Royal Academy of Arts Exhibits " Citizens and Kings "

Tuesday, 23 January 2007 08:32

LONDON - Citizens and Kings: Portraits in the Age of Revolution, 1760 – 1830 will give an in-depth view, through sculpted and painted portraits, of an era characterized by sweeping political and social changes.  The years 1760 - 1830 saw dramatic transformations in the world order as new ideas and wealth vied with the old order of absolute monarchies.  The exhibition will consist of 145 works drawn from some of the finest collections world-wide, depicting not only kings and queens but also the new revolutionary heroes and rising bourgeoisie, and enlightenment thinkers, writers and artists.  On exhibition 3 February - 20 April 2007.

Each work has been carefully considered for the historical significance of the sitter and its aesthetic quality as well as the innovation in presentation adopted by the artist.  No exhibition has previously explored the essential role of the portrait in the process of commemoration and immortalization during this tumultuous period of radical political and social change, through works by such great masters as Reynolds, David, Ingres, Goya, Lawrence, Delacroix, Canova and Thorvaldsen. 

Citizens and Kings will describe this volatile period through portraits of historically significant sitters made by pioneering European and American artists.  The international remit of the exhibition will demonstrate national, idiosyncratic styles of portraiture, alongside approaches that transcended geographical boundaries.  Original to this exhibition is the exploration of the integration of the two media, painting and sculpture, which will demonstrate the dialogue between these two art forms and explore the similarities of representation, and the areas of complementarity and difference. 

The period 1760–1830 was an era in which shifts in social ideals and the emergence of new philosophical premises, most importantly, the autonomy of the individual, were ushered in by the Age of Enlightenment.  Philosophers such as Hume, Rousseau and Voltaire were all instrumental changing the face of society.  Radical social shifts brought about by the Enlightenment and the revolutions of this period resulted in changes in the role and style of portraiture.

Citizens and Kings will be divided into eleven sections, based on theme and portrait type.  The first sub-theme of the exhibition will present the formal and official portraits, opening with grand portraits of rulers adorned in coronation robes, thus establishing through attributes their royal authority.  Ensuing sections will display portraits of statesmen, such as Benjamin Franklin, military men, and aristocrats, such as the Countess of Bute and Madame d'Orvilliers.  The evolving nature of the cultural world will be underpinned through portraits of notable natural philosophers such as Hutton, as well as patrons, art collectors, commissioners of architecture and bibliophiles.  Interplay and dialogue between sculpture and painting will be explored in the following section, looking at self-portraits and portraits of artists, and will feature work by Reynolds, Bendz, Thorvaldsen, Pigalle and Messerschmidt.

The next sub-theme will address specific portrait types, starting with works by Houdon, Hansen and Gérard depicting the family and children.  The examination of another portrait type, that of the revival of classical prototypes, and a taste for the Antique, will be illustrated with works by Canova and Nollekens.  The penultimate sections will explore the allegorical portrait and figures in the landscape.  The final room will examine transformations in portraiture brought about by the aftermath of the fall of Napoleon, and the arrival of Romanticism and Realism.

ORGANIZATION

The exhibition is organized by the Réunion des Musées Nationaux and the Musée du Louvre, Paris, the Royal Academy of Arts, London, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York.  The exhibition is curated by the late Robert Rosenblum, Professor of Art History at New York University and Stephen and Nan Swid Curator of Twentieth-Century Art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; MaryAnne Stevens, Senior Curator and Acting Secretary of the Royal Academy of Arts; Guillem Scherf, Curator of 18 th-Century Sculpture, and Sebastien Allard, Curator of Paintings at the Musée du Louvre. 

A richly illustrated catalogue will accompany the exhibition and provide an important and innovative synthesis of the portrait in this period. Visit the Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London : Web site www.royalacademy.org.uk