CLASSICISM
v.
ROMANTICISM
CLASSICISM
• Fueled by Enlightenment’s belief in
rationality, order, and restraint
• Intellectual outgrowth of the scientific
revolution
• Believed in the idea of human progress,
liberalism, and equality
• Used skepticism and reason about all
aspects of life
CLASSICISM
• Believed the ancient Greeks and Romans
developed eternal aesthetic rules
• Could enforce rules in the 18th century because
dominated courts and academies where artists
worked
• Artists focused on writing (philosophes) elegant
and intellectual treatises
• Nature was of no particular interest, considered
beautiful and chaste like a formal garden
CLASSICISM
• Industry is a sign of human progress, a
triumph of reason over nature
• History is considered a minor branch of
philosophy – used by philosophers to pick
suitable examples to illustrate their
teachings
• Universe is mechanical and static (clock
metaphor)
ROMANTICISM
• Crystallized in 1790s in
Germany and England;
strong influence until the
1840s
• Disillusioned with events
in France and turned
from liberalism to
conservativism in politics
 French Revolution
kindled the belief that
radical reconstruction
was possible –applied to
cultural and artistic life
ROMANTICISM
• Emotional
exuberance
• Unrestrained
imagination
• Spontaneity in art
and personal life
ROMANTICISM
• Many artists lived lives of emotional
intensity
– Suicide
– Duels
– Madness
– Strange illnesses
– Bohemian lives
– Rejected materialism
ROMANTICISM
 Believed the full
development of one’s
unique human potential
to be the supreme
purpose in life
ROMANTICISM
• Nature
– enchanting
– awesome and tempestuous
– spiritual inspiration
ROMANTICISM
• Industry
– Ugly
– a brutal attack on
nature and human
personality
– the evil genius of
Satan
– Sought to escape
industrial life
ROMANTICISM
• History
– Beautiful, exciting, became
a passion of many
– Supported the
development of national
aspirations (a dominant
theme of the 19th C)
– Encouraged entire peoples
to seek in their past their
special destinies
The Bard" by John Martin: a romantic vision of a single Welsh bard escaping a massacre
ordered by Edward I of England, intended to destroy Welsh culture
ROMANTICISM
• Universe
– unlimited
– Organic
– dynamic
• Yearned for the
unattained, the
unknown, the
unknowable