Activity 1

One of the most interesting personages to emerge during the Enlightenment was the so-called Enlightened despot-the monarch who ruled according to Enlightenment principles. The rulers generally thought to exemplify Enlightened despotism included Frederick II (a.k.a. "the Great") of Prussia, Maria Teresa of Austria, and Catherine II (a.k.a. "The Great") of Russia. Read the following excerpts from Frederick's Essay on Forms of Government, and Catherine's "Proposals for a New Law Code" and "Decree on Serfs" in Various Documents on Government. Then consider some remarks on the division of Poland by Frederick, Catherine, Maria Teresa. What was Enlightened despotism? How did Enlightenment principles inform the ideas and decisions of these monarchs? Do you think Enlightenment values are compatible with despotic rule? If so, how? If not, how did these rulers accommodate those values with their political aims and the means they used to achieve them?

Activity 2

The dominant artistic style in France during the Enlightenment was the Rococo. Consider a few examples of this style. Examine The Delights of Life and The Misstep by Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721); Rest on the Flight to Egypt and Pastorale by François Boucher (1703-1770); and Inspiration and The Bathers by Jean-HonorÉ Fragonard (1732-1806). How do the works of these artists resemble and differ from each other? What vision of life do they project? What social class do you think most appreciated to Rococo art? Do these works display an Enlightenment sensibility: why or why not? How do yo think the philosophes reacted to such art? Now take a look at some works by another eighteenth-century French artist, Jean-Baptiste-SimÉon Chardin (1699-1779): Boy Playing with Cards, The Silver Goblet and The Ray. How do these works differ from those of the artists above? Do you think the Enlightenment philosophes would have responded to Chardin's work differently than they did to Watteau's, Boucher's, and Fragonard's? Why or why not?