The Romance of Nature in the Age of Industry
1. Man in the Natural Word - Changing Understandings and Attitudes (c.1650-c.1750)




Dominant idea was that nature was made for service of humans and was subject to human’s
dominion.
Emergence of new ‘scientific’ ways of thinking about nature in the late 17th century –
observation, classification, and reason. Aided by inventions such as microscope. Associated
with activities such as collecting.
Increasing separation of population and scientific understandings of nature.
People’s lives still dependant on the weather, the seasons and the harvest calendar.
2. Nature and Industry






Agricultural revolution transformed the landscape – enclosure, land drainage, transport links (road, rail, ports and
canals).
Urbanisation – increasing proportion of the population lived in towns rather than the countryside.
Increasing division and distinction between town and country.
Towns – polluted, overcrowded, smoky, and sites of ill health and disease. Increasingly negative views over the
18th/19th centuries.
Country – increasingly seen as site of relaxation, relaxation and health. More positive views over the 18th/19th
centuries.
Empire – British industrial revolution transformed the landscape of the whole globe. Increasing knowledge about
nature and introduction of new plants and animals.
3. Domestication and the Pleasure of Nation
 Industrialisation changed how people viewed ‘nature’ – sentimental ideas about enjoying nature emerged.
 Pets – pet keeping (esp. dogs and horses) became popular with animals being kept for their emotional rather
than functional value. Movement against animal cruelty (eg. Cockfighting).
 Gardening – parks built and trees planted in towns. Tree planting becomes popular aristocratic practice. Fashions
change from formal to landscape gardens around 1750 (eg. Capability Brown).
 Country visiting – Lake District, Snowdonia and Scottish Highlands popular places to visit from the 1750s. Became
popular as people began to live predominately in towns. Better transport links made it easier.
4. Romantic Depictions of ‘Nature’ in Art and Literature

Landscape painting popular throughout the 18th and 19th century – John Constable, J.M. Turner & Caspar
Frederich. Images were reproduced as prints for popular middle audiences and encouraged tourism (Paul Sandy).
Portraits were often painted outdoors (Thomas Gainsbourgh).
 Classism and Neoclassism – based on ancient art and architecture. Based on order, symmetry and proportion.
 Sublime - emerged in the 1750s (Edmund Burke). Focus on terrifying/emotionally effecting images of nature.
 Romanticism - Artistic, literary and intellectual movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
 Emphasis on inner feelings and emotions. Particularly interested in feelings of fear, awe and terror.
 In the visual arts it was particularly associated with landscape painting – J.M. Turner, Caspar David Friedrich
& John Constable.
 Romantic literary figures repeated wrote about nature - William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
John Keats, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelly, Robert Burns and Walter Scott.
K.Woods (9.11.2015)