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Candide, ou L’Optimisme
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Candide, Or All for the Best, is a satirical novel by Voltaire, one of the greatest philosophers of the Enlightenment. The book parodies the philosophy of optimism espoused by Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz. The main character, Candide, is severed from a sheltered life and comes to know the suffering of the world. The Great Council of Geneva ordered all copies to be burned. -
Don Juan ou Le Festin de Pierre
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A ballet composed by Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck with a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi, and choreography by Gasparo Angiolini. First performed in Vienna, Austria, the score is one of the first written specifically for ballet as an art form separate from opera. The ballet is based on Don Juan’s legendary descent into Hell after killing his lover’s father. The ballet is still recreated by dance companies today. -
The Apotheosis of the Pisani Family
Ceiling fresco in the villa Pisani in Stra, Italy, by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, who was said to be the last great Italian painter in international circles until the twentieth century. His lighthearted compositions in bright colors were perfect for Rococo architecture. This fresco, created for the Pisani family, actually incorporated family members and portrayed them as gods in heaven. -
A Philosopher Giving A Lecture at the Orrery
Oil on canvas by Joseph Wright of Derby depicts the fascination people had for science and technology during the Age of Reason and the Industrial Revolution. In the painting, the "philosopher" demonstrates his theory that the cosmos function like a clockwork using a model called an orrery. The dramatic lighting cast on the intense listeners heightens the sense of awe. -
The Swing
Oil on canvas by Jean-Honore Fragonard. Considered one of the masterpieces of the Rococo era, the painting captured the playful eroticism of Paris during this period. The Swing was technically masterful, but also controversial. The lady on the swing is being pushed by a priest, while a young nobleman looks up under her skirt. -
Benin Bronze King
Benin Kingdom art from pre-colonial Nigeria celebrated the court of the divine ruler, or Oba. Artworks made of bronze or ivory were thought to have spiritual powers and were used in royal rituals. Benin art was made through the nineteenth century, when the British invaded in what's known as the Punitive Expedition. -
Monticello
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Built by Thomas Jefferson just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, in the Neoclassical style. Jefferson built and rebuilt his home for forty years to include design elements from late eighteenth-century Europe. The gardens were cultivated for food and also served as a botanical laboratory with plants from around the globe. -
The Royal Crescent
A street of thirty terraced houses built in a curved facade with Ionic columns in Bath, England, between1767 and 1774. Designed by John Wood the Younger, the Royal Crescent is described as one of the greatest examples of Georgian architecture. -
Self-Portrait: Anna Dorothea Therbusch
Oil on canvas; one of twelve self-portraits done by Anna Dorothea Therbusch, and the last before her death in 1782. She portrays herself as a confident, educated, and accomplished artist in this portrait, peering unabashedly at the viewer through a large monocle. It was a bold statement for a female artist at the end of the eighteenth century. -
Louise Brongniart
The French sculptur Jean-Antoine Houdon showed this bust of five-year-old Louise Brongniart and another of her brother Alexandre at the Salon of 1777. They were children of an esteemed Neoclassical architect. The figure captured the intelligence and curiosity of Louise's glance. The original was reproduced well into the twentieth century. -
Diana
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Jean-Antoine Houdon made numerous sculptures of Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt. Standing on the toes of one foot, and holding her bow in one hand, the sculpture depicts Diana as a beautiful, naturally elegant athlete. Diana caused quite a stir due to her complete nudity. -
The Nightmare
Oil on canvas by Henry Fuseli, the painting is said to be among the first artworks that would delve into the dark world of the subconscious. Fuseli specialized in Gothic fantasies and macabre themes. In The Nightmare, a beautiful woman is tortured by the figures of her dream: an evil incubus and a horse with flaming eyes. -
The Intoxication of Wine
This tabletop sculpture by Clodion (Claude Michel) depicts the mythical figures with a playful sensuousness that is typical of Rococo. The nymph pours a cup of wine into the mouth of the laughing satyr. Clodion specialized in small, vibrant sculptures that combined Greek and Roman imagery and provocative fantasy. -
The Battle of Bunker's Hill
The oil on canvas by American painter John Trumbull represents the dramatic moment when the British successfully break through American lines. He shows the victorious British Major protecting the wounded American General. Trumbulls painting portrays the courage and sacrafice of both sides in the American Revolution. -
The Marriage of Figaro
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Opera buffa composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and librettist Lorenzo da Ponte based on the second part of a controversial play by the the French writer Beaumarchais that was sensored due to its sexual plotline. (Napoleon called the play "...the Revolution already in action.") Mozart's music gave the characters depth and humanity. It became one of the most popular operas and is still recreated today. -
The Death of Socrates
The oil on canvas painting by French painter Jacques-Louis David depicts Socrates in his final lecture to his greiving followers as he is offered the cup of hemlock that would end his life - his sentence for not renouncing his beliefs. The painting, which is said to have been based on Plato's Phaedo was praised as the quintessential Newoclassical work. -
Don Carlos
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A play written by Friedrich Schiller at the age of 28, Don Carlos is a masterful and emotional tragedy in five acts. Originally, the script had 6,282 lines, and took four years to write. The play is based loosely on the family of King Phillip II of Spain during the Spanish Inquisition. Still reproduced today, in its modern version it still runs more than three hours. -
Pantheon, Paris
It took thirty-two years to build the neoclassical Pantheon in the Latin Quarter of Paris, famous for its triple dome. Originally designed by Jacques-Germain Soufflot as a church, the Pantheon later became a secular mausoleum. Physicist Léon Foucault constructed a 67-meter pendulum beneath the central dome in 1851 to demonstrate the rotation of the earth. -
Requiem Mass in D Minor
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Partly composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart before his death in 1791, the mass was completed by Franz Xaver Sussmayr for Count Franz von Walsegg to commemorate the anniversary of his wife's death. Some accounts say that Sussmayr tried to pass off Requiem as his own composition. The controversy surrounding the mass has contributed to its alure over the centuries. -
The Death of Marat
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The oil on canvas by painter and revolutionary Jacques-Louis David was a memorial to his friend, the publisher Jean-Paul Marat, who was murdered in his bathtub during the Reign of Terror by the royalist Charlotte Corday. He is depicted with her letter in one hand, and his own weapon, the pen, in his other. -
The Ancient of Days
The watercolor etching by English poet, painter and engraver William Blake combined Neoclassicism and Gothic romanticism. The etching depicts God, the Creator, casting rays of light in a perfect angle from a fiery heaven. Many of Blake’s works came to him in his dreams, and he favored vision over reason and personal religious emotion over organized religion. -
Abhisarika Nayika (The Herione Who Rushes to Meet Her Lover)
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper from India; artist unknown. The work depicts one of the popular romantic heriones (nayikas) as she walks through the dark forest full of dangers to meet her lover. Her golden glowing beauty causes the snakes to lift their heads to look at her. The bolts of lightening symbolize the electicity of her desire. She glances back at a pair of trees with their trunks entwined. -
The Creation (Die Schopfung)
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The Creation is an oratorio by composer Joseph Haydn based on the biblical creation story of the Book of Genesis. Haydn, who was a deeply religious man and a prolific composer, spent more time writing The Creation than any of his other woks. -
Ghost Amusement
WATCH
A scroll by Chinese master painter and devout Buddhist Luo Ping (1733-1799). Ping was the youngest of the "Eight Eccentrics," a group of unconventional artists from Yanzhou. Ghost Amusement created a sensation with its depiction of supernatural beings. -
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Der Zauberlehrling)
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A poem written in fourteen stanzas by German writer, artist and politician Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Der Zauberlehrling (in German) has inspired numerous other artistic creations including Disney’s Fantasia. It is also the source of a saying in German used when someone is undone by the person or situation he turned to for help.
