In the Artistic eras that preceded the Classical era, Immorality in contemporary art was quite common and often involved subjects such as vengeful beheading, rape and sexual frivolity. Although the art of the Classical era was not void of these subjects, it did strive to live-up-to the morals that were formed by the Enlightenment.
The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters: Plate 43 of The Caprices (Los Caprichos), 1799 Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746–1828) Etching, aquatint, drypoint, and burin
This first piece of art is an etching by Lucientes, named (in English) The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, which was finished at the end of the 18th century. It’s title is etched into the desk and the rest of the piece depicts Lucientes himself in a deep sleep on top of his work with all manner of of creatures of the night haunting his dreams. Analysts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art believe that, “The artist’s nightmare reflected his view of Spanish society, which he portrayed as demented, corrupt, and ripe for ridicule.” Meaning that this piece of art could have been made as a way of telling the Spanish people “look at the nightmare you’ve become” probably in hopes that the Spanish people would change.
Cornelia Pointing to Her Children as Her Treasures (1785). Angelica Kauffmann (Swiss). Unknown location.
This painting: Cornelia Pointing to Her Children as Her Treasures, was painted by Angelica Kauffmann in 1785. In this picture two women catch the immediate attention of the viewer: One is dressed in a vibrant red and is wearing a valuable gold head band; the other is plainly dressed and her hair is wrapped in cloth. This painting has a wonderful message of the true value of family. You can see this by looking at the woman on the right and imagine what she is saying to the other as she holds out her large pearl necklace and displays the rest of her treasures on her lap: “Look at my wonderful treasures.” But the plainly dressed woman’s reply is “here are mine” grasping her daughter and pointing to her children as a treasure that is more valuable than any amount of silver, gold or pearls.
The Death of General Wolfe (1770). Benjamin West. American, British (1738-1820). Oil on canvas.
In this painting The Death of General Wolfe by Benjamin West, the viewer can see a crowd of men all dressed in their appropriate uniforms and garb surrounding their dying general. Multiple moral meanings can be pulled from this painting; some of the men have their hands folded in prayer for the general which could be expanded upon or the fact that the death of the general is almost Christ like in its portrayal and distribution. But what I want to draw on is something that still has meaning today and that is the vital recognition of the ultimate sacrifice that soldiers pay for their country. In this painting all of the soldiers are somber and heartbroken, praying desperately for their general, displaying the true value in the life of one man. This is something that still is relevant to us today because we need to appreciate and realize every individual soldiers sacrifice for our country.
All of these pieces of art have an emphasis on the moral ideals that originated from the Enlightenment period. Each one teaching lessons and implanting important morals into each viewer’s mind with the intention of spreading good morality to as many as possible.
Works Cited
Kauffmann, Angelica. Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi, Pointing to her Children as Her Treasures.
Lucientes, Francisco de Goya. The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters: Plate 43 of The Caprices (Los Caprichos) (18.64.43). In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org. March 7,2013. Web. March 5, 2013.
West, Benjamin. The Death of General Wolfe. In the National Gallery of Canada (No. 8007). http://www.gallery.ca. Web. March 4, 2013.
Nate's Thoughts 
Good job Nate!
I would have to say that Angelica Kauffman in my opinion was a child prodigy, since she was already very talented by the tender age of 6. As far as the painting’s location goes I am almost 100 percent sure that this painting took place in Rome. The reason why I say Rome is because in 1781 she moved to Venice but moved to Rome shortly after and the paint is dated to 1785.
You did a great job relaying the facts, dates, and creators of the paintings you chose. I, also, used The Death of General Wolfe as one of my selected paintings for this assignment. It was interesting to see your take on the painting as opposed to my own. The theme of morality and the art of the classical era was shown throughout the entire response. One problem I did see is that there are no sources cited. I really enjoyed your choice in paintings and found each of them to be aesthetically pleasing in different ways. Overall, I think you did a wonderful job and I enjoyed reading what you wrote. My only advice would be for you to make sure to cite your sources.
It looks as though Nate enjoys what he’s seeing. A few minor details may be lacking, such as where a work was created, or some history about the item itself (for example, who was the General and why is he so important?) But, this is an evaluation of morality in the arts, and not an analysis of the information being presented within the art, as much. He explained why and how he saw the morals he speaks about, and uses language that suggests he appreciates or supports what he sees. Lucientes’ work, for example, he feels is a good portrayal of how Lucientes has seen that reason and intelligence does nothing without action, and that Spain had become widely inactive to the demons that have been allowed to haunt the minds of his people, making it an inhospitable place to say the least. I really liked how Cornelia in Kaufmann’s painting is, also according to Nate, a ‘wonderful message of the true value of family.’ This is something I can relate to, and I see it as a valuable advertisement for good morals and mutually beneficial thinking in a time shortly after there was so little of it (good morals, etc).
I would ask, though, especially about The Death of General Wolfe: what does it say about morality for so many people to be on a battlefield, surrounded (in the background) by war, for them all to stop, put down their weapons to be shocked and consumed by the onset of sudden grief? Wouldn’t the “right thing” to do is to keep fighting, remain aware, and do everything possible to ensure that Gen. Wolfe’s death wasn’t in vain? My thinking goes: if “I” was Gen. Wolfe, what would I want that entourage to do? “KEEP FIGHTING!”
Ikstough, thank you very much for letting me know about the citations. I have corrected the problem with a Works Cited section. I enjoy your opinions and hope to return the favor.
tcpickard, I agree that if I was General Wolfe, logically the thing I would want my men to do would be to continue fighting. But in my mind I doubt that a large group of men fighting while their beloved general bled to death in the care of one physician would make a very good picture and at that point I don not think that it would be that inspiring. Thank you very much for your opinions and critiques.
Nate, a really good post. It was concise and yet covered the morality topic and the associated works well. It appears all of your factual information is correct, though I think you might want to include another quality source in your works cited. Overall, I think you did a really good job on the paintings you chose, and I enjoyed how you skillfully wove them into your discussion of morality and the arts in the neoclassical era. You provided a nice description of each painting, your thoughts on how morality played out in the piece, and even commented on its relevance today.
The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters was a really interesting piece. Thank you for including it. Just from the title itself, I was thinking that it might mean that the more you rely on reason and the less you rely on faith, the more “monsters” you will see lurking about, the harder life might appear, and the more alone and vulnerable you might feel. I definitely liked Kauffman’s Cornelia Pointing to Her Children as Her Treasures, as I included this same work in my post this week. I was struck by how crisp the forms were and by how simple the background was. What do you think it says that the young girl is holding her mother’s hand while simultaneously playing with the jewelry of the woman in red? The Death of General Wolfe was also an interesting piece. I agree with tcpickard that it does seem out of place that a small pocket of soldiers would pause within a raging battle as depicted. I think West does a pretty good job conveying the solemnity and sadness of the moment however. You can almost see the brightness of General Wolfe’s eyes slowly fading away as his life force slowly leaves him. I also like how West portrays the various emotions from the men watching the General die. We see everything from sadness, shock, disbelief and prayer. What do you make of the American Indian sitting on the blanket with his hand to his chin? Is he contemplating how differently these men are from him in terms of how they deal with death? Curious to get your thoughts.
Jason, I’m glad you asked about the “Indian.” I have researched Native American tribes for quite some time now and death and the pain of death was a major deciding factor for almost all denominations of Natives on their worth in their lives. If the died screaming in pain then they were weak and not worthy to be a warrior and “pass on.” But if they met death with the voraciousness that they met their enemies with; without a single cry of pain and without fear, then they were worthy of everything available to them. So that obviously affected the way that Native Americans met death, many of them would not make a sound as they died and would fight the pain just as they fought men. When the European’s/Americans came the natives found that most of the “white men” were afraid of death and many of them met their end screaming and wailing. So after many years of seeing the way that the “white man” died, to see a “white man” die without fear and with the same bravery that they carried into battle was a rare and greatly honorable sight in the eyes of many Native Americans.
If you want a great account of the Native American view of battle and death you can look up the name “Mato Tope.” Annother thing you can look up is the torture of the Native Americans by either the local churches or Christopher Columbus and his followers.
I really enjoyed reading this, Nate! I love how in depth you went with each piece and the details of how they could relate to Morality (a topic I now wish I had chosen). You works cited and everything look great but I wish you had gone a little more in detail about why exactly you picked the pieces. You got all the facts worked in there and it looks great! Thanks for sharing!
Completely off-topic, I love the pinecone!
Thanks, Nate. Very interesting stuff concerning Native Americans’ views on death. I had no idea. Will definitely check out “Mato Tope.”
Nate, awesome job! I really liked how you were able to pull all the paintings together even though each had a different view on morality. The only suggestion I have is to give a little more background information on the paintings. My favorite painting was probably the painting done by Engelica Kauffman. I think this painting definitely shows what a mothers love for her children should ideally be. But the painting that makes me wonder is The Death of General Wolfe. Though I agree that soldiers pay the ultimate sacrifice to protect their country, is it not immoral to kill somebody? And if so, who makes that distinction?