David to Delacroix : the rise of romantic mythology

248 Pages·2011·20.552 MB·English

by  Johnson, Dorothy

David to Delacroix
Dorothy Johnson
The University of North Carolina Press Chapel Hill
Bettie Allison Rand Lectures in Art History
David to Delacroix
The Rise of Romantic Mythology
The publication of books in this series is
made possible through the generous support of
William G. Rand in memory of Bettie Allison Rand.
© 2011 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved. Designed by Courtney Leigh Baker and set
in Whitman with Avenir display by Tseng Information Systems,
Inc. Manufactured in the United States of America. The paper in
this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of
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Press has been a member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Johnson, Dorothy
David to Delacroix : the rise of romantic mythology /
Dorothy Johnson. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Bettie Allison Rand lectures in art history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8078-3451-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Mythology, Classical, in art. 2. Romanticism in art—France.
3. Psychology and art—France. 4. Art, French—18th century—Themes,
motives. 5. Art, French—19th century—Themes, motives. I. Title.
N7760.J64 2010
704.9Ð4892130944—dc22 2010032658
cloth 15 14 13 12 11 5 4 3 2 1
In loving memory of
my brother, John L. Winter
Contents  Acknowledgments  ix
  Introduction David and the Rise of Romantic Mythology 1
1 Eros and the Origins of Art
Girodet’s Mythic Meditations
35
2 From Eros to Thanatos
The Mapping of the Mythological Body
69
3 Ingres and the Enigma
112
4 Mythological Madness and the Feminine
From Gros’s Suicidal Sappho to Delacroix’s
Murderous Medea
153
Conclusion The Continuum of Myth 188
Notes 193 Bibliography 213 Index 227
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Acknowledgments
This book developed from the Bettie Allison Rand Lectures that I gave at
the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in fall 2008. It is always a
great pleasure to present ideas before an intelligent and attentive audi-
ence on a subject that is dear to one’s heart and about which one has
been meditating for many years. For this privilege I wish to thank Mary
Sheriff, whose kind invitation to give the Rand Lectures led to this book.
Her generous and enthusiastic support over many years has been invalu-
able. In particular, her many superb publications on women in French
art and culture and other germane matters on the eighteenth century
were essential to my thinking about women in myth. I would also like to
thank Mary Sheriff and Keith Luria for their generous hospitality during
my stay in Chapel Hill. I am very grateful to the faculty and students of
the Art and Art History Department at the University of North Carolina,
as well as to friends and colleagues, who gave me such a warm recep-
tion there. Their questions inspired me to see pertinent issues from new
perspectives. It was a delight to meet Bill Rand, whose generosity funds
the Rand Lecture Series in honor and memory of his wife, Bettie Allison
Rand. I particularly enjoyed our conversations about mythological sub-
jects in art.
This book owes its beginnings to Jacques de Caso, teacher and friend,
who first suggested that I write on mythology, when he, as all good men-
tors do, offered unstinting encouragement. Over the entire course of my
career, I have had many enlightening conversations with him on myth, in
which he generously shared his incomparable knowledge and insights. It
is a great pleasure to express my gratitude. I owe a great debt to Christo-
pher M. S. Johns and Beth Wright, two superb scholars and colleagues,
who read the manuscript in its entirety and made apposite suggestions
and comments. A book that has been meditated on over such a long time
naturally incurs many debts. I would like to thank the many friends and
colleagues who have benefited this book in various and innumerable
ways: Mark Antliff, Sylvain Bellenger, David Carrier, Elisabeth Fraser,
Gudrun Gersmann, Stéphane Guégan, Martial Guédron, Basil Guy, Bar-