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The Romantic Style in Art and Music

Chapter 29Humanities 103

Beth Camp, Instructor

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Navigating the slide show• To see “full screen” images,

– RIGHT CLICK on your mouse– Select “full screen” on the menu that

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• Use ESCAPE at any time to end the show

• Click on SOUND icons to hear added comments

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Romantic Themes 1800-1850

• Celebrates nature and natural landscape

• Glorifies heroism, suffering and death

• Supports nationalism and political independence

• Emphasizes nature’s wild, mysterious, exotic, melancholic, melodramatic aspects

• Stereotypes gender roles

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Romantic Stereotypes

• “If I give myself up to love, I want it to wound me deeply, to electrify me, to break my heart or to exhalt me. . . What I want is to suffer, to go crazy.”

--a character from Sand’s novel

(quoted in Fiero 48)

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What is the Romantic Ideal?

Byronic Hero

Poet-Visionary

Bohemian

VirtuosoRomantic Historian

Source: Peckham

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Glorification of the Hero

• Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825)

• Antoine-Jean Gros (1775-1835)

What is characteristic of these early Romantic painters?

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Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825)• Supported revolution,

imprisoned, supporter of Napoleon

• 1801-1807 portraits of Napoleon

• Essentially more Neoclassic than Romantic

As you look at the next paintings, whatare the key characteristics of each work?

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David

Napoleon at St.

Bernard, 1800

Why is this painting

considered Romantic?

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DavidMarat

Assassinated, 1793

Who was Marat?

Why would thismoment be chosen to paint?

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David

Self Portrait, 1794

What insights doyou gain into David’s character from this

painting?

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Caspar Friedrich

The Wanderer in a Sea of Fog, 1818

What does this painting suggest about how Romantics “see” nature? What mood is created?

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Antoine-Jean Gros (1775-1835)• Pupil of David, but rejected

Neoclassicism• Key paintings: Napoleon

Visiting Plague Victims at Jaffa, other paintings of Napoleon at war

• As you look at the next painting, why would Gros be selected as the “official battle painter”?

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Gros

Napoleon at Eylau, 1808

Is this painting of

Napoleon a Romantic painting?

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Romantic Heroism

• Francisco Goya (1746-1828)• Theodore Gericault (1791-

1824)

What key themes are seen in the nextPaintings? Which would you consider most “romantic”? Why?

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Francisco Goya (1746-1828)• Portrait painter to Spanish Court.

Protested French invasion of Spain.• Then court painter to French court.• Spain returns to power. Spanish king

says Goya should be charged with treason but he’s forgiven because his paintings were excellent.– Why was Goya considered the first

of the moderns?– Why do we say that he began 19th

Century realism? What in his paintings suggests a more realistic style?

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Goya: Christ, 1780

Next: Family of Carlos IV, 1800-1801

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Goya

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Goya

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GoyaSelf-portrait,

1790-1795

What insight do you

gain into Goya from

this self-portrait?

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Goya

Duchess of Alba, 1797

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Goya: Clothed Maja, 1801-1803

• Goya painted a double of this painting called the Naked Maja which was privately circulated. Why was this considered controversial?

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Goya: The Shootings of May Third, 1808

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Goya

Prison, 1810-1814

What mood does this painting create? How?

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Goya, Black Paintings, 1820-1823

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Eugene Delacroix, 1798-1863

• Foremost French Romantic painter, produced 805 paintings

• Leader of opposition to David, seen in Barque of Dante

• Influenced by England and trip to Morocco

• Noted for color, exotic themes, portraits, and animals in motion

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Delacroix

Orphan Girl at the Cemetary, 1824

In general, howwould you

describeDelacroix’ work?

Next: Liberty Leading the People, 1830

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Eugene Delacroix

Top: Drawing for Death at

SardanapalausBottom: Tiger

Attacking a Horse

Next: Algerian Women, 1834

Crusaders, 1840

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Delacroix

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Delacroix

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Romantic Painting

• “The most sublime effects of every master are often the result of pictorial license; for example, the lack of finish in Rembrandt’s work, the exaggeration in Rubens. Mediocre painters never have sufficient daring, they never get beyond themselves.”

--Delacroix (Fiero 55)

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Delacroix

Self Portrait

What insight do you gain into Delacroixfrom this self-

portrait? What mood does it create?

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Theodore Gericault (1791-1824)• Avid horseman, painted military

subjects• Shocked critics with mournful

subject matter and colors• “Raft of Medusa” controversial,

considered “macabre realism”– How would you describe the

composition of the Raft of Medusa? How many “triangles” do you see in the composition?

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Gericault

Detail of The Raft of Medusa

What is the theme of this painting?

What symbols do you see here and how do they reinforce the theme?

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Gericault

The Woman with Gambling Mania, 1822

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Henry Fuseli (1741-1825)• Inspired by Michelangelo, drawn

to religious studies• Fascinated by horror and the

fantastic• Much respected during his life

but then neglected – Fuseli is characterized as a

romantic painter. Why?• Next: The Nightmare, 1781

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The Romantic Imagination

“Strange as it may seem, the great majority of people are devoid of imagination.”

--Delacroix (Fiero 55)

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What characterizes Romanticism?

• How do the early Romantic artists, composers or thinkers differ from later Romantic artists or or thinkers?

• Based on what you know now, how would you define “romanticism” or “realism”?

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Resources

• Images from Mark Hardin’s Artchives at http://www.artchives.com

• Categories of the Romantic Ideal from Morse Peckham, ed. Romanticism: The Culture of the 19th Century. New York: George Braziller (1984).