In case you are wondering about the image in the header above, it is a detail from Paris: A Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte (1877). Here it is in full (click to enlarge):
The work of Impressionist painters is especially fascinating in Paris because they were using a traditional art form in a world in which photography was being developed (more about that in class on Monday) in a city that had had its facelift courtesy of Baron Haussmann. Paris, although established during the Roman Empire as Lutetia, is the quintessential nineteenth century city, as seen in its urban planning and its engineering projects (the Eiffel Tower, completed in 1889, is the ultimate public monument to the industrial age). The links below show that, just as in the Renaissance, educated members of society (in this case, artists) saw well-roundedness as an important quality. There was not one but two Caillebottes, and, between them, these two French brothers embody the spirit of the nineteenth century.
First, a link to a recent article about an exhibition of their work.
Second, a link (in English!) to the exhibit itself. I think you will find this enjoyable, as it has some interesting bits about photography, painting, Haussmann's Paris, and a general description of the life of "universal men" a little over one hundred years ago.
Show me Rasputin.
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