Romanticism

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ROMANTICISM
The Artistic Expression of Liberalism
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The Spirit of the Age (1790-1850)

• A sense of a shared vision among the Romantics.
• Early support of the French Revolution.
• Rise of the individual ? alienation.
• Dehumanization of industrialization.
• Radical poetics / politics ? an obsessionwith
  violent change.

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1. Emotions! Passion! Irrationality!
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A Growing Distrust of Reason
Early19c
Enlightenment
Romanticism
Society is good, curbing violent impulses!
Civilization corrupts!

• The essence of human experience is subjective and
  emotional.
• Human knowledge is a puny thing compared to other
  great historical forces.
• Individual rights are dangerous efforts at
  selfishness ? the community is more important.

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The Romantic Movement

• Began in the 1790s and peaked in the 1820s.
• Mostly in Northern Europe, especially in Britain
  and Germany.
• A reaction against classicism.
• The Romantic Hero
• Greatest example was Lord Byron
• Tremendously popular among the European reading
  public.
• Youth imitated his haughtiness and
  rebelliousness.

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Characteristics of Romanticism

• The Engaged Enraged Artist
• The artist apart from society.
• The artist as social critic/revolutionary.
• The artist as genius.

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Wandering Above the Sea of FogCaspar David
Friedrich,1818
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Lady Macbeth - Henry Fuseli, 1794
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2. The "Rugged" Individual
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Characteristics of Romanticism

• The Individual/ The Dreamer
• Individuals have unique, endless potential.
• Self-realization comes through art
• Artists are the true philosophers.

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The Dreamer Gaspar David Friedrich, 1835
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Solitary Tree Caspar David Friedrich, 1823
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3. The Power Fury of Nature
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Characteristics of Romanticism

• Glorification of Nature
• Peaceful, restorative qualities an escape from
  industrialization and the dehumanization it
  creates.
• Awesome, powerful, horrifying aspects of nature.
• Indifferent to the fate of humans.
• Overwhelming power of nature.

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An Avalanche in the AlpsPhilip James de
Loutherbourg, 1803
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Sunset After a Storm On the Coast of Sicily
Andreas Achenbach, 1853
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The DelugeFrancis Danby, 1840
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Tree of CrowsCaspar David Friedrich, 1822
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The Wreck of the Hope (aka The Sea of Ice)Caspar
David Friedrich, 1821
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Shipwreck Joseph Turner, 1805
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The Raft of the MedusaThéodore Géricault, 1819
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The Eruption of Vesuvius - John Martin
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4. Science Can Be Dangerous!
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Isaac Newton William Blake, 1795
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Dr. Frankensteins Adam Eve??
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5. The "New" Technology Is Dehumanizing
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Rain, Steam, and SpeedJoseph Mallord William
Turner, 1844
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Rain, Steam, Speed(detailed)
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The Slave ShipJoseph Mallord William Turner, 1842
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The Slave Ship(detailed)
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6. Romanticizing Country Life
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Flatford Mill John Constable, 1817
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The Corn FieldJohn Constable,1826
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The Hay Wain - John Constable, 1821
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7. The Gothic "Romanticizing" of the Middle Ages
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Characteristics of Romanticism

• Revival of Past Styles
• Gothic Romanesque revival.
• Neo-Gothic architectural style.
• Medieval ruins were a favorite theme for art and
  poetry.

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Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishops GroundJohn
Constable, 1825
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Salisbury Cathedral from the MeadowsJohn
Constable, 1831
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Hadleigh Castle - John Constable, 1829
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Eldena RuinGaspar David Friedrich, 1825
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Winter Landscape with ChurchGaspar David
Friedrich, 1811
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British Houses of Parliament1840-1865
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8. The Exotic, the Occult, and the Macabre!
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Characteristics of Romanticism

• The Supernatural
• Ghosts, fairies, witches, demons.
• The shadows of the minddreams madness.
• The romantics rejected materialism in pursuit of
  spiritual self-awareness.
• They yearned for the unknown and the unknowable.

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Cloister Cemetery in the SnowCaspar David
Friedrich, 1817-1819
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Abbey in an Oak ForestCaspar David Friedrich,
1809-1810
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Mad Woman With a Mania of Envy TheodoreGericaul
t, 1822-1823
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Pity - William Blake, 1795
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The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with
the SunWilliam Blake, 1808-1810
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Stonehenge - John Constable, 1836
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Nightmare (The Incubus)Henry Fuseli, 1781
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Manfred and the Witch of the AlpsJohn Martin -
1837
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Witches SabbathFrancisco Goya,1798
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Procession of Flagellants on Good
FridayFrancisco Goya, 1793
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Saturn DevoursHis SonFrancisco Goya,1819-1823
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9. Nationalism
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Greece on the Ruins of MissolonghiEugène
Delacroix, 1827
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Liberty Leading the People Eugène Delacroix, 1830
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Detail of theMusket BearerDelacoix, himself
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The Rise of the Cartheginian EmpireJoseph
Turner, 1815
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His Majestys Ship, Victory(Trafalgar) - John
Constable, 1806
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An Officer of the Imperial Horse GuardThéodore
Géricault, 1814
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Napoleonat theSt. BernardPass David,1803
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The Shooting of May 3, 1808Francisco Goya, 1815
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Pandemonium - John Martin, 1841
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10. Interest in Exotic Foreign Lands
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Characteristics of Romanticism

• Exoticism
• The sexy other.
• A sense of escape from reality.
• A psychological/moral justification of
  imperialism?

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Grand Canal, VeniceJoseph Mallord William
Turner, 1835
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Massacre of Chios - Eugène Delacroix, 1824
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The Fanatics of TangiersEugène Delacroix,
1837-1838
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The Sultan of Morocco and His EntourageEugène
Delacroix, 1845
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Women of Algiers in Their ApartmentEugène
Delacroix, 1834
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The Turkish BathJean Auguste Ingres, 1852-1863
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The Bullfight - Francisco Goya
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Charge of the Mamelukes, May 2nd, 1808Francisco
Goya, 1814
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The Royal Pavillion at BrightonJohn Nash,
1815-1823
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11. Return to Christian Mysteries
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God as the Architect - William Blake, 1794
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Elohim Creating AbrahamWilliam Blake, 1805
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Body of Abel Found by Adam and EveWilliam Blake,
1825
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Faust and MephistophelesEugène Delacroix,
1826-1827
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The Seventh Plague of EgyptJohn Martin, 1823
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The CathedralGaspar DavidFriedrich,1818
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The Cathedral(details)Gaspar
DavidFriedrich,1818
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The Great Age of the Novel

• Gothic Novel Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
  (1847) Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
  (1847)
• Historical Novel Ivanhoe - Sir Walter Scott
  (1819) Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (1862)
  The Three Musketeers Alexander Dumas
  (1844)

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The Great Age of the Novel

• Science Fiction Novel Frankenstein - Mary
  Shelley (1817) Dracula Bramm Stoker (1897)
• Novel of Purpose Hugh Trevar - Thomas Holcroft
  (1794)

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(No Transcript)
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Other Romantic Writers
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm - Grimms Fairy
Tales (1814-1816)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Faust
(1806-1832)
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The Romantic Poets

• Percy Byssche Shelley
• Lord Byron (George Gordon)
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• William Wordsworth
• John Keats
• William Blake

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George Gordons(Lord Byron)Poem She Walks in
Beauty
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When we two partedIn silence and tears,Half
broken-heartedTo sever the years,Pale grew thy
cheek and cold,Colder, thy kissTruly that hour
foretoldSorrow to this.The dew of the
morningSunk, chill on my brow,It felt like the
warningOf what I feel now.Thy vows are all
broken,And light is thy fameI hear thy name
spoken,And share in its shame.They name thee
before me,A knell to mine earA shudder comes
o'er me...Why wert thou so dear?They know not I
knew thee,Who knew thee too well..Long, long
shall I rue thee,Too deeply to tell.In secret
we metIn silence I grieveThat thy heart could
forget,Thy spirit deceive.If I should meet
theeAfter long years,How should I greet
thee?With silence and tears.

• She Walks In BeautyShe walks in beauty, like
  the nightOf cloudless climes and starry
  skiesAnd all that's best of dark and
  brightMeet in her aspect and her eyesThus
  mellow'd to that tender lightWhich heaven to
  gaudy day denies.One shade the more, one ray
  the less,Had half impair'd the nameless
  graceWhich waves in every raven tress,Or softly
  lightens o'er her faceWhere thoughts serenely
  sweet expressHow pure, how dear their
  dwelling-place.And on that cheek, and o'er that
  brow,So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,The smiles
  that win, the tints that glow,But tell of days
  in goodness spent,A mind at peace with all
  below,A heart whose love is innocent!- Lord
  Byron 
•  

When we parted
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• How Do I Love TheeHow do I love thee? Let me
  count the waysI love thee to the depth and
  breadth and heightMy soul can reach, when
  feeling out of sight.For the ends of Being and
  ideal GraceI love thee to the level of
  everyday'sMost quiet need, by sun and
  candlelight.I love thee freely, as men strive
  for rightI love thee purely, as they turn from
  praiseI love thee with the passion put to useIn
  my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.I
  love thee with a love I seemed to loseWith my
  lost saints, --I love thee with the
  breath,Smiles, tears, of all my life! -- and, if
  God choose,I shall but love thee better after
  death.
• - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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• A Red, Red Rose
• O my luve's like a red, red rose. That's newly
  sprung in June O my luve's like a melodie That's
  sweetly play'd in tune. As fair art thou, my
  bonnie lass, So deep in luve am I And I will
  love thee still, my Dear, Till a'the seas gang
  dry. Till a' the seas gang dry, my Dear, And the
  rocks melt wi' the sun I will luve thee still,
  my Dear, While the sands o'life shall run. And
  fare thee weel my only Luve! And fare thee weel a
  while! And I will come again, my Luve, Tho' it
  were ten thousand mile!-
• Robert Burns

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MaryShelley Frankenstein
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SirWalterScott Ivanhoe
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WilliamWordsworthsPoem, TinternAbbey
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SamuelTaylorColeridgesPoem, The Rimeof
theAncientMariner
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Romanticism The Great Paradox
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The Political Implications

• Romanticism could reinforce the greatest themes
  of political liberalism or political
  conservatism.
• Contributed to growing nationalist movements.
• The concepts of the Volk (people) and the
  Volkgeist (national character).
• The uniqueness of cultures was emphasized.

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Bibliographic Sources

• CGFA A Virtual Art Museum.
  http//cgfa.sunsite.dk/fineart.htm
• Romanticism on Artchive.
  http//artchive.com/artchive/romanticism.html