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Review of “The Judgment of Paris” by Ross King, published in the Charlottesville Daily Progress, June 18, 2006
The Judgment of Paris is a drawing, dating from 1518, by Rafael that was later engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi and today can be found in the Print Room of the Louvre in Paris. Ross King has borrowed this name for his superb book, The Judgment of Paris, published earlier this year. King describes the birth of the Impressionist movement as a reaction to the themes and the formalism of European painting, exemplified by Rafael’s great work. The tradition of European painting, of which Rafael was the symbol, was put on the defensive in the late nineteenth century by a group of upstart artists that came to be known as “The Impressionists.”
“Impressionist” was a term of derision applied to those European artists, mostly French, who found themselves ignored and ridiculed by the artistic establishment. The early impressionists were unable to sell their art or achieve acceptance during the 1860s and 1870s. The European art world was centered in Paris in the latter half of the nineteenth century and the main event was the annual art exhibit at the Paris Salon. Each year, artists submitted their works to be judged to be either accepted or rejected for the annual exhibition at the Paris Salon. The artists that we know today as ‘The Impressionists” found themselves mostly voted out. Rejection was accompanied by a large red humiliating “R” marked on the back of the canvas of each painting that failed to make into the Salon.
King’s book traces the careers of two artists, Messionier and Manet, whose histories lay along the path to the impressionists. These two artists had nothing in common. Ernest Messionier was the darling of the art world, while Edouard Manet was considered an embarrassment. Messioner’s paintings were sold for enormous sums, while Manet was lucky if his paintings sold at all. Interestingly, Manet was no fan of the early impressionists. He abhorred the work of Cezanne and Pissarro and barely tolerated the art of Renoir, Monet, and Morisot.
But, Manet represented an important transition in the art world. Manet’s painting reflected the modern life of 19th century France. Manet’s style was dubbed “realism,” because his paintings depicted ordinary scenes in the lives of ordinary people. The art world of the Paris Salon favored formal, precise, detailed, life-like paintings of heroic scenes either from myths, religion, or history. Manet’s realism pointed the way to Impressionism, even if he was an unwilling and unwitting pathfinder.
Two paintings, both on display in the United States, are symbolic of the conflicting struggle in the art world of the 1870s described in King’s book. Friedland by Ernest Messionier hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Friedland depicts the aftermath of the defeat of the Russian army in 1807 at the battle of Friedland. The painting has Napoleon astride his horse, waving his hat in congratulations to his victorious cavalry. This painting was in the established tradition of depicting famous scenes from history (or myth, or both) with extreme attention to detail.
From Edouard Manet, on the other hand, we have the haunting painting entitled The Railway, which hangs in the National Gallery in Washington, DC. The Railway has two figures facing opposite ways, symbolically reflecting a turning point in (art) history. One figure, a young girl, with her back to the viewer, is looking through iron gates at a railway station with smoke billowing through half of the painting, while the other figure, presumably her mother, stares wistfully at the viewer as she sits quietly reading a book. The Railway visually suggests the transition from the pre-industrial age to the industrial age. The impressionists were to be the artistic victors of this transition.
Edwin T Burton, an economics professor at the University of Virginia since 1988. Professor Burton lives in Charlottesville with his wife. Professor Burton teaches a popular finance class at the University of Virginia.