Lesson Three: Style and Technique of the Romantic Era
Artists, poets, and musicians of the Romantic era were fascinated by the color and diversity of
History. You read in Lesson Two how the world around them was dreary, dull, and grey – it is because of this of this dreadful existence that many artists turned to History and the preindustrial “good ol’ days” for inspiration. They believed History was the art of change over time; it was beautiful, exciting, and full of life’s rich lessons. By emphasizing the past,
Romantics, intentionally or otherwise, advertised their beliefs that the current world was offtrack, using their art as a mouthpiece to advocate change. Romantics fanned the flames of
History to find poetic justice in life, not only for themselves, but for entire nations. Historical studies promoted the growth of national identities by emphasizing a country’s common cultural bonds, while encouraging everyone to seek their own individual destinies by looking at their own personal pasts.

“Destiny” was always on Uncle Jed’s mind when he had been drinking.
Romanticism generally dismissed the pragmatic rationalism of the Enlightenment and greedy capitalism of the Industrial Revolution in favor of creativity, imagination, and emotion. Though it emphasized History, it didn’t imitate any type of historical standards – these guys were blazing their own trail, using historical themes as guidelines upon which to lament the past and improve the future. Romantics wanted to emphasize the value and dignity of a single individual in society and remind him that he has god-like powers of creativity and imagination. Remember that during the Industrial Revolution, an individual’s worth was rapidly devolving due to mechanized labor; those who were fortunate to find jobs in the factories were forced to work unfathomably long hours, doing tedious menial tasks for an incredibly small amount of pay.
Workers lost their zest for life while their emotional levels were deadened to that of a zombie.
The Romantics intended to reignite those feelings of passion, imagination, and spontaneity for the tired drones of the working class.

“I don’t know, Steve. This place could use some imagination, but I’m just so tired…”
Religion in the Romantic era took a more symbolic form as well, seen from an artistic perspective. Artists viewed God in his state of Nature, while most industrialists worshipped at the altar of financial profit. God manifested Himself everywhere in nature, from the tall trees to the sturdy mountains to the vast oceans. He was hopeful in the sunrise, generous in the pastures, and wrathful in the violent storm clouds. Romantics embraced nature and were awed by its mysteries, seeing the natural beauty and majesty in something as simple as a daffodil (whereas scientists would have examined the flower’s biological aspects and industrialists would have bulldozed the daffodil field in order to build a factory). The Romantics often outwardly lamented the destruction of nature and the pollution of the natural world by the factories of the
Industrial Revolution.

Future site of a Bed, Bath, and Beyond
One of the more interesting side effects of the Romantic Movement was the promotion of nationalism. Romantics believed that cultural connections were the unity that binds all of us.
The interest in national languages, customs, folklore, and geography was obvious in Romantic works, especially in Romantic music. But as we said before, patriotism was always made great thanks to the individual people of the society, and their individuality was not to be disregarded.
They believed that all people have merit and no object is too mundane to be respected. In fact, people should celebrate those traits that make us unique, just as we celebrate our collective, nationalistic culture. This is why the poetry and art of the era will often tout simplicity in life – a vase, an open field, or clouds – while heroes have very unique, if not grotesque flaws – a hunchback, addictions, or borderline psychological madness.

Victor Hugo could give you all three at once!
Clearly, the ideals of Romanticism are so broad that the movement cannot be fit neatly into a box or easily described and defined. However, the Romantic ideals can be easily seen where they manifest themselves in art, literature, and music.
Art before the Romantic Movement was unemotional at best. Neoclassical artists like Jacques-
Louis David used rigid lines and rigid structure to tell stories that usually glorified the “winners” in society. Neoclassical art sought to mimic the great classical styles of the Greeks and Romans who used clean lines and sturdy forms in their statues. But you can’t blame them. After all, the strict and structured Neoclassical Movement was merely a reaction against the flowery and

decorative art of the Baroque, just as the now Romantic artists were reacting to the Neoclassical.
Art is constantly changing styles, and evolving themes are typically a reaction or opposite to the current trends. And now, the new trends in art were emotion, passion, imagination, history, and nature in all its forms.
Two of the most prominent of Romantic English painters created awe-inspiring landscapes, but did so in notably different ways. John Turner (1775-1851) and John Constable (1776-1837) were two people who were fascinated by the way God manifested himself in nature, and each attempted to show a different side of Him. Constable painted peaceful landscapes depicting farmers, cottages, and other serene scenes – the beauty side of Nature. Meanwhile, Turner explored the wild side of Nature, often painting violent tempests, fiery sunsets, and storm clouds that look so ominous, that you want to leave the museum and seek shelter before it hits.
In France, Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) and Theodore Gericault (1791-1824) were contemporaries who also painted Romantic themes, but theirs were more historically inspired than the nature-inspired works of their English rivals. Delacroix often painted themes that explored the richly exotic cultures of the world outside of Europe, but his most famous painting was a patriotic one. His Liberty Leading the People (1830) celebrated the Second French
Revolution (also 1830) and depicted the passion and emotion that is inherent to violent revolution. Gericault, who painted during the last years of Napoleon Bonaparte’s reign, found his greatest inspiration in human stress and suffering. His famous work, Raft of the Medusa
(1819), recreates the true tale of shipwrecked survivors floating on a raft with a tempestuous sea and sky as the backdrop. We will look at all four of these artists and their works more in depth in the upcoming lessons.

Romanticism primarily took literary root in two places in Europe. In Germany, the Sturm and
Drang literary movement rose as a reaction to the overly cerebral forms of literature that existed during the Enlightenment. This “Storm and Stress” literature often featured a passionate or emotional individual struggling with an issue often related to the stresses of society. The best early example of such a work was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s (1749-1832) The Sorrows of a
Young Werther , the story of a passionate young artist who longs for a relationship with the woman he feels is his “soul mate” (too bad she’s already married… hence the drama!). German literature was also passionate about nationalism. At this time, Germany was not yet an official country – it was merely a loose collection of territories that didn’t have a true leader or direction;
Napoleon had taken over the “Confederation of the Rhine” in his grand waltz across Europe, but now that he was gone, the Germanic people sought to create their own country and culture from the scraps. Nationalist literature, from Grimm’s fairy tales to Marx’s Communist Manifesto , sought to unite the people and embrace their collective culture.
In Britain, the best examples of Romantic literature are often attributed to Samuel Taylor
Coleridge (1772-1834) and William Wordsworth (1770-1850). They were both accomplished poets individually, while at the same time the best of friends. Together, they combined their superpowers to compose The Lyrical Ballads , which broke all the traditional rules about structure, rhyme, meter, and the stuff that made older guys like Shakespeare famous. They were followed by such authors as Percy Shelley, William Blake, Lord Byron, and John Keats.
Likewise, these literary giants broke the rules of traditional structure to create poetry that was passionate, emotional, and expressly imaginative.

While also breaking the traditional rules of fashion.
Gothic literature was a form of Romantic literature, which took the emotions of its readers in a completely different direction. It focused on dark and macabre themes set in creepy locales with the intent of shocking the readers with suspense and horror. Gothic literature featured such things as ghosts, brooding characters, and gloomy situations. Noted books of this genre were
Horace Walpole’s (1717-97)
The Castle of Otranto and the monster classic Frankenstein by
Mary Shelley (1797-1851). Perhaps the best know author of the macabre was not European, but rather American; Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49) was a Romantic author who penned such famous horror tales The Pit and the Pendulum , The Raven , and Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque .
With regard to historical novels, England’s Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) cashed in on the
Romantic fascination with medieval chivalry in his novel Ivanhoe , a tale of knights in shining armor. France’s biggest contributions were made by Victor Hugo (1802-85) who penned The
Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables .

Do you hear the people sing?
Interestingly, during the age of Romanticism, the works of William Shakespeare also made a triumphant comeback and grew perhaps more popular than during his own lifetime. Because of the greater focus on literature in Romantic Europe, the literate class often dusted off the classics in addition to reading all the newly popular works.
If you ask anyone to define Romantic music, think about the definition you would probably get.
Smooth, warm, relaxing, suggestive, probably a little saxophone mixed in there somewhere, and

lyrics about lovers, loving, and lovers loving. Stuff makes you want to dim the lights, start a few candles, and cuddle up to that special someone. Right?
Hello, laaadies . This is the Sugarloaf. I’ll be spinning smooth jazz from nine to midnite. Now here’s some Marvin Gaye…
Well, that may be what is considered “romantic” now, but truly Romantic music is anything but romantic – unless you think frantically driving violins, impatiently loud drums, and actual cannons being fired off in the middle of the song is somewhat sexy. The Romantic musical period followed the classical music period and reacted strongly against it, just like the art did.
Much like the art of the Neoclassic period, classical music featured defined structure and traditional styling. The Romantic musicians, however, worked hard to separate themselves from the classical style; as in painting, spontaneity replaced control, and the primary emphasis of music grew to focus on beautiful, lyrical, and expressive melodies. Phrases became longer and far more complex than they had been in classical music. Composers like the great Ludwig van
Beethoven (1770-1827), sought to stir the imagination of his audience and take listeners on an emotional journey. Musician Richard Wagner (1813-83) used chords in a way that no composers had before; he placed emphasis on the theme of nationalism, and wrote music that made you want to jump out of your seat and go fight for your country. One of the most popular of the Romantic musicians was Franz Liszt (1811-86), who still today is considered one of the greatest pianists of all time.

England was the first country where Romanticism bloomed, and British Romantic writers were among the most prominent in Europe. The names are a recognizable who’s who in the world of the humanities: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Scott, Byron, Shelley, and Keats just to name a few.
Romanticism found its distinctive voice in poetry, just as the earlier Enlightenment found its voice in prose. Even British artists like Turner and Constable were poets of a sort, telling their
Romantic tales through the medium of paint and color; to quote landscape artist John Turner, “a true poet need not words to convey emotion, but color and intensity.” Turner and Constable did more than anyone to establish landscape painting as a Romantic genre. At the same time, they were stylistic opposites; while Constable made the physical landscape his subject, Turner was more focused on how colors blended and interacted – much like the later Impressionist painters of the 1880s. Constable painted realistic scenes of the tranquil country side, while Turner painted turbulent storms that existed primarily in his imagination.

Portrait of John Constable, from the book In Constable’s Country, 1906
John Constable was a gifted artist with a deep and personal connection with nature. His family owned a mill, which later became the subject of many of his works. Despite the disposable income that his upper middle-class family had at hand, Constable lived his entire life inside the borders of England, never even traveling to another country. He was trained at the Royal
Academy School in London, but was not a successful painter in his own lifetime. At a time when Neoclassicism was still the rage (providing other artists considerable profits), he was busy producing landscape paintings. His ambition was to introduce the reality of daylight into his works, along with the feel of and smells of nature. Constable believed that displaying nature in its true forms not only promoted their own virtues, but in them he saw the moral presence of
God. On a personal level his social views were very conservative, yet in artistic matters he was a genuine revolutionary, daring to go where no one had previously ventured in the emotional feel of landscape portraits.

Until late in the 19 th
century, landscape was considered an inferior subject for painting. It was decorative, possibly useful for hanging above the couch in one’s living room, but not worthy of the attention of a “serious artist.” Constable’s driving goal was to prove that landscape painting was worthy of attention, conjuring powerful emotions that could rival any Neoclassic piece.
Through the skilled use of light falling through clouds, what Constable called “God Almighty’s daylight,” an artist could stir up emotions in a viewer that produced a moral and uplifting feeling, to rival that of any story from Biblical literature.
In his work Boat Building by the Flatford Mill (above), Constable painted a view of which he knew every detail. As a child he played here, and he sought to recreate it realistically, down to the last blade of grass. Constable animates the foliage in the trees and by interweaving different greens and introducing flecks of complimentary red paint. His depictions of the clouds are exceptionally realistic. In his preparation for producing works like this, he consulted meteorological books to gain a better understanding of how clouds, temperature, and the atmosphere all interact with one another. He often went what he called “skying,” the sketching of cloud formations in the open air, and placed them as the central backdrop in many of his

paintings. Through this research, Constable translated his observations into a new technique, and his ubiquitous use of clouds became his signature style. He believed that patterns of light and shade on the land should appear to have created by the clouds in the sky, and that the Baroque masters of landscape whose works he studied (i.e. Rembrandt) failed to achieve this. This love of clouds and sun and shadow led him to make the first oil sketches ever painted outdoors, setting the trend for the later Impressionists’ open-air methods (although Constable always finished his paintings in his studio).
The Hay Wain (above) has become so popular that it adorns thousands of plates, postcards, towels, and tourist souvenirs in “Constable’s Country” of East Anglia, England. To many people, it represents a nostalgic image of the English countryside, with mankind working in perfect harmony with nature, before the advent of the industrial problems that accompanied modern times. In the foreground, one can see the hay cart being directed up the stream, about to take the small fork, en route to the white-shirted workers in the rear field. The fact that they are traveling in the water instead of on land is curious, but not a mistake on Constable’s part.

Farmers did this intentionally for two reasons: first, it was an easy way to cool down the horses, and second, in hot dry weather the wooden wheels would often shrink, causing the metal band around the rim to loosen – by wetting the wheels, the shrinkage is reduced and the metal band is kept in place.
In the far distance it is possible to see the haymakers in the fields carrying their scythes and loading hay onto a cart; soon it will take its load away and be replaced by this empty cart traveling up the stream. One can almost feel the water as it cools the legs of the horses as powerfully as one can smell the freshly cut field, mixed with the muddy waters. The dog in the foreground seems to be an essential part of the piece as it also leads the viewers’ eyes toward the main point of interest, the hay cart in the center. Again, Constable uses the clouds in the sky as an integral part of the picture, giving them proper perspective and letting them dictate the placement of light and shadow.
And now, you will start noticing clouds, too.

J.M.W. Turner grew up the child of a poor London barber. Much to the dislike of his parents, he often skipped school and headed back to his father’s shop to sketch the daily customers. But even though he was a child, he was very good at art. He created realistic landscapes and a keen eye for color. Art critics and teachers considered him to be a child prodigy and by age twelve he was selling his watercolor paintings to customers. By age 15 he held an exhibition at the Royal
Academy which garnered him both a stream of customers and an elevated level of respect in the artistic community. Almost immediately, his calm, rural scenes were a big hit with the public, and they made him an undisputed success.
As Turner began to travel around Europe, he grew more and more fascinated with the wilder aspects of nature and his painting style evolved likewise. Topics of his paintings shifted from peaceful farms and serene country sides to raging storms and man’s struggle against the elements. Just take a look at Shipwreck of the Minotaur to get a feel for what we’re talking about
(below):

Awesome power. That was Turner’s goal. To recreate the raw, unbridled energy of a storm and to place the viewer right in the center of it, tossing one’s emotions helplessly about like a ship on the verge of disintegration. Like most Romantics, Turner believed that the power of Nature was far more incredible than the human mind could possibly fathom, and he aimed to evoke in his viewers that same feeling of helplessness.
Inspiration can come from everyday places, and for Turner, inspiration could mean looking no further than a walk in the country. One afternoon in 1810, Turner was visiting the English city of Yorkshire and went out for a walk with a friend. They watched in awe as a powerfully brewing storm swept across the hills in the distance. Entranced, Turner took a piece of paper (a true artist presumably always carries a sketch pad, in case of emergencies like these) and rapidly scrampled out what he saw, remarking: “In two years you will see this again.” He then went to work on what is considered his first true masterpiece, Hannibal Crossing the Alps (below):

In the painting Hannibal Crossing the Alps , Turner depicts the armies of the Carthaginian leader, who invaded Italy by marching through the Alps. In it, however, Turner does not glorify the greatness of Hannibal’s military successes; instead, mighty Mother Nature is the star as she batters the puny army with a raging snowstorm. The huge oval vortex of wind and storm swirls and dwarfs the human army on land, seemingly ready to engulf it. If you look very closely at the center of the horizon you can see one of Hannibal’s war elephants rising above the heads of the army (it is framed in a yellow patch of sunlight); but even this mighty animal isn’t safe from the storm above. This was Turner’s way of saying that even the largest of our land-bound creatures is miniscule in comparison to the powerful chaos that is Nature. In the bottom right corner, a shadowy figure holding a torch raises his arms in despair as an avalanche descends in a cascade of white from the right side of the painting; Turner allows this sole figure to speak for all of those who will soon become the victims of nature’s wrath. This army has clearly met its match!
This painting was first exhibited in 1812, not ironically the year Napoleon’s armies had reached the gates of Moscow. At this point in history, France had the most dominant military force on the planet and was on the verge of conquering all of Europe. But, Napoleon fell short of his goal when the Russian winter set in and obliterated his army; it seems that “General Winter” did far

more to damage Napoleon’s forces than any human contingent. Some art historians consider this piece to be an Englishman’s jab at France and Napoleon (their modern day Hannibal).
Later in his life, Turner’s skills continued to evolve and progress. He began to experiment with color and wanted to create art in which the colors alone could inspire feeling, rather than the story or the subject matter. He stopped priming his canvasses with a buff-colored undercoat, as was the norm for artists, and replaced it with a white primer. He found that this made the color in his paintings come to life and appear more brilliant. When preparing a set palate of colors for a piece, he would sometimes add undiluted yellow to each color in the set, creating a greater sense of light in each of his hues; this pleased his contemporary critics who said he could paint the “sun itself” into his works.
The painting above typifies his later movement into color and the abstract; here he uses color itself to evoke emotions. In Rain, Steam, and Speed- The Great Western Railway , Turner eliminates all realism and detail in order to concentrate on the “impression” of a locomotive

speeding across a bridge toward the viewer. Many art historians consider this piece to be one of the first links between Romanticism and the upcoming Impressionist movement in painting.
Turner expresses the mere “ideas” of speed, of the rushing wind, and of the light drizzle by using hazy wisps of white, blue, and yellow pigment. Supposedly he got the idea for this painting by sticking his head out a train window for a few minutes while it was speeding through a rainstorm. The result is a look that is airy, tinted, and stirring.
Toward the end of his life, Turner grew increasingly reclusive, hiding from acquaintances and living under an assumed name. He grew attached to his paintings and hoarded is favorite ones; they were a part of him and part of his unique individual past (that was one of the common themes among Romantics. Remember?). In fact, supposedly he turned down several handsome offers just to hold on to them, believing that no one other than God Himself could ever fully grasp the passion that went into each one.
Turner died in 1851 at the age of 76. When near his end, he asked that his bed be taken to the window so he could die gazing into a fiery sunset.

William Wordsworth Samuel Taylor Coleridge
In the world of literature, two men rise above the rest with regards to the Romantic Movement.
William Wordsworth saw individual worth and significance in everyday, commonplace things.
He loved nature and felt that there was an inherent bond between Nature and people; this drove him to create an ideal world of Romantic beauty. He created an entire world in his mind that he could visit at any time, going there in times of need, in times of celebration, in times of sadness, and in times of inspiration – and through his poetry, he welcomed others to join him in that world. Wordsworth believed that his poetry was driven by his impulsive spirit and was lifted to even greater heights by God. In 1795, he met Samuel Coleridge, another British poet, and in working with Coleridge, Wordsworth found that his life and his writing blossomed further. Out of this relationship the two penned The Lyrical Ballads , a series of poems glorifying some of the simple things in life. Among these ballads, Tintern Abbey describes Wordsworth’s love of nature, a love that is presented with the wide-eyed passion of a young boy. Take a look at this excerpt:
“Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
Which on a wild secluded scene impress
Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect
The landscape with the sky.
The day is come when I again repose
Here, under this dark sycamore, and view
These plots of cottage-ground, these orchard tufts,
Which, at this season, with their unripe fruits,
Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves
Mid groves and copses. Once again I see
These hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines
Of sportive wood run wild; these pastoral farms
Green to the very door…”

Clearly, Wordsworth loved him some nature.
For Samuel Taylor Coleridge, God was constantly at work in the mind of an artist. Regarding this, he once stated that imagination was “a repetition in the finite mind of the eternal act of creation in the infinite I AM.” By this statement, Coleridge believed creating poetry was the one of the highest acts that a human could achieve; it was the creation of creativity – a trait usually reserved for God himself. Thus, poetry was not to be considered a playful hobby, but rather the highest self-fulfillment of a man’s potential.
Coleridge was a pioneer in creating Gothic poetry - supernatural stories that had kind of a creepy edge, but still celebrated the beauty of nature. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner relates the story of a sailor who has been cursed for killing an albatross. The poem treats this subject as a crime against both God and nature, and it addresses the issues of guilt, punishment, and eventually, redemption. Toward the end of the poem, the cursed sailor discovers the beauty and unity in all things. Once he realizes this, he repents and is freed from the horrible curse (symbolized by a dead albatross hung around his neck):
O happy living things! No tongue
Their beauty might declare:
A spring of love gushed from my heart,
And I blessed them unaware…
The same-self moment I could pray;
And from my neck so free
The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea.
Among Wordsworth’s most important later poems was Ode on Intimations of Immortality . It was written to console his friend Coleridge, who was suffering a deep personal crisis. The touching subject of the poem is how to cope with the loss of poetic vision, something
Wordsworth also began to feel within himself. Hmmmm…Writing a poem about how one can no longer write a poem…

Something about that makes my head spin.