. 1890
Oil on canvas, 88.9 x 68.6 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York City

BOUGUEREAU, William-Adolphe
Dante and Virgile
1850
Oil on canvas, 281 x 225 cm
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Dante and Virgile (detail)
1850

DELAROCHE, Paul
The Execution of Lady Jane
Grey
1833
National Gallery, London

DELAROCHE, Paul
The Execution of Lady Jane Grey (detail)
1833
National Gallery, London

INGRES, Jean-Auguste-Dominique
The Grand Odalisque
1814
Musée du Louvre, Paris

The Grand Odalisque (detail)
1814
Musée du Louvre, Paris

The Birth of Venus
1879

The Birth of Venus (detail)
1879

CABANEL, Alexandre
The Birth of Venus
1863

CABANEL, Alexandre
The Birth of Venus (detail)
1863

Art in Detail_ Academicism, The most notable
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CABANEL, Alexandre
The Birth of Venus
The Birth of Venus was one of the great successes of the 1863 Salon, where it was bought by Napoleon III. Typical of Cabanel's
virtuoso technique, this facile and disciplined painting is a perfect example of popular and official artistic taste of the period. In
an eclectic spirit characteristic of the Second Empire, Cabanel combines references to Ingres with an 18th century style of
painting.
Here, however, the mythological theme is simply a pretext for the portrayal of a nude figure who, though idealized, is
nonetheless depicted in a lascivious pose. Emile Zola denounced this ambiguity: "the goddess, drowned in a river of milk,
resembles a delicious courtesan, not made of flesh and bone - that would be indecent - but of a sort of pink and white marzipan".
Leaving this academic tradition far behind, Manet's Olympia, painted with honesty and vigour, caused a major scandal.
The subject of the two paintings is identical: a reclining nude. But the calm assurance with which Manet's subject stares back at
the viewer seems much more provocative than the languid pose of Cabanel's Venus.

Pygmalion and Galatea
Gérôme was one of the most famous representatives of Academicism, with a very diverse oeuvre ranging from portraits to
historical painting to Oriental scenes.
His attention to detail and photographic ‘realism’ of the depicted scenes, which often were completely imagined and painted in
a studio, made his works exquisite and very sought after.
He was a master of covert eroticism: he loved to paint naked women and in order to do it with no social reprimand, he would
place them into mythological or Oriental context. And this way he illustrated and/or inspired fantasies of many nineteenth
century gentlemen.

Dante and Virgile
This painting was inspired by a short scene from the Inferno, set in the eighth circle of Hell (the circle for falsifiers and
counterfeiters), where Dante, accompanied by Virgil, watches a fight between two damned souls: Capocchio, a heretic and
alchemist is attacked and bitten on the neck by Gianni Schicchi who had usurped the identity of a dead man in order to
fraudulently claim his inheritance.
In fact, Bouguereau here shows great boldness. He is exploring the aesthetic boundaries: exaggerating the muscle structure to
the point of distorting it, exaggerating the poses, contrasting colour and shadows, depicting monstrous figures and groups of
damned souls.

DELAROCHE, Paul
The Execution of Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey was Queen of England for just 9 days until she was driven from the throne and sent to the Tower of London to
be executed.
Jane became queen after the death of her cousin, Edward VI in 1553. As a Protestant, Jane was crowned queen in a bid to
shore up Protestantism and keep Catholic influence at bay.
The plan didn't work. Jane's claim to the crown was much weaker than Edward VI's half sister Mary. Mary, a Catholic, had
popular support and soon replaced Jane as queen. Lady Jane Grey was executed at Tower Green on 12 February 1554. She
was just 16 years old.
In this painting, she is guided towards the execution block by Sir John Brydges, Lieutenant of the Tower. The straw on which
the block rests was intended to soak up the victim's blood. The executioner stands impassive to the right and two ladies in
attendance are shown grieving to the left.
The painting was exhibited in Paris at the city's famous Salon in 1834, where it caused a sensation.

The Grand Odalisque
Ingres transposed the theme of the mythological nude, whose long tradition went back to the Renaissance, to an imaginary Orient.
This work, his most famous nude, was commissioned by Caroline Murat, Napoleon's sister and the queen of Naples. Here, Ingres
painted a nude with long, sinuous lines bearing little resemblance to anatomical reality, but rendered the details and texture of the
fabrics with sharp precision.
This work drew fierce criticism when it was displayed at the Salon of 1819.

The Birth of Venus
There was a trend amongst the Academic painters: they were male, they often emphasised the nude body (usually the female
one), and they loved mythology, history, and classical literature.
Bouguereau was no exception. He was incredibly popular in both France and the U.S. during his lifetime and received multiple
awards and honours. His painting The Birth of Venus (this was a popular subject for artists at the time) is another great
example of the over-the-top female Academic nude.

To be able to talk about the art world in late 19th century Paris, there are to bring up two institutions that
were its backbone: the Académie des Beaux-Arts (Academy of Fine Arts) and the Salon.
The Académie des Beaux-Arts was the most prestigious education for artists at the time and would go on to
completely dictate the official artistic tastes and sensibilities over.
In 1863 the Salon des Refusés was started in response to the increasing number of avant-garde
submissions that had to be refused because they didn’t correspond to the jury’s tastes. When we talk about
“Academic art”, or “Academicism”, therefore, we generally talk about the kind of art that the Académie
taught and popularised in their Salons.
The Academic art style in the 19th century is generally thought to bring together Neoclassicism and
Romanticism, two opposing art movements that dominated the French art scene in the beginning of the
19th century.
Neoclassicism took inspiration from ancient Greek and Roman art, while Romanticism emphasised fantasy
and high emotion. As a result, Academicism focused heavily on history, mythology and allegory, with highly
idealised figures.

The Impressionists: Conclusion
The Impressionists started exhibiting in the 1870s, and although their art was controversial at first, it rapidly
became popular and Academic art quickly fell out of favour. By the end of the 19th century, Impressionism
was already starting to become old-fashioned and new exciting art movements were taking its place.
However, (without me going into too much detail), it’s important to remember two things: 1) the profound
impact that Impressionism had on the art scene at the time, but also 2) that there was no clean break
between Academicism and Impressionism.
The Impressionists were controversial and revolutionary, yes, but they were also in many ways tied to the
Academic institution. Many Impressionists, for example, were taught by Ingres, were exhibited in the Salon,
and were inspired by Classical artists, and so on. The complex tastes of the art world in Paris and the art-
viewing public were both traditional and rapidly evolving. (But regardless, I think we can all agree that a lot
of Academic art looks pretty silly today.)

Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1863), Edouard Manet. This is one of the most famous works to be exhibited in the first Salon de Refusés. Although many
things about the work (such as its contemporary setting) were highly controversial, Manet was also inspired by the same artists as the Academic
painters, such as Raphael and other classical painters.

Art in Detail: Academicism, The most notable Paintings

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