Enlightenment:
The Age of Enlightenment or the Age of reason was a movement of intellectual thinkers in 18th century in Europe. The great thinkers of that time wanted to change the thinking of people, they wanted to change the power of reason, they wanted the church not to have as much power as they did, they wanted the individual to create in a tolerant environment and they wanted intellectual communication. Baruch Spinoza was the first man to think about these things in 1650 and 1700 – lots of people followed soon – the most famous are John Locke, Pierre Bayle, Isaac Newton, James Cook, Cesare Beccaria, Francis Bacon, Joseph Haydn,Montesquieu, Mozart, Mary Wollstonecraft and Voltaire. The Age of Enlightenment originated in France and then spread all over Europe during the 18th century. During the 18th century in North America Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were influenced by the Enlightenment in Europe and transported it with them which highly influenced the American Revolution and the American Declaration of Independence, the American Bill of Rights and the Age of Enlightenment also influenced the French version of the Declaration of Independence when the French got the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Immanuel Kant was a big Enlightenment thinker and played a very important part in the German Age of reason. It was the age of change from the ages where church dominated the visual arts to a new age where artists would be able to express their own individuality more. The goals of the Enlightenment weren’t easy to define but Immanuel Kant defined it in one of his essays as “freedom to use one's own intelligence“ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment). The Age of Enlightenment cultivated the Arts which brought some drastic changes to music and visual arts. Concerts and big crowds gathering to see an opera et cetera became very popular and musicians reached out to other people through their music. It also allowed women to become more active as musicians and although they didn’t get considered professional they still had a chance to express themselves as an amateur singer, performer. Music magazines, reviews and critics first started coming out in the Age of Enlightenment.
The style of Rococo moved away from the style of Baroque where architecture and arts mirrored the love for symmetric designs as well as the strict regulations to a more floral, freer art of design and lots of ornamental elements in architecture and the arts. Rococo was more playful and full of wit. The style in architecture also got lighter and more graceful. In contrast to the style of Baroque Rococo actually brought love for the asymmetry to life, it was also know for the different purpose that buildings had – from mostly being a space for the public and that had to represent certain things it went to a more private style of design during Rococo. In painting landscapes, portraits and the painting of love and its different aspects became popular motives for the painter to express on a canvas.
References:
Web pages:
