Ancient antiquity, a source of inspiration for artists from the late 18th century
Ancient antiquity, a source of inspiration for artists from the late 18th century
When the Roman sites of Herculaneum and Pompeii were discovered by archaeologists in the second half of the 18th century, this paved the way for a classically inspired style of art which spread throughout Europe. The allusion to Ancient Rome expresses the desire to return to the purity and nobility of art in the service of virtue, values espoused by the Revolution and the Empire. Although portraits were still used to adorn interiors, other forms of decoration appeared, such as panoramic wallpaper. Designed to cover a room's walls, it sometimes took several years to produce. The scenes designed by the artist were engraved onto wooden blocks which were then covered with paint. The blocks were placed face down on the paper and pressure applied to produce the images. A fine example of this type of decoration, Les Sauvages de la mer Pacifique (The Native Peoples of the Pacific Ocean) was displayed at the Industrial Products Exhibition of 1806, where it enjoyed huge success. Produced at the factory set up in Mâcon in 1797 by Joseph Dufour (1754-1827), it satisfied a desire for exoticism and a passion for travel among the wealthy elite. The panorama in the museum was inspired by the voyages of James Cook, Louis-Antoine de Bougainville and Jean-François de La Pérouse and features the inhabitants of the Society, Marquesas and Sandwich islands, Tonga and New Zealand. Their costumes, designed by Jean Gabriel Charvet, owe more to Greek or Roman statues, symbols of timeless beauty, than to reality.
The end of the Empire brought with it a change in tastes which was expressed in new sources of inspiration: from the 1820s onwards, the enthusiasm for Gothic art, and for landscape painting as a genre in its own right, led to the development of other forms of artistic expression.