Book Images

Farming the Land Agricultural methods in Europe changed very slowly from the Middle Ages to the early eighteenth century. This realistic picture from Diderot’s ‘Encylcopedia’ has striking similarities with agricultural scenes found in medieval manuscripts (University of Illionois)

Rural Industry in Action: This French engraving suggests just how many things could be made in the countryside with simple hand tools. These men are making inexpensive but long-lasting wooden shoes, which were widely worn by the poor (University of Illinois0

Tobacco was a key commodity in the Atlantic Trade. This engraving from 1755 shows a merchant and his slaves preparing a cargo for sail (The British Library)

The Ford Jan Siberechts (1727-1703). Most seventeenth-century artists specialized. The Flemish painter Siberechts concentrated on water-logged landscapes of his native Flanders, which he peopled with peaceful, hardworking peasants absorbed in their daily tasks. Viewing this scene, one feels the slow, difficult movements of beasts and goods along a flooded road, as well as the solid virtues of the little milkmaid and the young peasant woman ( Niedersachstisches Landesmuseum, Hannover)

Millet: The Gleaners Poor French peasant women search for grains and stalks the harvesters (in the background) have missed. The open-field system seen here could still be found in parts of Europe in 1857, when this picture was painted. Millet is known for his great painting expressing social themes (Cliché de Musees Nationaux, Paris)

The spinners: Diego Velazques (1599-1660). Spain’s master of realism captures women workers in a tapestry workshop and three ladies inspecting a tapestry in the background. Or so people long believed. Modern critics see a mythological weaving background. Or so people long believed. Modern critics see mythological weaving competition between the low-born Arachne en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachne on the right and the goddess of arts and crafts on the left.(The gusty Arachne lost and was turned into a spider.) Art historians also have their debates and conflicting interpretations (Museo del Prado, Madrid)

Popularizing Science The frontispiece illustration of Fontennelle’s ‘Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds” invites the reader to share the pleasures of astronomy with an elegant lady and an entertaining teacher (University of Illinois)

Hospital Life Patients crowded into hospitals like this one in Hamburg in 1746 had little chance of recovery. A priest by the window administers last rites, while in the center a surgeon coolly saws off the leg of a man who had received no anesthesia. (Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg)

The Signing of the Declaration, July 4, 1776 John Trumbull’s famous painting shows the dignity and determination of America’s revolutionary leaders. An extraordinarily talented group, they succeeded in rallying popular support without losing power to more radical forces in the process (Yale University Art Gallery)

The Swing Jean-Honore Fragonard (1732-1806). The sophistication and frivolity of the eighteenth-century French salon radiated from this delicacy naughty work by Fragonard, a brilliant colorist in perfect harmony with the elitist taste of his age. An aging bishop swings a coy beauty, who “accidentally” hoses her show, allowing her lover an enraptured peek under her petticoat. (The Wallace Collection)

The Fury of the sea, a favorite subject, is evident in Calais Pier (1806), In this early painting the waves roll in higher and higher while black clouds weigh ominously on fisher-men sitting out to sea. Half sailor and vagabond, Turner lent seascapes unprecedented passion. (Reproduced by Courtesy of the Trustees of the National Gallery, London)

Francisco Goya (1746-1828) Until the late nineteenth century, agriculture remained the biggest single employer in most European countries. Most work was still done by hand and often in a community framework. This scene by the independent Spanish master Goya captures the joy of relaxation in the middle of a long day’s work (Museo del Padro, Spain)

Gustav Courbet (1819-1877). Another famous French painter who rejected ‘noble ideals’ and romantic flights of fancy was Courbet. Socialist and passionate advocate for plain working people, like the stone breakers portrayed here, Courbet believed that art must be firmly rooted in concrete objects of everyday experience. “Show me an angel, “ he said, “and I will paint it” (Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen, Dresden) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Courbet

Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) The painters of French impressionist school generally affirmed the beauty and value of modern life, reflecting western Europe’s nineteenth-century faith in science, progress, and democracy. In this 1876 masterpiece, the joyous Renoir has transformed a popular outdoor dance hall of the urban masses into an enchanted fairyland. Impressionist painters applied colors directly to the canvas without first mixing them, a revolutionary technique that let the eye participate (by itrself “mixing” the colors) in this ultimate form of optical realism. (Cliché des Musees Nationaux-Paris)

Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) Born into a wealthy business family in the United States, Mary Cassatt moved to Paris, where she painted mothers and their children with a sensitivity unequated in recent times. Here she captures with tender realism an attentive mother and her squirming child on a hot afternoon outing. Cassatt helped many French impressionists by successfully encouraging American collectors to buy their paintings. (National Gallery of Art, Washington Chester Dale Collection)

John Constable (1776-1837) Even as the Industrial Revolution was transforming the land, the beauties of English countryside found their loftiest celebration in the landscapes of John Constable. England’s other great romantic painter. In sharp contrast to that of Turner, his nature was peculiarly harmonious, well maintained, and rich in spiritual values. The first artist of importance of paint outdoors, the bright pure colors of this 1821 masterpiece had a powerful impact on young French painters like Delacroix. (Reproduced by courtesy of the Trustees, The National Gallery, London)

German Warships Under Full Steam As this impressive row of ships on maneuvers in 1911 suggests, Germany did succeed in building a large modern navy. But Britain was equally determined to maintain its naval superiority, and the spiraling arms race helped poison relations between the two countries (Suddeutscher Verlag)

Preparing the Attach - The great offenses of First World War required the mobilization of men and material on an unprecedented scale. This photo shows American troops moving up (U.S. Army Signal Corps )