Art And Architecture Essay ⋆ History Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

The style of architecture in Britain changed considerably between 1750 and 1900. The Georgian mews and squares that were popular in the 1750s gave way to large suburbs, the ease of railway travel allowing for significant city sprawl. The Georgian style in Britain was very much influenced by the style of Andrea Palladio in 16th-century Italy. The architect Inigo Jones also built in the Palladian style, with some design features coming from classical Rome. Perhaps the best example in England of this neoclassical style is the city of Bath, with its crescents, terraces, and squares. Dublin is another example.

Sir Robert Taylor (1714–88) and James Paine (1717–89) also worked in the Palladian tradition. In 1760 there emerged two great architects: Sir William Chambers (1723–96), who designed Somerset House, and Robert Adam (1728–92), who was the architect responsible for Syon House near London, Kenwood in Hampstead, Newby Hall and Harewood House in Yorkshire, and Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire. Chambers, although remaining Palladian at heart, was influenced by the discovery of Baalbek in Lebanon. Adam, by contrast, discarded classical proportions. His work was elaborated on by John Nash (1752–1835), who designed Regent Street, London, and by Sir John Soane, who worked on the Dulwich College Art Gallery. By the end of the 18th century, the influence of India and China led to the construction of buildings that either heavily incorporated Asian themes or were entirely Asian in style. Nash’s Royal Pavilion at Brighton, England, constructed in 1815–22, represents British interest in Mughal Indian architecture. Chinese-style pavilions and towers became common in places such as Kew Gardens and the English Gardens in Munich. Later, the emergence of Victorian architecture saw the classical style being retained for the British Museum (1823) and Birmingham Town Hall (1846). However, the design by Sir Charles Barry (1795–1860) for the new Houses of Parliament signaled the Gothic revival, with architects such as Augustus Welby Pugin (1812–52) and others being involved in the work. The Crystal Palace in 1851 was designed by Sir Joseph Paxton (1801–65). Norman Shaw (1831–1912) developed functional architecture for houses, the Bedford Park estate at Turnham Green, London, built in the 1880s, being a good example. Other architects included Charles Voysey (1857–1941), W. R. Lethaby (1857–1931), and Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869–1944). The Industrial Revolution also led to the construction of some iconic structures such as Iron Bridge in Shropshire.

Sculptors like John Flaxman (1755–1826), using a linear style, were responsible for many statues around London, with commissions for public monuments of national heroes such as Lord Nelson and, later, Queen Victoria. In terms of British art, painters like William Hogarth (1697–1764), Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–92), John Constable (1776–1837), and Thomas Gainsborough (1727–99) were important from the Georgian era; famous Victorian painters are Pre-Raphaelites such as D. G. Rossetti, Holman Hunt, and J. E. Millais.

In France during the same period, neoclassical architecture appeared from 1740, remaining popular in Paris until the 19th century. This was, in part, a reaction against the rococo style of prerevolutionary France, with more of a search for order and the expression of republican values in Greco-Roman forms and more traditional ornamentation. Jacques-Germain Soufflot (1713–80), the architect of the Panthéon in Paris, drew parallels between the emerging power of Napoleonic France and that of the classical world. This can be seen in the Arc de Triomphe, La Madeleine, and the National Assembly building. In Paris, the Opera was built by Charles Garnier (1825–98) in 1862. Georges-Eugène, Baron Haussmann (1809–91) laid the plans for a new Paris, a features of which were open spaces, parks, and wide boulevards. The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889.

Even before the French Revolution, paintings by Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825) had a clear republican theme. David was made Napoleon’s official painter, his Coronation of Napoleon being perhaps his most famous work. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867) continued the neoclassical tradition, and the Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault (1791–1824) signaled the arrival of romanticism. Eugène Delacroix drew much on his travels around the Mediterranean, with his great work being Liberty Leading the People, commemorating the July Revolution of 1830. It was not long before the emergence of the Barbizon School, with Camille Corot (1796–1875) and Jean-François Millet (1814–75) taking peasant life as their inspiration and providing a basis for such later painters as Vincent Van Gogh (1853–90).

Impressionism saw the emergence of painters such as Edouard Manet (1832–83), Claude Monet (1840–1926), Alfred Sisley (1839–99), Camille Pissarro (1830–1903), Berthe Morisot (1841–95), and Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919). Other important painters of this style included Edgar Degas (1834–1917) and Paul Cézanne (1839–1906), providing an influence for Paul Gauguin (1848–1903), the foremost of the postimpressionists. Vincent Van Gogh from the Netherlands created haunting self-portraits and landscapes of bright color, making his work instantly recognizable. Mention should also be made of Henri Rousseau (1844–1910), who used a naïve style, and Gustave Moreau of the symbolist school.

In Italy and Spain, baroque architecture gave way to neoclassicism, with tastes becoming more sober and restrained. In Italy this was exemplified by Giambattisa Tiepolo (1696–1770) and his son Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (1727–1804) and their work on churches and palaces in Venice. In Spain the reaction against classicism was marked, especially in Catalonia, where Antoni Gaudi (1852–1926) worked on a free-form style, a geometrically based style using a variety of material and mosaics, with work on his Sagrada Familia Church in Barcelona starting in 1882. Francisco José de Goya (1746–1828) was the greatest of the Spanish painters in the last part of the 18th and first part of the 19th centuries. He was profoundly affected by the Peninsula War and his painting El Tres de Mayo, showing the execution by French soldiers of rebels in Madrid, is among his most well-known. Other Spanish painters of the 19th century include Ignacio Pinazo (1849–1916), Francisco Domingo (1842–1920), Emilio Sala (1850–1910), Ignacio Zuloaga (1870–1945), and Joaquín Sorolla (1863–1923).

In Central Europe, increased wealth led to the construction of many major government buildings. In Austria, rococo design gave way to historicism, with the development of the Ringstrasse in Vienna. This changed with the advent of the Secession movement in 1897. King Ludwig of Bavaria financed the construction of large numbers of “dream” castles throughout his kingdom. In Russia, the emergence of St. Petersburg led to the construction of massive public and private buildings. The Winter Palace, commissioned from Francesco Bertolomeo Rastrelli (1700- 71) in 1754 by Catherine the Great, is certainly the most well-known, with others including the Yelagin Palace built for Alexander I by the architect Carlo Rossi (1775–1849) also important. The Church of the Resurrection of Christ was built in the late 1880s on the site where Czar Alexander II was killed in 1881. The building of the Trans-Siberian Railroad led to the construction of large numbers of railway stations along the length of the railroad. It was a period when Russians were collecting art from around the world.

In China, with the capital Beijing divided between the Chinese City and the Tartar City, the major change came from the 1860s with the building of foreign legations in former princely palaces in the Tartar City. This followed the Second Opium War, which saw the sacking of the “Old” Summer Palace, with work beginning on the massive enlargement of the “New” Summer Palace in 1888. Building work continued on parts of the Forbidden City, and the Manchu Qing (Ch’ing) emperors also spent much energy in the late 18th century on enlarging the palaces at their summer residence at Chengde (Jehol). The late 19th century saw a massive influx of foreign influence into Shanghai, Tianjin (Tientsin), Weihai (Weihaiwei), Qingdao (Tsingtao), Macau, Hong Kong, Hankou (Hankow), and Guangzhou (Canton). As well as warehouses, bank chambers, office buildings, railway stations, and accommodations, there were also Christian churches for both Chinese and foreign parishioners.

There were also churches built around India—especially in Calcutta—with many buildings being erected throughout the Indian subcontinent for the military and traders. Herman Willem Daendels (1762–1818), governor of the Netherlands East Indies, helped redesign the city of Batavia (Jakarta). In Japan, many modern buildings were erected, including the famous Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. Holiday retreats such as Simla in India, Maymyo in Burma, and the Cameron Highlands in Malaya were also built toward the end of the 19th century. Many of these places, as well as earlier temples and landmarks, were the subject of drawings by Thomas and William Daniell.

In North America, vast change was reflected in the architecture. From the 1750s, there were small build-ings such as Mount Vernon, the residence of George Washington. Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello, dates from 1768. After independence, there were a large number of government buildings erected throughout the country, with Pierre-Charles L’Enfant (1754–1825) drawing up the original plans for Washington. The White House was built beginning in 1792 in the Palladian style. The Irish-American architect James Hoban (c. 1762–1831) worked on it after winning the competition with skilled stonemasons coming from Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1793. At the same time, there was work on the Capitol, with the chamber of the House of Representatives completed in 1807. Both the White House and the Capitol were sacked by British soldiers in 1812, and it was not until 1857 that the South Wing was added to the Capitol.

There were also large numbers of other civic buildings constructed throughout the country. Southern plantation architecture was popular. In addition, around the United States, many towns and cities were being established. Unlike their counterparts in Europe, large numbers of the houses were built from wood, with log cabins constructed by pioneers. There was also the construction of the first skyscrapers with the Cast Iron Building, designed by James Bogardus (1800–74) in 1848, and the Haughwout Department Store in New York City in 1857. The first steel girder construction was the Home Insurance Company Building in Chicago, with work by William Le Baron Jenney (1832–1907) and also later his protégé, Louis Sullivan.

Prominent artists living in the United States painted pioneer scenes and portraits of political and society figures. There were a few new concepts, including the panoramic painting that illustrated some historical event. Painted in a way to show the battle or event unfolding, people paid a small fee to see the picture. There was also great interest in landscape painters.

In South America, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Lima, Santiago, Rio de Janeiro, and other cities had large numbers of migrants arriving, with major public buildings, banking and insurance chambers, office buildings, hotels, and other buildings erected. In Australia, during the 1880s there was the period of “Marvelous Melbourne.” As well as the Melbourne Public Library, Melbourne Town Hall, the university, and other major civic projects, there were also many Italianate mansions built throughout the city. In Australia there were many station properties, and in the country towns large numbers of wooden houses. In North Africa, Cairo saw the construction of large numbers of mock-Parisian buildings, with the wealth flowing into Egypt through tourism and the opening of the Suez Canal. The British and French built numbers of colonial buildings throughout their empire in Africa, with the Portuguese, Germans, and Belgians also constructing buildings, but on a much smaller scale. In South Africa, Cape architecture became popular not just in Cape Town and nearby areas but also elsewhere in Africa.

Bibliography:

Colligan, Mimi. Canvas Documentaries: Panoramic Entertainments in Nineteenth-Century Australia and New Zealand. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press,2002;
Fletcher, Bannister. A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method. London: The Athlone Press, 1961;
Jacquet, Pierre. History of Architecture. Lausanne: Leisure Arts,1966;
Richards, J. M. Who’s Who in Architecture from 1400 to the Present. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977;
Schickel, Richard. The World of Goya 1746–1828. New York: Time-Life International, 1971;
Sunderland, John. Painting in Britain 1525 to 1975. London: Phaidon Press, 1976.

This example Art And Architecture Essay is published for educational and informational purposes only. If you need a custom essay or research paper on this topic please use our writing services. EssayEmpire.com offers reliable custom essay writing services that can help you to receive high grades and impress your professors with the quality of each essay or research paper you hand in.