Existing comment:
European Art -- An Age of Contrasts: The Eighteenth Century:
The 18th century, known as the Age of Reason or the Enlightenment, also saw the acknowledgement if not the discovery of the irrational, the latter clearly evident in the works of William Blake and Francisco Goya. This was a century of dramatic and sometimes violent change in which institutions of every kind were questions, including religion. In government, the century began under absolute rule and ended with revolutions in the American colonies and in France. In science, Sir Isaac Newton and his followers discovered natural laws that would make the technologies of industrialism possible. At the same time as these scientific discoveries determined the court of human history, philosophers like Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau extolled of the individual, and David Hume and Immanuel Kant explored the inner workings of the mind. Consequent to these new understandings of human nature, women and children took a new place in society and new attitudes toward love emerged. An explosion of travel and exploration brought tourists and scientists in contact with amazing natural phenomena as well as foreign (including colonized) peoples -- thought these were often exploited through slavery. In sum, this was an age in which people related to themselves, to each other, to institutions such as state and church, and to nature itself in new and exciting ways, raising issues that are still a matter of great debate even today. |