Enlightenment and The Age of Reason

Enlightenment and The Age of Reason

Enlightenment was a period where society started to challenge the church. Facts and evidence replaced superstition and religion. Belief was starting to be based on experience and experiments with science.

'An experiment on a bird in the air pump'

This painting depicts a philosopher doing an experiment in front of an audience of different people of all age groups. The painting represents the birth of knowledge and a separation from the church. Society started taking its own responsibility for gaining knowledge rather than relying on the church. Enlightenment rejected supernatural reasons and focused on experimentation and repetition, which provided proof. The painting also shows a hierarchy where the children are at the bottom and the men are higher than the women. The painting also shows the reactions of the people from the frightened children to the reflective philosopher.

'Officer and a laughing girl'

With the invention of the camera obscura, society grew further away from traditions and photography was starting to emerge. This painting by Jan Vermeer depicting a soldier sat with a young girl was made using a camera obscura. The soldier being a near dark silhouette and the contrast on the woman’s face and in the room gives the illusion of depth. The painting looks very lifelike and shows a snapshot of a moment.

The birth of photography in 1839 led to many further developments. Louis Jacque Mande Daguerre made a development of Niepce's previous invention. The daguerrotype method which dramatically reduced the exposure time however moving objects could still not register, shown in the photograph. The streets appear to be empty however this would have been a busy street in paris. The only person to have made it onto the photograph is a man in the bottom left corner.

'Boulevard du Temple, Paris'

Further developments in photography continued with the invention of the calotype method by William Henry Fox Talbot. Photographs could be exposed onto paper using silver iodide.

'The articles of China'

The pencil of nature which was published in six instalments between 1844 and 1846. The cover of the book reflects the victorian era with celtic and symmetrical designs. The articles of china was one of the images in the books. This image reflects how times had changed. The British empire was at its height and shows an era of classification. More species were being discovered and musuems were invented so people could look at these discoveries. There were leaps forward in understanding the new world. The ennlightenment enabled this. Publishing became cheaper so experiments and experiences could be shared with others.