French Revolution Research Paper

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The French Revolution was a long period of unrest and uncertainty for the people of France. Lasting from 1789-1799, this instability strongly effected the art of the time period. Artists tended to choose subjects that were related to war and conflict as well as what was happening in the country around them as battles were fought in the streets of France for control over the government.

The Neoclassical style of painting saw a return to themes and stories that had come out of Rome and Greece but that didn't mean that they were any less relevant than more modern stories. According to the Encyclopedia of Art History, Neoclassicism (Encyclopedia, n.d.) "....reflected a desire to rekindle the spirit and forms of classical art from ancient Greece …show more content…

(n.d.). Napoleon Bonaparte Pardoning the Rebels at Cairo - Pierre-Narcisse Guerin. Retrieved May 10, 2017, from https://www.wikiart.org/en/pierre-narcisse-guerin/napoleon-bonaparte-1769-1821-pardoning-the-rebels-at-cairo"...emotions, feelings, and moods of all kinds including imagination, mystery and fervor. Napoleon Pardoning the Rebels at Cairo by Baron Pierre-Narcisse Guérin is a good example of a romantic era painting. This is even more obviously propaganda because it was a scene that was fresh out of the revolution and something that had only happened a few years before this was painted. I think the painter wanted to dismiss Napoleon as a minor figure in this event because he is shunted off to the side and towards the back of the left side of the painting as well as in shadow under a tree while someone else makes the announcement to the rebels who are bathed in sunlight on the right side of the painting. If Guerin had wanted Napoleon to be a heroic figure, something for the French to be proud of for pardoning these people, he would have had a far more important place in the painting, and bathed in sunlight just like the rebels are.

Napoleon Bonaparte Pardoning the Rebels at Cairo - Pierre-Narcisse Guerin

So, both Neoclassicism and Romantic periods had a role to play during the French Revolution, both in their own way providing propaganda opportunities for the ruling elite of the revolution.

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