Throughout the enlightenment, more people began painting secular paintings. As more painters became patrons of aristocrats, rather than of the church, the Rococo era ushered in erotic images and portrayals of the rich. The new subjects of are much more playful than the strict and rigid spiritual art.
As can be seen below, The Swing is a care free exposition that showcases a husband 
pushing his wife on a swing toward her other lover. Created by Jean-Honore Fragonard in 1797 this piece has come to symbolize the Rococo era. The patron who commissioned the work is seen in full view of the women’s legs. Her shoe is coming off in the heat of the moment. As the strict moral high grounds of the church began to loosen, artists had more freedom in risque subject matter.
Furthermore, the era was that where love and sexual desire was in the air. Venus, a popular choice of Reinicance painters, is shown in this panting The Bath of 
Venus. Francois Boucher portrays Venus with full nudity except for a small, almost translucent, piece of cloth covering her privates. She is bathing her son, Cupid, as two doves get close in the pool. The art centralizes on female beauty and the female form. The pascal colors are typical of paintings from the era. While Venus has been seen in many paintings for her beauty, the erotic nature of the painting was much more limited in the past or at least the erotic nature was less obvious.
The end of the Rococo era was seen as the French began to become more morally sensitive. The erotic and frivolous nature of the era were seen as unnecessary and over the top. The French Revolution played a role in how people saw the art around them. The Rococo art was a style that the aristocrats put into place and as the common people rose up against the aristocrats, they had a distaste for their art.
In reaction to the Rococo style of painting, which lacked depth, the second half of the Classical era was spawned. During this time period, the world was going through the age of Enlightenment. Philosophers believed in the power of human reasoning and understanding to better interpret the world around us.
Classical music took full advantage of our greater understanding of musical composition and music theory. Through our understanding of cords, tempo, and dynamics, music became clearer with more crisp sounds. Beethoven’s use of these techniques were the result of meticulous attention to detail. Most of his work was composed over several revision where he would play with the notes until he was satisfied with the way it sounded. Beethoven exemplifies humans capacity to overcome the environment around us. Even with deafness, he was able to compose beautiful pieces.
Bibliography:
Finn, Suzanne. “Extravagant Decoration: French Rococo Art as an Expression of Pleasurable Pursuits.” Marquette University, n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2015. <http://academic.mu.edu/meissnerd/rococo.html>.
“THE CLASSICAL PERIOD (1775-1825).” THE CLASSICAL PERIOD (1775-1825). N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015. <http://cmed.faculty.ku.edu/private/classical.html>.
“The Swing.” Artble. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.artble.com%2Fartists%2Fjean-honore_fragonard%2Fpaintings%2Fthe_swing>.
“The Bath of Venus.” The Bath of Venus. National Gallery of Art, n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2015. <https://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg55/gg55-12200.html>.
Art Appreciation Blog 
This time period is very interesting due to so many things happening around the world that were influencing the arts. I like the history that you included, it helped me get a good understanding about what was happening. It makes me wonder how different art, or history in general, would be if there was never was a Revolution. what do you think? The pieces that you presented are very representative of the era they were a part of, and it really shows how the people felt at the time. I appreciated the organization and found your blog well presented and easy to read.
I also really liked the painting, The Swing, it reflects the style of painting during the aristocracy very well. Really Good job!
I found this website that goes into detail about the painting “The Swing” I thought it was interesting.
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/his/CoreArt/art/anc_frag_swing.html
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I love how the rise of the Middle Class changed art of the Classical era. The Swing is a fantastic example of secular painting because it does encompass a lot of sexual matter whereas paintings and sculptures prior to this time period showed a lot of nudity but not necessarily sexuality. The “playful” tone you mention is definitely present in Rococo artwork. The same theme is also visible in the Neo-Classical, The Bath of Venus. I enjoyed your analysis of the details in both pieces.
The change in music during this time is incredible (not that it is my favorite style) because of the transformation to the style of music that is congruent to modern music. More public concerts occurred and composers responded to the demands of listeners! I completely agree with your analysis, stating that music became a lot more analytical as we gained more knowledge regarding the technical aspects of composition. Great post.
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I love that you use The Swing as an example of carefree art. When thinking of that word and paintings together, I think that this is a perfect fit. What’s more carefree than kicking your feet up on a swing? I enjoyed that you tied “the heat of the moment” into this piece as well. I had never looked at the details like that, but it’s probably because I’m from this century and not that century. They definitely weren’t as openly exposed to sexuality as we are in this day, so a shoe flying off and shins showing was probably pretty risqué. It makes me think of this spoof on an early 1900’s painting I’ve seen with a woman holding her skirt up to expose only her ankle, but they man’s reaction is insane. Somebody added the caption “dat ankle” and I think that pretty much embodies what you’re trying to say. It’s crazy that an ankle/shin/shoe flying off can be seen as erotic by the masses rather than just those that have fetishes.
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Your blog had a nice angle on the art of the Classic Era. I like how you focus on more care free and expressive art. Looking at the Classic Era versus the previous eras it is evident that more people were becoming free minded. The art work strayed farther from its religious base and began to expand. The information on “The Swing” is very interesting. I did not realize there was so much meaning behind the picture. I saw it before and had figured it was just a artist expression of progressive art of the new era. Nice post. very informative and well written.
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I too was also going to include “The Swing” in my blog, but decided to go a different route. I found your blog organized and easy to read. I loved how detailed and concise you were about the aesthetic appreciation of the portraits “The Swing” and “Bath of Venus.” I agree that at the beginning of the Classical Era, the paintings were more focused on erotic, rich, romantic paintings and art, and how dramatically that changed towards the end of the Classical time. I would have liked to have read more about why and how that happened.
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