This module presents the art of early to mid-19th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, Neoclassicism gave way to Romanticism and its emphasis on passion emotion, and a return to natural world. The world began to change dramatically in the wake of the Industrial Revolution, transforming European and the American economies. A shift from agriculture to industry emerged with new resources such as iron and steel. The development of the telegraph, telephone, passenger railroad, and the proliferation of newspapers reflected the expansion of communications. Demands for the rights of workers arose and the artistic style that corresponded to this society was Realism, a movement that inspired artists to directly observe society and nature.

Notre Dame Cathedral was the site of Napoleon Bonaparte's coronation. Until that time, all coronations were conducted at the traditional site of Reims Cathedral. Napoleon commissioned Jacques Louis David to recreate the event in his painting The Coronation of Napoleon.

Explore the Museo Nacional del Prado and its collection of paintings by Goya.

Explore the Philadelphia Museum of Art. to see its collection of Thomas Eakins works, further information about the Gross Clinic restoration, and their other permanent collections.

On January 7, 1839, members of the French Académie des Sciences were shown products of an invention that would forever change the nature of visual representation: photography. Explore the invention photograph via this virtual exhibition.

This exhibition explores the changing modes of representation of the black figure as central to the development of modern art. The models' interactions with and influences on painters, sculptors and photographers are highlighted through archival photographs, correspondence and films. The artists featured in the exhibition depicted black subjects in a manner counter to typical representations of the period. The works included highlight the little-known, multiracial aspect of each artist’s milieu. The site features a virtual exhibition of the work curated by Denise Murrell, Ph.D.