Romanticism
Around 1800-1850
Romanticism
Rebelling against the
Neoclassic period’s
Age of Reason,
the Romantic era was an
Age of Sensibility
Romanticism
an Age of Sensibility meaning
Artists (and writers) chose
emotion
and intuition
over rational objectivity
Romanticism
Trust your heart,
not your head!
Romanticism
They were about the freedom of
individual thought and the ability
to express oneself openly.
Romanticism
These artists also tended to be
temperamentalthe troubled genius.
Romanticism
Got its name from a revived interest in
medieval tales called romances- knights
in armor, King Arthur…
Gothic horror stories were also in
vogue- Frankenstein…
There was a revival of
Gothic architecture
An incubus, a
demon believed in
medieval times to
prey on sleeping
women, sits on the
her.
Romantic artists
liked to depict the
dark terrain of the
human
subconscious.
Big contrast from the
more intellectual,
rational Neoclassical
themes.
Henry Fuseli, The Nightmare,1781
Romanticism
Goya and Gericault visited
insane asylums to use as
subject matter.
Romanticism
New subjects:
Grand political canvases
The world of the unconscious
The awesome grandeur of
nature
Romanticism
Even landscapes were used as
political statements
Constable=nature against the
Industrial revolution
Cole=criticism on how Americans
were polluting there land
John Constable
1776-1837
• English Romantic landscape
painter
• Sold more paintings in France than in
his home land, England
• He was never financially successful
John Constable
• Paints the English
countryside as a
reaction against the
Industrial
Revolution which
was moving in on it.
Painting of the village of Dedham in Essex, 1802
John Constable
Vibrant, shimmering
paint
atmospheric effects
Oneness with
nature; man is an
active participant
but does not
disturb it.
The Hay Wain, 1821
John Constable
Oneness with nature; man is an active
participant but does not disturb it.
Joseph Turner,
1775-1851
• English Romantic landscape painter,
and printmaker
• Also one of the greatest watercolor
landscape painters
• known as the
“painter of light”
• Turner liked extremes in nature:
avalanches, sea storms, whirlwinds, etc.
John Turner
Color is the
dominant motif
“Warm and cool
colors; tall, white,
glowing, pale
glorious ship of the
past contrasted
with small, black,
modern tugboat of
the future”
The Fighting Temeaire, oil
on canvas.1838
John Turner
Color is the
dominant motif
“Warm and cool
colors; tall, white,
glowing, pale
glorious ship of the
past contrasted
with small, black,
modern tugboat of
the future”
The Fighting Temeaire, oil
on canvas.1838
Romanticism
The sublimeAny cathartic experience from
catastrophic to intellectual that causes
the viewer to marvel in awe, wonder
and passion
Joseph Turner, The Slave Ship, 1840
Turner, The Slave Ship,1840
The Zong is traveling to
the New World and all
the slaves die of
disease. They were
thrown overboard
because the insurance
co. wouldn’t pay unless
they died from a
natural calamity.
Deeper meaningBloody red sunset
humanity/ $= more
symbolizing guilt
than human life…
Joseph Turner, The Snowstorm, 1842
The Hudson River School
An American art
movement by a
group of landscape
painters who were
influenced by
romanticism. They
painted the
Hudson River
Valley, the
Catskills,
Adirondacks, and
White Mountains.
.
Thomas Cole, Lake Winnipisogee.
The Hudson River School
Wilderness became
a symbol of
America’s unspoiled
national charactersomething to be
proud of.
"school" in this
sense refers to a
group whose style
demonstrates a
common thread, not
a learning
institution.
Thomas Cole, The Oxbow,1836.
The Hudson River School
Thomas Cole
was the
leader.
Others included:
Frederick Church
Asher Durand
Albert Bierstadt
Thomas Cole, The Oxbow, 1836.
Albert Bierstadt, The Rocky Mountains: Lander's Peak, 1863
Frederic Edwin Church,
Twilight in the Wilderness, 1860
Frederic Edwin Church,
Niagara Falls, 1860
Asher B. Durand,
Kindred Spirits,
1849.
It depicts the recently
deceased painter
Thomas Cole and his
friend the poet William
Cullen Bryant in the
Catskill Mountains.
The place is idealized.
Sold at auction in 2005 to for
$35 million, a record for a
painting by an American artist.
Albert Bierstadt,
Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, 1868
Spectacular panoramic views
Albert Bierstadt,
Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, 1868
Luminism is the emphasis on light- how it changes
with time of day
Luminism is the emphasis on light- how it changes
with time of day
Theodore GericaultFrench painter
• At 21, a painting prodigy.
• He is interested in human psychology
He examined the
influence of mental
state on the face.
He made many
studies of the
inmates at
hospitals and
institutions for the
criminally insane,
and he studied the
severed heads of
guillotine victims.
Théodore Géricault,
Madwoman with a Mania of Envy
Gericault,
Raft of the “Medusa”
15 survivors. 2 week ordeal. Cannibalism.
His masterpiece.
Gericault,
Raft of the “Medusa”
Shows his
commitm
ent to
social
justice.
Commemorates a contemporary disaster at sea
rather than a heroic example of Neoclassical
patriotism.
The raft become a floating hell of disease and
death.
Gericault,
Mounted Officer of the Imperial Guard
• Compares with
David’s Napoleon at
Saint Bernard's Pass
which like this
glorifies equestrian
courage.
Delacroix
His work primarily was concerned with
emotions, causes and politics- a
reflection of his time.
He as other Romantic painters, was not
just trying to paint a pretty picture.
Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People
Revolution of 1830, aiming to overthrow gov’t soldiers.
Pyramid. Students, middle and lower classes…
Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People
Populace
united for a
common goal
Thick brushstrokes;
surface textures on the
canvas
His paintings
are
characterized
by broad
sweeps of
color, lively
patterns, and
energetic
figural groups
Delacroix, Massacre at Chios, 1824
Distant places
(Greece’s
independence from
Turkey), political
freedom…
Goya
He dismisses
Neoclassicism. The
Sleep of Reason
Produces Monsters
is an etching.
He studied
Rembrandt’s
techniques
.
Francisco Goya, The Sleep of
Reason Produces Monsters, 1798
Goya
This image shows
Goya asleep, resting
on a table,
surrounded by
menacing creatures
who seem ready to
attack. The owls
symbolize folly, and
the bats symbolize
ignorance.
Francisco Goya, The Sleep of
Reason Produces Monsters, 1798
Goya
Francisco Goya, The Family of Charles IV, 1800
Painter to the King in
1786.
King Charles IV and
Queen surrounded by
their children.
Goya used his
predecessor Diego
Velazquez’s Las
Meninas as inspiration
for the work. Goya
includes himself in the
rear left of the painting
in the act of painting on
a large canvas.
Goya
Velasquez
Execution of Spanish rebels after a failed uprising
against the occupying French on May 2,1808. Faceless
French.
Christ-like sacrificial
pose.
Stigmata on hands.
Church, silent and
powerless in the
distance.
Blood soaked
figures in foreground
Goya, The Third of May 1808, 1814
Francisco Goya, The Third of May 1808, 1814.
Goya
His later works called
the “Black Paintings.”
Declining heath
contributed to his
state of mind, works
became increasingly
disillusioned and
pessimistic.
Saturn Devouring One of
His Children, 1819
Goya
Myth: he is eating his
child because of a
prophecy that one of them
will grow up to be better
than he.
Symbolism:
Human self-destruction
Time destroys all its
creations
A country’s “eating its
young in pointless wars.