Revision's going well. The lone notion of October the 11th still seems miles away, but it's surprisingly close. It's one of those things that's perhaps not worth dwelling on, in fact, i'm positive that's pretty true.


I'm back to Delacroix again though. Again, with the overlying theme of Romanticism, or rather this time, his unique variation of it. I'm currently looking at Liberty Leading The People, certainly one of those paintings that keeps appearing in my studies, or perhaps, one of those paintings I keep going back to on my own free will.

It is, rather obviously Delacroix' commemoration to The French Revolution, and the painting was first exhibited at the Salon in May 1831. Academically it's wrong, but the painting captures perfectly the unique painting and style characteristics of Delacroix himself, standing in between the borders of Classicism and Romanticism like many of his other works. It was frowned upon at the time naturally, but the painting is fortunate in that it has the best of both worlds. Founded on the notion of Classicism with it's logic, perspective and line, Delacroix' works are given colour, shadow and highlights, with the figures a lot more dramatic and lifelike than the statue-esque style of classicism before it. Visually, it is, in essence, the precursor of Impressionism.

The exam's different this year in that we've been told loosely what subjects we need to revise. Obviously the questions haven't been revealed, but knowing the themes and texts included in the questions is making things a little easier, especially when it comes to revision. Eugéne Delacroix is the focus of just one question however out of the three, and by that, presumably it means his portfolio, background and perhaps method of painting- unfortunately, beyond the mention of his name, nothing else is included. It's multiple choice as well, and even with a list of subjects i've yet to fully decide on what to pick for the last question, though hopefully(!) that will soon be resolved.

My current assessment (and indeed last) is all about prevailing political and cultural convention, when applied to Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. From that text we've got to compare it with two other texts from the course, so it's pretty open, but naturally, unnecessarily difficult.

But I think Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is a pretty wide subject to cover, so there's lot of different themes and ideas in there that can be compared to other texts, particularly where Napoleon is concerned. There's an interesting section of the poem in between stanzas 17 and 45 where Byron ( or rather, his fictitious character) stops for a moment to consider Napoleon's defeat, and regards it as a loss, rather than a win, like he nationally should. So i've compared it with another poem on the same subject matter, noting the differences, particularly the two different political stances of the poets, and how, despite the share subject matter, two very alternate pieces can be produced. To coincide with that, i've then selected the above painting by Joseph Turner, which is again different from the already unique two views, but almost extremely so, because it's so radically different in both it's execution and idea.

I think as a painting and source it spearheads completely the fallout and consequences of the Battle of Waterloo, a lot more than the other two poems can with their post-battle commentary and considerations. Maybe because it's visual rather than fictitious certainly, but it sends out such a different idea and concept than the poems that I felt it had to be used as part of the comparison process. So i've included it into the essay as well, but there's so much waffling and going into intricate detail that it's maybe all a little bit irrelevant to the actual question. With my exam in a month and this the last assessment of the course though, obviously, I feel I should be doing something more constructive regarding the exam, but it's all done now so it's completely out of the way. Unless I have a sleepless night tonight and decide to scrap it completely and start again.

But that won't happen.

My recent assessment (read, not my exam) came back in the post today, and surprisingly, it's the highest mark i've achieved since my 'higher education' started two years ago. For obvious reasons I have to refrain from posting the actual result, but with my exam resit now out of the way i'm incredibly pleased with the end grade, and hey, there's nothing better than success, right?

The assignment was to write a detailed commentary of The Battle of Austerlitz by the French painter François Gerard, and to evaluate, if any, the propagandist function that the painting had. Discussing the composition was good because it's something i've been doing since high school and regularly enjoy doing, but the second part of the question I found slightly baffling. I felt though that given the bad press surrounding Napoleon at that time, the painting did have a hidden agenda of promoting him in a positive light, and in a role of someone who was a hero. My tutor was impressed overall with my attempt, but deducted points from me for my discussion of Napoleon himself, saying that I was "a little hard on Napoleon towards the end of the essay". It's something I won't disagree with of course, because from what i've read I do have a very negative impression of him and his war-hungry attitude, but all the same, maybe those feelings and ideas should've been vented here and not in the essay.