RomanticismArt, Literature and Music

NotesAn eighteenth – nineteenth century art, music

and literary attitude/style.The Romantic movement can be described as a

reaction against Neo-classicism in which the style is full of emotion and beauty with many individualistic and exotic elements.

When the word ‘romantic’ became current it originally meant ‘resembling the strange and fanciful character of medieval romances’

Romantic thought brought with it primacy of emotion and imagination over reason.

Romanticism was concerned with things being exulted. Imaginative or extravagant- a free handling of subject matter to emphasise the artist’s individual attitude, mood or feeling as opposed to strict focus on classical works of the Greek and Roman Empires. Romantic artists often use melancholic themes and dramatic tragedy.

Emphasised colour and spirit, as opposed to Neo-Classicalism which emphasised line and a certain cool detachment- similar to the satire found in literature.

The sublime is a sense of vastness, and nature’s capacity to inspire terror came into prominence as subject matter.

Romantic art portrays emotions painted in a bold and dramatic manner, and there is often an emphasis on the past.

Paintings by famous Romantic artists such as Gericault and Delacroix are filled with energetic brushstrokes, rich colors, and emotive subject matters.

The German landscape painter Caspar David Friedrich created images of solitary loneliness whereas in Spain, Francisco Goya conveyed the horrors of war in his works. This demonstrates the variety in subject matter, but the emphasis on drama and emotion.

The Pre-Raphaelite movement succeeded

Romanticism, and Impressionism is firmly rooted in the Romantic tradition. Other famous Romantic artists include George Stubbs, William Blake, John Margin, John Constable, JMW Turner, and Sir Thomas Lawrence.

Romantic Characteristics in ArtIncreased Nationalism and exoticism: Used to highlight national identity. Eg Thomas Gainsborough painted many pictures of royalty,

as did Jacques-Louis David, who was Napoleon's official artist.

Nationalism also includes the notion of national spirit embodied most clearly in the works of John Constable

Francisco Goya also displayed nationalism in his work The Third of May, 1808.

The artist displayed exoticism by painting new and foreign things, including far away places and odd objects. This idea is illustrated in the Lion Hunt, by Eugene Delacroix.

More interest in Nature and the Supernatural

Nature- many artists painted landscapes that usually showed either nationalism of their country or the exoticism and adventure of far-away places. The natural world was considered less a model of perfection and more a source of mysterious powers.

Romantic artists painted from many supernatural texts and stories.

Supernatural- The romantic period was a time of surging emotions, and the supernatural represented love (cupids), fear (demons), and many other characteristics.

Cont.Horror of the supernatural- scary creatures as symbols.

Among Goya’s works, Los Caprichos are some of the most noted, and they have to do with the horrors of the supernatural (Los Caprichos, 1799, deal with such themes as the Spanish Inquisition, the abuses of the church and the nobility, witchcraft, child rearing, etc... The supernatural part of theses pictures include goblins, witches, animals acting like human fools and aristocrats, and many others.

Individuality:

Classicism, the period before the Romantic age, was quite different from Romanticism.

Classicism= objectiveFocus on balance and definite and distinct formal structureRomanticism = subjective; Romantic spirit was all about

loosing formal constraints, giving way to artists to show their individual ideas and emotions

Cont.Goya became a pioneer of new artistic tendencies,

which were commonly used in the 19th century. With the artworks he made in his 60 years of creating art, Goya represented the reaction against previous conceptions of art, a new form of expression.

Another great artist who showed individuality is Joseph Mallord William Turner. The power of individual perception is most evident in his works.

Change in the style of Artists:

During the 18th century, the rococo style was one of the most dominant. Through the efforts of Goya and many others, the Romantic Period showed the change from the decadent and courtly rococo styles to the vivid, detailed, and passionate artworks created by Romantic artists.

The new style explored the human heart, heroism of a revolutionary age, the emotional aspects of life.

From Romanticism, rationalism and realism emerged in the later part of the nineteenth century.

HeroismHeroism didn't just mean the supernatural (myths, and

imaginary people); many people, eg. Beethoven, believed that the common man could be heroes. Eugene Delacroix's painting, The Lion Hunt, shows the Arabs as the heroes. The painting shows that the common man can be a hero.

Jacques-Louis David, who was Napoleon’s official artist, painted Napoleon in some of his greatest hours. (Bonaparte Crossing the St. Bernard Pass) David also painted many of the heroes of Greek mythology, and Socrates, another hero, in The Death of Socrates.

What do you think of this?

What was the artist trying to convey?The wanderer above the sea of fog by Caspar David Friedrich

A view from Dalesford towards the Pyranees -Eugene von Guérard (1865)

• The palette (range of colours) emphasises the celebration of nature • Use of orange yellows contrasting with the blue creates awe inspiring atmosphere• Rough background with a highly detailed central object directs our eyes to the ship and its grandness • The water has its own grandness, a more subtle beauty

The fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838

•2 figures close to the inferno show the power of the individual• the scale of smoke shows how nature overcomes all• brutality and beauty of natural occurrences

Outbreak of the Vesuvius- Johan Christian Claussen Dahl (1826)

• a highly intense atmosphere due to dark shades contrasted with the light flesh tones of the revolutionary people • the lighting is very important in distinguishing key figures • Highly detailed• Unified vertical direction of guns/ flag post, knife shows the civil unrest is common to allEugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People

1830

• highly dramatic background• direction of paint strokes gives an otherworldy/supernatural effect• Biblical allusion/representation • Red+blue creates mystery and supernatural • Stark white bolt of lightening pointing to a figure in the midground • links to the past lost civillisations but celebrating nature’s power and might

John Martin, 1852, The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

An Early Neo-Classical work“The Hippopotamus Hunt,” oil on canvas by Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1615–16;.jpg