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ROMANTICISM

 

"Youth, ardor, a generous faith in art, excessive passions, amongst fevers, exaggerations, errors, it was a period really full of ideas, personalities, and works." The Romantic Period, spanning from approximated 1800 to 1850 was a reaction against the Neoclassical movement as well as the Industrial Revolution. "It was a revolt against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature." 

 

 

IMPORTANT DATES

 

1770: Boston Massacre

1776: Declaration of Independence

1787: American Constitution

1793: Louis the XVI Executed and Marie Antoinette Executed

1815: Napoleon defeated and exiled

1836: Alamo

1848: Gold Rush begins

1848: France declared as a republic with a President for a leader

Architecture

Romantic architects were inspired by Medieval and even prehistoric construction styles. They were building for the perceived character of the people. With the revolt against Neoclassical ideals as well as the industrial revolution and its sense of mechanicl and formal institutionalized ideals. Architecture sought to appear as if it was hand-made and practiced archaic principles of building, however, they utulized architectural advancements of their predecessors. Many building have a direct reference to medieval castles and their use of stone. This period of architecture is still prevelant all across the world and examples can be seen at most churches as well as college campuses nationwide. 

Caspar David Friedrich (1774 - 1840) was a German landscape painter that was notorious for his figures silhouetted against the scene. "Friedrich's paintings characteristically  set a human presence in diminished perspective amid expansive landscapes, reducing the figures to a scale that, according to the art historian Christopher John Murray, directs "the viewer's gaze towards the metaphysical dimension". (Murray 328)

 

As a child, Friedrich experienced tremendous loss. HIs mother died when he was seven, followed by two of his sisters within ten years. In 1787, his brother died when he fell through the ice and drowned trying to save Friedrich. 

 

His art training occurred at the University of Greifswald under the instruction of Johann Gottfried Quistorp. The art department is now named after Friedrich. Towards the end of his life, Friedrich fell out of favor because of the nationalistic quality of his art, and the decline of the Nazi party. Many historians have agreed that Friedrich eventually went mad.

Portrait of Caspar David Frierich. Gerhard von Kugelgen. 1810 - 20. Kunsthalie Hamburg. Oil on Canvas.

Portrait of Thomas Jones. Giuseppe Marchi. 1768. National Museum Cardiff. Oil on Canvas.

Thomas Jones (1742 - 1803) was a Welsh landsape painter. Jones apprenticed under William Shipley, and eventually decided he was uncomfortable painting figures, so moved to study under Richard Wilson, a famous landscape painter. Unlike his contemporaries, Jones did not include figures in his drawings except on rare occasions. He is also known for doing smaller sketches in oil on paper, something that is unheard of from this period. 

 

Jones won a contest which got him to spend six years in Italy to study. However, he returned home early when his father died in 1782. He spent the rest of his life in Wales.

Portrait of Theodore Gericault. Alexandre-Marie Colin. 1816. 

Theodore Gericault (1791 - 1824) was a French painter and lithographer. His most known work is the subject of thousands of art lectures across the work. The Raft of the Medusa depicts the aftermath of a French shipwreck. It's popularity began shortly after its completion, because of its depiction of a corrupt establishment, as well as man's struggle and eventual conquering of nature. 

 

Another collection of works that Gericault is famous for is his series of portraits of the insane. Gericault suffered from several horse accidents as well as tuberculosis and died in Paris.

Other Artists

Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson (1767 - 1824) was a French painter who was taught by Jacques-Louis David. He originally studied architecture and pursued a military career. He later changed to art. He was most known for his portraits as well as adding elements of eroticism to formally conservative subject matter. 

 

Before his death he was a member of the Academy of Painting, the Institute of France, a knight of the order of St. Michael, and an officer of the Legion of Honour.

Self-Portrait. Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson. 1790. Hermitage Museum, Russia. Oil on canvas.

John Martin (1789 - 1854) was an English painter, engraver and illustrator. He was apprenticed under a heraldic painter, but a dispute over wages caused the services to be cancelled. He then worked under Boniface Musso, an Italian artist. In 1806, he moved to London and supported himself by giving drawing lesson, and small decorative arts. His first famous piece, Belshazzar's Feast had five thousand people pay to see it. From there, his reputation preceded him and he recieved commissions for many other works. From 1827 - 1828, Martin stopped painting and turned his attention to inventing.

Artists

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

Blanning, Tim. The Romantic Revolution: A History (2011) 272pp

 

Bowra, C. Maurice. 1949. The Romantic Imagination (in series, "Galaxy Book[s]"). New York: Oxford University Press.

 

Breckman, Warren, European Romanticism: A Brief History with Documents. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007. "European Romanticism: A Brief History with Documents". Amazon.com.

 

Casey, Christopher (October 30, 2008). ""Grecian Grandeurs and the Rude Wasting of Old Time": Britain, the Elgin Marbles, and Post-Revolutionary Hellenism". Foundations. Volume III, Number 1.

 

Early, James. Romanticism and American Architecture. New York: A.S. Barnes, 1965.

 

Fay, Elizabeth. 2002. Romantic Medievalism. History and the Romantic Literary Ideal. Houndsmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave.

 

Ferber, Michael. 2010. Romanticism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.

 

Friedlaender, Walter, David to Delacroix, (Originally published in German; reprinted 1980) 1952.

 

Holmes, Richard. 2009. The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science. London: HarperPress. 

 

Novotny, Fritz, Painting and Sculpture in Europe, 1780–1880 (Pelican History of Art), Yale University Press, 2nd edn. 1971

 

Rosenthal, Leon, and Bérengère Mauduit. Romanticism. New York: Parkstone Press International, 2008.

 

Safranski, Rüdiger, and Robert E. Goodwin. Romanticism: A German Affair. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 2014.

 

Schenk, H. G. 1966. The Mind of the European Romantics: An Essay in Cultural History. Constable.

Portrait of John Martin. Henry Warren. 1839. National Portrait Gallery, London. Oil on canvas.

Thomas Cole (1801 - 1848) was a born in England but emigrated to the United States in 1818. As a painter, he was primarily self taught, but worked for the Philadelphia Academy. He traveled all over the Catskills to paint, and this mountain range appears in many of his paintings. In 1829, Cole returned to England for two years to study and travel. One of Cole's more famous series, is "The Voyage of Life" which he began in 1839 for Samuel Ward, a wealthy banker and philanthropist. Ward would die before ever seeing the finished works. Shortly after, Cole began a studio and accepted his first students. Around the same time, he joined the Christian faith and religious themes began to appear in his work until his death.

Portrait of Thomas Cole. Thomas Seir Cummings. 1826 - 28. Albany Institute of History and Art. Oil on Canvas.

Eugene Delacroix (1798 - 1863) was a French painter. Delacroix was trained by Jacques-Louis David, however, was much more influenced by painters like Peter Paul Reubens and Paolo Veronese.  His work is also reminiscent of Theodore Gericault. Delacroix's first painting, The Barque of Dante gained him immediate popularity. His works have a heavy influence of politcal morals and satire as well. His style of applying the paint, in small strokes of contrasting colors, will directly influence the Impressionists of the future.

Self Portrait. Eugene Delacroix. 1837. Louvre, Paris. Oil on Canvas.

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775 – 1851) was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker, whose style can be said to have laid the foundation for Impressionism. Although Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, he is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting. Turner's talent was recognised early in his life. Financial independence allowed Turner to innovate freely; his mature work is characterised by a chromatic palette and broadly applied atmospheric washes of paint. According to David Piper's The Illustrated History of Art, his later pictures were called "fantastic puzzles." However, Turner was still recognised as an artistic genius: the influential English art critic John Ruskin described Turner as the artist who could most "stirringly and truthfully measure the moods of Nature." (Piper 321)

Self-Portrait. JMW Turner. 1799. Tate Britain. OIl on Canvas.

Portrait of William Blake. Thomas Phillips. 1807. London Portrait Gallery. Oil on Canvas.

William Blake (1757 - 1827) was an English painter, poet and engraver. Blake was best known for his radical, anti-authority behavior. The majority of his works call in to question if the governement is doing a good job. Needless to say, his work came and went in popularity due to its risky stance. Unlike many famous artists of this period, Blake mostly worked in watercolor and graphite on paper. He is also more known for his poetry than is art.

Costumes

The Romantic Period was much more conservative and focused on the hourglass shape. The lower classes rejected the style of the fashionable elite while the middle class began to define what fashion was. Middle class women, in particular were contrained into a social role and needed clothing to fit these specific purposes. With the invention of the sewing machine by Elias Howe in 1846, specified garments for a purpose could be mass produced. There were dresses wfor morning, meals, walking, evening, etc. The sudden need for a different outfit for different occasions caused a boom in the garment industry. Advertising for this boom became especially important and fashion plates were made available for people to choose which garments they would like to purchase based on the images.

 

Women: Key changes to the women's silhouette included the dropping of the waist to the natural waist into a very tight, hourglass corset. The bottom of skirts were heavily decorated to accentuate and balance out the large shoulders with the full sleeves. Haistlyes were over the top and elaborately styled and decorated with an elaborate hat.

 

During the Crinoline Period (1830s - 1850s), women's necklines dropped to show very low shoulders. Many images appear like the shoulders are either broken or missing. This was then accentuated by a slightly slimmer sleeve up top and very full sleeves below the elbow. The bottom half of the body was balanced by full skirts that were held up by large hoops or crinolines. The widths of the skirts were accented by horizontal ruffles and decoration.

 

Men: Key changes to the men's silhouette included a shift to the hourglass shape. Coats had a tight fitting waist and a full skirt attached at a waist seam as well as fuller sleeves like the women's dresses. Many men wore corsets and body padding to achieve the hourglass silhouette. The bottom half of the body was fuller at the hips with the aid of pleated pants and then tapered to a very slim line near the ankles.

 

During the Crinoline Period, men's coats loose all of the fullness in the sleeves and most of the fullness at the shoulder. We begin to see a lot more pattern in the fabric (plaids and stripes) with the discovery of analine dyes.

This painting by Friedrich shows the juxtaposition of a conquering still man over a wild, uncontrollable nature that is so popular in the Romantic period. Allowing nature to live amongst the human world.

STYLES MORGUE

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