The development of painting through history Essay

The development of painting through history - Essay Example Rococo Art succeeded Baroque Art in Europe during 1715 to 1774. The style was dominant in France and had significant associations with King Louis XV. It was a reaction to the massiveness and grandeur of Baroque. The style was more light, elegant, decorative, and elaborate than the earlier Baroque style. Jean-Honore’ Fragonard developed Blind Man’s Buff. It is an artistic piece of work, which has sharp, vivid images of clouds, a fountain of water, trees, people, and buildings. Neoclassicism emerged during the mid-18th to early 19th century. It is an unemotional and severe form of art, which harkens back to the grandeur of ancient Rome and Greece. The elegant and balanced works of Neoclassicism revived the harmony of ancient Roman and Greek art. It is a rigid form of art and reacted to the emotionally charged Baroque and the over-bred Rococo styles. The American and French Revolutions desired to revive an interest in classical thought. The revolutions thus encouraged the rise of Neoclassical art of painting. Robert Smirke was one of the most prominent Neoclassicists of that time. One of his pieces of art, the Odysseus and Circe, displays a king that is unemotional to the women’s cries and pleas. In his fury, he grabs a woman and seems to be commanding using a sword. Realism style of painting emerged in the mid-19th century, and it depicts subjects in a straightforward manner. It involves objective representation of subject matters. It tends to avoid idealizing the subjects and does not follow rules.