France is home to some of Europe’s finest visual arts, boasting some of the world’s most creative art forms throughout its long and fascinating history.
Court painter Jean Clouet was an influential force during the Renaissance, while Nicolas Poussin pioneered classical style painting based on elemental guidelines to guide subjects. Both these painters had great influences on later neoclassical artists.
Pre-Romanesque
The Pre-Romanesque period spans from the appearance of Merovingian kingdom in about 500 CE until the start of Romanesque period in 11th century. This era witnessed a distinct artistic style spread across Europe from Italy, southern France, northern Spain to Germany; merging classical Mediterranean forms with early Christian ones derived from Germanic tradition to create innovative forms.
Artwork during this period was strongly influenced by the Ottonian (Saxon) Dynasty’s rule between 936-1056, leading to a renewal of faith and church reform that added greater religious and cultural intensity into artistic work such as churches adorned with Corinthian capitals that displayed reverence for classical Greek architecture.
Early Medieval
As part of an expansion and growth period, sculpture became more realistic during this time. According to author Silka P, “along with more flexible forms, the new style introduced dramatic poses and emotional expression”.
Book arts were especially prevalent during this period, with illuminated manuscripts and small books of prayers depicting religious scenes becoming highly prized art pieces. Additionally, artists began exploring perspectives through painting.
Charles Le Brun was an integral player in promoting classical art style that glorified Louis XIV. Modeling his system after older Italian Academies, he established an art school and upheld strict classical standards.
Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, art increasingly focused on religious themes. Illliteracy was widespread at this time and therefore artists decorated churches and cathedrals with fresco wall drawings and sculptures depicting biblical subjects; illuminated manuscripts were also produced for publication as were ivory effigies to honor deceased loved ones.
Gothic* architecture became increasingly popular during this period, and builders employed flying buttresses to support the increased height and weight of structures. Cloisonne became widely utilized in decorative arts pieces depicting heroic figures engaged in noble deeds.
Renaissance
The Renaissance (or “rebirth”) was an incredible period of cultural, artistic, and intellectual growth from 14th to 17th century Europe. Reviving classical philosophy, literature, art, and creating some of history’s greatest artists, statesmen, and thinkers during its course, this remarkable event saw tremendous innovation across culture, art and learning.
One of the more significant advances at this time was linear perspective and chiaroscuro, both techniques that enabled artists to more realistically depict people and objects. Rococo paintings developed as a result of this Renaissance movement; featuring elegant pastel-colored figures engaged in rituals of courtship against stunning natural scenery.
Baroque
While 17th century Baroque period is commonly associated with ornate, dramatic, and theatrical representations, French artists tended to avoid them. Poussin was more interested in narrative rather than dramatic effects; while Dutch painters Rembrandt and Vermeer excelled at depicting domestic, candlelit scenes.
Georges de La Tour was an influential religious painter who borrowed heavily from Caravaggio’s tenebrism while creating small canvases that explored nighttime lighting and geometric compositions. Genre painters such as the Le Nain brothers also developed Baroque styles based on realism that would later evolve into the rococo aesthetic.
Neoclassical
Neoclassicism was a distinct movement which replaced Rococo with more rigorous classical styles, especially noticeable in painting and sculpture. Neoclassicism can be found everywhere from paintings and statues to architecture; its popularity being particularly evident among sculptors such as Claude Michel (known as Clodion), who produced small but expressive Classical figures; Augustin Pajou; and Jean-Antoine Houdon whose contemporary portraits resemble antique busts.
Painters such as Jacques-Louis David and Pierre-Francois-Pierre Mengs utilized dramatic moral subjects from Roman history to highlight simplicity, austerity, heroism, and stoic virtue in Roman society. Neoclassicism found its home in furniture design such as Empire furniture or Biedermeier furnishings; similarly in theatre productions the feeble traditions of French secular drama were transformed into vehicles for Neoclassical plays.
Modern
Painting has long been defined by its ability to capture non-visual emotions and sounds; today more than ever it remains an artform capable of powerful expression.
Delacroix’s dramatized depiction of the revolutionary forces that overthrew monarchy is rich with romanticism but ends on a dismal note as its heroes are crushed.
Honore Daumier’s intricate, satirical lithographs often poked fun at establishment figures while championing workers.
Gustave Courbet’s graphic (by Academy standards) depictions of peasant life, such as Burial at Ornans (1849) and Stone Breakers, shocked the art world. His Realist doctrine advocated for stripping away aesthetic embellishment as the path toward creating more accessible art forms.