ROMANTICISM (c. 1800 - 1900)

by Jo Colley 15:35 0 comments

In the 19th Century, following on from the Age of Enlightenment of the 18th Century and branching off from Neoclassicism, was the negative reaction to the new developments in science and the effects that the Age of Reason had upon society. Instead of exploring the new themes that looked away from religion to a whole world of new ideas, it looked inward and exploited emotion as a new type of aesthetic, differing throughout the art period in emotions - horror, trepidation and awe, often using these emotions to display their aversion to the Age of Enlightenment. The basic principle of Romanticism was a fusion of natural phenomena and the range of human emotion, looking for an Apollonian sense of subject matter.

Key artists of the period are widely known, ranging from greats such as Francisco Goya to Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, from Eugene Delacroix to Caspar David Friedrich and even John Constable.

Characteristics of Romanticism

Romanticism exclusively explores personal experience and is based on the artists imagination and own emotion. As German painter, Caspar David Friedrich has explained "the artist's feeling is his law." This gave artists a free reign over the subject matter and emotive qualities of their work, whether it achieves wonder, fear, sadness or any other feeling. It was also considered to be vital that every work was unique to itself, this is something that only the best Romanticist painters could provide.

Despite not being fundamental, nature was a key aspect of the paintings, often as a portrait that features a single figure, being affected by their landscape. It was believed that humans needed to maintain a strong connection with nature rather than immersing themselves in the scientific human world. A key artist that achieved this style was Caspar David Friedrich and Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, a painting from 1818 which encapsulates the idea of that human connection with natural phenomena, the figure in the image standing on a mountain's edge looking out over the blanket of fog covering the scene. Although the man's back is turned to the audience, the painting is emotive as it's evident that the character is contemplating his own life and death, looking to the root of Romanticism.

"Wanderer above the Sea of Fog" by Caspar David
Friedrich, painted in 1818.

Key Artists

Joseph Mallord William Turner is often considered to be extremely influential of Impressionist art, but initially worked in the confines of Romantic art, an artist that truly put himself inside the scenes he created. For the creation of the painting Snow Storm - Steam Boat off the Harbour's Mouth in 1842, Turner even went to the extent of tying himself to the mast of a ship in order to get the experience first hand of the elements of weather and the feeling he was trying to formulate in the painting. One of the more chaotic paintings of Turner's career, the image captured a great deal of emotion and movement despite their being no human figures present in the painting.

"Snow Storm - Steam Boat off the Harbour's Mouth", painted in 1818 by
Joseph Mallord William Turner from a first hand experience of the subject.

Turner and others led to the flourishing of landscape artists in the 19th Century, particularly the work of fellow influential painter John Constable. Constable's landscapes were heavily based on the perspective of nature followed by Romanticists. As an artist, John Constable believed that the aspects of nature; trees, rivers and streams, sunlight and shadow etc. was able to allude to spiritual goodness, creating that connection between us and nature once again. His most famous painting, The Hay Wain painted in 1821 with oil on canvas. As the perspective and emotion of the artist is always law, it was a painting that connected to Constables childhood as the son of a miller and the memory he had of this time. The image puts together so many small components to gain a sense of lifestyle and emotion with clarity. 

"The Hay Wain" by John Constable, painted from overlaid sketches and
oil on canvas, 1821.

Francisco Goya

The mediums used by Francisco Goya were wide ranging, from drawings to engravings and to wall paintings. Themes ranged from portrait to commissioned political artworks with a purpose. One of his most famous artworks is The Third of May, 1808 painted and exhibited in 1814. The image depicts Napoleon's army during the Franco-Spanish War as they execute around a thousand villagers in Madrid in revenge for a rebel attack. His artworks are high emotive, with a sense of horror to establish a feeling on a political or war theme.

"The Third of May, 1808" painted by oil on canvas and exhibited in 1814 by
Francisco Goya.

Goya has also produced many other less well known works which are emotionally and politically motivated with a romantic tone. Goya's etchings and aquatint were extremely relevant, originally commissioned for Spanish court artworks, his own personal work gave way for him to express more of his own views, e.g. The Disasters of War (1810 - 1820) as he recorded his own imaginings of the Napoleon invasion of Spain in 1808 and it's atrocities, barbarism and heroism. 

"The Disasters of War", an etching of a series by Francisco Goya, (1810 - 1820)

The etchings are one of the fewer examples of how the emotion of horror can be depicted in Romanticism, it relies on a very different kind of media to other artists during this period, making Goya stand out as one of the best and most important artists of the 19th Century.

Ultimately, Romanticism as an art movement that is a rejection of anything discovered in the Age of Enlightenment, furthered by landscape artists such as John Constable and J.M.W. Turner as well as other artists including Francisco Goya, Caspar David Friedrich, Eugene Delacroix etc. It sees the beginning of the celebrated relationship between human nature and emotion and nature of the world around us, often resulting in idealistic imagery of an Apollonian nature or Dionysian disorder, war etc.