Question

1)explain the significance of porting Nations as female figures by European artists of 18th and 19th century??
2) How can you say that first expression of nationalism come with the French revolution of 1789 ??​

Answer 1

Artists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries found a way out by personifying a nation. In other words they represented a country as if it were a person. Nations were then portrayed as female figures. The female form that was chosen to personify the nation did not stand for any particular woman in real life; rather it sought to give

the abstract idea of the nation a concrete form. That is, the female figure became an allegory of the nation.

Many female allegories were invented by artists in the nineteenth century to represent the nation. In France she was christened Marianne, a popular Christian name, which underlined the idea of a people’s nation. Her characteristics were drawn from those of Liberty and the Republic – the red cap, the tricolour, the cockade. Statues of Marianne were erected in public squares to remind the public of the national symbol of unity and to persuade them to identify with it. Marianne images were marked on coins and stamps.

Similarly, Germania became the allegory of the German nation. In visual representations, Germania wears a crown of oak leaves, as the German oak stands for heroism.

2.The first clear expression of nationalism came with the French Revolution in 1789. The Revolution led to the transfer of sovereignty from the monarchy to a body of French citizens. The revolution proclaimed that it was the people who would hence forth constitute the nation and shape its destiny

Answer 2

Answer:

1. The European artist of 18th and 19th century portrait the nation as if it were a person. They personified the nation in the form of a female figure. These female figure given exact idea of nation in a concrete form. These figures, weather Germania in case of Germany or marianne in case of France, stood as a symbol of hero is and liberty respectively. The form used for visualising a nation as a female figure is an example of an allegory .
2. The first clear expression of nationalism undoubtedly came with French revolution of 1789. The political and constitutional changes that come in the wake of French Revolution led to the transfer of sovereignty from the monarchy to a body of French citizens. The revolution Proclaimed that it was the people who would constitute the nation and its shape destiny.

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