The Burial of Atala
Factual Information:
From:
Period: 1808
Period: 1808
General Information:
This painting by Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson is in the Grey area between Romanticism and Neoclassicism. This particular painting is based on the Genius of Christianity. This particular scene is about Native American lovers from different tribes who fall in love and run away together through the wilderness. The girl, however has sworn an oath to lifelong virginity, and rather than break that oath, commits suicide. Her lover grieves over her death and buries the woman in the shadow of a cross with the assistance of a cloaked priest. The painting depicts what the french saw as Native American tribal life primitivism. The painting, rather than inviting philosophical meditation like most Neoclassical art, instead evokes emotion, but not to the extent that most Romanticism artworks do.
Why This Artwork?
This artwork was chosen because it shows is a great transition from Neoclassical art movements prime, to the reaction of the Romanticism art movement, and represents the grey area between.