Bursa Uludag University

13:00

Art, Allegory and Gesture in the Late Enlightenment

G.S. Bowe

Istanbul Technical University, Turkey

Abstract

The paper speculates on the evolution of Jacques-Louis David’s ideological painting,

focusing on the movement from the Raphael inspired Death of Socrates and his later

Napoleon Crossing the Alps. Whereas the Death of Socrates focuses on metaphysical

citizenship, Napoleon represents a more pragmatic history painting both in terms of

David’s politics and vision of governance and citizenship. Reflections on the difference in

gestures of the central figures in the paintings illustrate this change. David’s classical

symbolic approach is echoed in the work of Slovenian artist Franc Kavčič/Caucig, whose

depiction of Phaedrus and Socrates in what is formally called Socrates with a Disciple and

Diotima (?) contains a critical allegory that reflects on the displacement of the Hapsburgs

by Napoleon. Finally, considerations of Hegel’s idea of Napoleon as a manifestation of the

Weltseele is considered via an examination of the 1895 Harper’s Magazine cartoon of

Hegel doffing his cap to the conquering Napoleon at Jena entitled Two Philosophers Meet

at Jena; Napoleon’s conquest ironically resulted in the closing of Hegel’s university and his

subsequent displacement from university positions for almost a decade. This brief eclectic

foray into art history is meant to illustrate a shifting of political and metaphysical positions

in the Napoleonic era.