The Rise of Romanticism

Through the Culture of the Arts

From Neoclassicism to Romanticism

- A defining characteristic of the late 18th century was a renewed interest in classical antiquity.

- The Enlightenment emphasized rationality and so the geometric harmony of classical art and architecture seemed to embody Enlightenment details.

- Greece and Rome served as models for this time of political upheaval with their traditions of liberty, civic virtue, morality and sacrifice.

Jacques-Louis David

A neoclassical painter of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire.

David’s beliefs aligned with the Enlightenment belief that subject matter should have a moral and should be presented so that the “marks of heroism and civic virtue offered the eyes of the people will electrify its soul, and plant the seeds of glory and devotion to the fatherland.”

Jacques-Louis David

Oath of the Horatti, 1784, oil on canvas, 11’x14’

Jacques-Louis David

The Oath of the Tennis Court, 1791, Graphite, Ink, Sepia, 2’ 1 ½” x 3’ 5 1/3”

Jacques-Louis David

The Death of Marat, 1793, oil on canvas, 5’3”x4’1”

The Pieta, Michelangelo, 1499, marble,

Neoclassical Architecture

Jacques-Germain Soufflot, the Pantheon, Paris, France, 1755-1792

Pierre Vignon, La Madeleine, Paris, France, 1807-1842

The Move to Romanticism

-Jean Jacques Rousseau’s ideas contributed to the rise of Romanticism. -Rousseau exclaimed that, “Man is born free, but is everywhere in chains!”

-So Romanticism emerged from a desire for freedom- not only political freedom, but also freedom of thought, of feeling, of action, of worship, of speech, and of taste, as well as all the other freedoms.

-Those who affiliated themselves with Romanticism believed that the path to freedom was through imagination rather than reason and functioned through feeling rather than through thinking.

Characteristics of Romanticism

emotions – passion – irrationality the dreamer – the individual the power and fury of nature the danger of science the dehumanization of man through technology country life = best kind of life romanticization of middle ages the exotic, occult and macabre (dreams, death) nationalism interest in foreign lands and cultures renewed interest in Christian mysteries and mysticism

Henry Fuselli

The Nightmare, 1781, oil on canvas, 3’4”x4’2”

William Blake

Ancient of Days, frontispiece of Europe: A Prophecy, 1794, metal relief etching, hand colored, 9 ½”x 6 3/4”

Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, 1798, etching & aquatint

The Third of May 1808, 1814, oil on canvas

Goya

Saturn Devouring His Children, 1819-1823, Detail of a detached fresco on canvas

Theodore Gericault

Raft of the Medusa, 1818-1819, oil on canvas

Insane Woman, 1822-1823, oil on canvas

Eugene Delacroix

Paganini, 1831, oil on cardboard on wood panel

The Death of Sardanapalus, 1826, oil on canvas

Eugene Delacroix

Liberty Leading the People, 1830, Oil on Canvas

Romanticism in Sculpture

Francois Rude, La Marseillaise, Arc de Triomphe, Paris, France, 1833-1836

Antoine-Louis Barye, Jaguar Devouring a Hare, 1850-1851, Bronze

Imagination and Mood in Landscape Painting

-The 18th century artists had regarded the pleasurable, aesthetic mood natural landscapes inspired as the making the landscape itself picturesque or “worthy of being painted”.

-The Romantic artists rather than provide simple descriptions of nature, poets and artist used nature as an allegory.

-They commented on spiritual, moral, historical, or philosophical issues.

Caspar David Friedrich

Cloister Graveyard in the Snow, 1810, oil on canvas

Joseph Mallord William Turner

The Slave Ship, 1840, oil on canvas

Thomas Cole

The Oxbow (View from Mt. Holyoke, Northhampton, Mass., after a Thunderstorm,

1836, Oil on canvas

Architecture

John Nash, Royal Pavillion, Brighton, England, 1815-1818

Joseph Paxton, Crystal Palace, London,

England, 1850-1851, iron and glass

Charles Barry and A.W.N. Pugin, Houses of Parliament, London, England, 1835

Literature Match-up

Romantic Poets Coleridge Wordsworth Byron Schlegel Goethe

Romantic Literary Ideas Defies definition BUT emphasizes

living life according to one’s own terms

Focuses on the need for a return to a childlike state of being

Highlights social issues of his day Rejection of old traditions and

supporter of personal liberty Imagination = God at work in the

mind

Romantic Poetry – EnglishGerman

Madame de Staël

Daughter of Jacques Necker

Read primary document on pg. 600 and discuss bolded questions

Early Romantic Music

Musical periods are always a little behind those of art and literature – SO the music of the late 18th century is referred to as Classical (i.e. Mozart) or Early Romantic (i.e. Beethoven)