ROMANTICISMNature, Passion, and the Sublime

William Blake (1757-1827), God Creating the Universe (Ancient of Days), frontispiece of Europe: A Prophecy, 1794. Metal relief etching, hand-colored with watercolor and gouache, 12 1/4" x 9 1/2".

• Romanticism is an aesthetic style, and an attitude of mind.•Constituted a revolt against conventional and authority, and a search for freedom in personal, political, and artistic life.•Spanning roughly the first half of the 19th century and lingering well into the 20th.

HERALDS OF ROMANTICISM•Napoleon: Romantic Hero

Jacques-Louis David. Napoleon at Saint Bernard Pass, 1800. Oil on canvas., 8' x 7' 7". Musée National du Château de Versailles

•Napoleon Bonaparte •1799 (age 30) general seized control of the government of France.•“The Revolution is ended,”,•Proclaimed himself emperor in 1804.•”

GROS Antoine-Jean (Baron) (1771-1835)General Bonaparte on the bridge at Arcole, 17 November, 1796Versailles, Musée National du Château 

DAVID Jacques Louis (1748-1825)The sacre or coronation of the Emperor Napoleon IParis, Musée du Louvre

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) Darwin explained the process

by which evolution occurs.

DARWIN’S ORIGIN OF SPECIESTHE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Based on a 16th century German Legend.

JOHANN WOLFGANG VAN GOETHE (1749-1832) FAUST

His poetry was conceived along with visual images that he himself drew.

He prepared all aspects of his individual works, designing, illustrating, engraving, and hand –coloring each page.

William Blake (1757-1827), The Tyger, ca. 1815-1826. Etching, ink and watercolor, 11 x 4 in. © British Library.

WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827),

THE FEMALE VOICE

Emily Bronte (1818-1848)Wuthering Heights 1847

Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855)Jane Eyre 1855

Jane Austen (1775-1817)Sense and Sensibility 1811

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

FRANKENSTEIN 1818

ABOLITIONIST LITERATURE – ANTISLAVERY NOVELS

Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin 1852

Douglass – Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass - An American Slave 1845

ROMANTICISM IN THE VISUAL ARTS The Romantic Landscape John Constable (1776-1837),“Painting is with me �

but another word for feeling.”

John Constable (1776–1837), Wivenhoe Park, Essex, 1816. Oil on canvas, 22 1/8 in. x 3 ft. 3 7/8 in

John Constable, Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Garden, 1820. Oil on canvas, 2' 10" x 3' 8". The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Mary Stillman Harkness, 1950 (50.145.8). Photograph © 1992 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rendered nature as vast and powerful

J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851), Interior of Tintern Abbey, 1794. Watercolor, 12 5/8 x 9 7/8 in. © The Board of Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

J.M.W. TURNER (1775-1851),

J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851), Snowstorm: Steamboat off a Harbour's Mouth, 1842. Oil on canvas, 3 x 4 ft. © Tate, London 2009.

•FOR HIS LARGE SIZED CANVASES, HE SEIZED UPON NATURAL DISASTERS.

In dozens of canvases that he never dared to exhibit, he all but abandoned recognizable subject matter

These experiments in light and color anticipated those of the French impressionist by more than three decades.

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), The Fighting "Temeraire" Tugged to Her Last Berth to Be Broken Up, 1838. Oil on canvas, 35 4/5 x 49 1/5 in.

JEAN-BAPTISTE-CAMILLE COROT (1796-1875),

Brought to his landscapes a breathtaking sense of harmony and tranquility

They were recollections of previous visual experiences rather than on the spot accounts.

He achieved a dramatic mood.

Thomas Cole (1801-1848), The Oxbow (View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm), 1836. Oil on canvas, 51 1/2" x 76". The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

THOMAS COLE (1801-1848) (AMERICAN)

ALBERT BIERSTADT (1830–-1902),

Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902), The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak. 1863. Oil on canvas, 6' 1 1/4" x 10' 3/4". The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,

He was intrigued by America’s drive to settle the West.

American garden of Eden

ALBERT BIERSTADT

Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902), Sunrise, Yosemite Valley, ca. 1870. Oil on canvas, 36 1/2 x 52 3/8”. Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

George Catlin, White Cloud, Head Chief of the Iowas, 1844-1845. Oil on canvas, 28" x 22 7/8". Image © Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Paul Mellon Collection. 1965.16.347.

AMERICAN PAINTING•George Catlin, (1796-1872)•1830’s he went to live among the Native Americans of the great plains.

THE POPULAR HERO: GOYA AND GÉRICAULT FRANCISCO GOYA (1746-–1828)

BRAVE DEEDS AGAINST THE DEAD

Francisco Goya (1746–1828) , Brave Deeds Against the Dead, from the "Disasters of War" series, ca. 1814. Etching, 6 x 8 1/4 in.

A shocking record of the inhuman cruelty of Napoleon's troops.

Goya immortalized the history of the French occupation of Spain in a landmark series of etchings known as The Disasters of War.

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828) . Chronos Devouring One of His Children, c. 1820-1822. Wall painting in oil on plaster (since detached and transferred to canvas), 57 7/8" x 32 5/8". Museo del Prado, Madrid. Scala/Art Resource, NY.

CHRONOS DEVOURING ONE OF HIS CHILDREN

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, The Family of Charles IV, 1800. Oil on canvas, 9 ' 2" x 11'. Prado, Madrid. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.

FRANCISCO DE GOYA (1746-1828)

He found inspiration in the restless vitality of untamed horses and the ravaged faces of the clinically insane.

THÉODORE GÉRICAULT (1791-1824),

Théodore Géricault, Raft of the Medusa, diagram showing eye movement toward focal point

EUGENE DELACROIX (1798-1863)THE DEATH OF SARDANAPALUSOIL ON CANVAS, 1827, 496 X 392 CM

EUGENE DELACROIX(1798-1863)

Transformed a contemporary event (the Revolution of 1830), into a heroic allegory of the struggle for human freedom.

Auguste Bartholdi and Alexandre-Gustave Eiffe.Statue of Liberty, New York, 1875 – 84. National Park Service/Richard Frear

Eugène Delacroix (1798–-1863), Liberty Leading the People, 1830

COMPARE LIBERTY

A hallmark of Delacroix’s style is pictorial license.

Alexandre-Gustav Eiffel, diagram of the construction of the Statue of Liberty, 1875-1884. Paris.

This sculpture embodied the dynamic heroism of the Napoleon era

ROMANTIC SCULPTURE

ROMANTIC ARCHITECTURE

Sir Charles Barry and Augustus W. N. Pugin, Houses of Parliament, London, 1836-1870. Length 940'. © akg-images/Jürgen Raible.

London’s Houses of Parliament are a landmark example of neomedievalism.

The revival of the Gothic style assumed landmark proportions

John Nash, Royal Pavilion, Brighton, England, 1815-1818. © Angelo Hornak Library.

Romantic architecture also drew inspiration from the “exotic” East.

Ferdinand Georg Waldmuller, Ludwig van Beethoven, 1823. Oil on canvas, approx. 28 1/3"" x 22 5/6"". Archiv Breitkopf and Hartel, Leipzig, Germany. Original destroyed in World War II.

THE SYMPHONY: BEETHOVEN

In his landmark symphonies, Beethoven made use of strong contrasts, of loud and soft sound, the scherzo, and dramatic motifs.

Andrew Geiger, A Concert of Hector Berlioz in 1846, 1846. Engraving. Musee de l'Opera, Paris, France/ The Bridgeman Art Library.

PROGRAM MUSIC: BERLIOZ Of nineteenth-century music, it is true to say that the orchestra grew to grand proportions.

Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)

  Polish born-

Chopin became the acclaimed pianist of the Paris salons.

  Close friend of

Delacroix 

PIANO MUSIC: CHOPIN

THE ROMANTIC BALLET

Jean-Louis-Charles Garnier, façade of the Opéra, Paris, 1862-1875, night view. Spectrum Colour Library, London.

•Ballet gained immense popularity in the romantic era.

While the great ballets of Tchaikovsky brought fame to Russia toward the end of the 1800’s, it was in 19th century Paris the romantic ballet was born

 

J.L. Charles Garnier (1825–1898), Grand Staircase of the Opéra, Paris. Engraving, 1880. Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.

In Paris, in 1830 the Italian-born prima ballerina Maria Taglioni (1804-1884) perfected the art of dancing “on the toes”. 

Maria Taglioni in her London debut of 1830. Color lithograph. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.

THE ROMANTIC BALLET

GRAND OPERA AND MUSIC-DRAMA

Metropolitan Opera production of Wagner's The Rhinegold from The Ring of the Nibelung. Photo: Johan Elbers © 2003.

Verdi (1813-1901)The leading Italian

composer of the romantic era.

 Wagner (1813-1883) Music-Drama is a unique

synthesis of sound and story.

Display piece. Yoruba. Early 20th century. Cloth, basketry, beads, fiber; height 41 3/4". The British Museum, London.

BEYOND THE WEST: EXPLORING AFRICA

•The nineteenth century was an important time in African history.• African music and literature came to be recorded. •Africans produced some of their most notable textile and beadwork artifacts.•medical advances against malaria permitted increased contact with Western explorers.

Kente cloth, from Ghana. Asante culture, mid-20th century. Cotton, 79 1/4" x 45“..

BEYOND THE WEST: AFRICA

Yoruba-style beaded crown, nineteenth century. Beads and mixed media,

EUGÈNE DELACROIX (1798–-1863)

Industrial RevolutionThe scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century brought with it advances in methods and technology that would feed directly into the Industrial Revolution.

ROMANTIC LITERATURE ENGLISH POETS

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) Lyrical Ballads 1798

Shelley (1792-1822)“Ode to the West Wind” 1819

Keats (1795-1821)“Ode on a Grecian Urn” 1818

Lord Byron (1788-1824)Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1819)

Don Juan (1819-1824)