romantic landscape painting

Romantic Landscape Painting

History

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Portraiture

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Genre

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Landscape

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Still Life

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The Hierarchy of Genres

Heroic subjects; larger size; Grand Manner style

Important people; size determined by status

Poor people and everyday life; smaller scale, and realistic size

The Academic Hierarchy of Genres had placed landscape painting low in its scale of values, but landscape painting took on increasing prominence and prestige in the Romantic period

Romantic poets turned to nature as a source of inspiration, and as a way to free themselves from the corrupting influences of civilization -- and Romantic painters similarly turned to nature as a vehicle of self discovery and redemption

Carl Julius von Leypold, Wanderer in the Storm, 1835Metropolitan Museum

Romantic landscapes are typically “moody” in atmosphere

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2008.7

Carl Julius von Leypold, Wanderer in the Storm, 1835Metropolitan Museum

They are more about the subjective feelings of the artist, than an objective record of the observable world

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2008.7

Horace Vernet, Stormy Coast Scene after a ShipwreckMetropolitan Museum

Storms, shipwrecks, and the mysterious light of dusk and dawn were popular themes

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/roma/ho_2003.42.56.htm

Horace Vernet, Stormy Coast Scene after a ShipwreckMetropolitan Museum

“In Romantic art, nature—with its uncontrollable power, unpredictability, and potential for cataclysmic extremes—offered an alternative to the ordered world of Enlightenment thought.”Galitz, Kathryn Calley. “Romanticism”. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/roma/ho_2003.42.56.htm

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/roma/hd_roma.htm

John Constable, Wivenhoe Park, Essex, 1816National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Landscape paintings of the Romantic period generally fall into three categories: the Pastoral, the Picturesque, and the Sublime


The pastoral landscape refers to “inhabited” landscape: placid scenes of well tended farms, that represent a reassuring view of human control of nature


This painting by John Constable of a family estate located outside London is a perfect example of the Pastoral

“It is easy to imagine oneself on this quiet summer afternoon . . . . All is placid and in place—contented cows graze or snooze, fishermen drag their nets in the pond, and a kitchen garden and domestic animals occupy the space beyond the trees on the right—features typical of the self-sustaining nature of such a country estate.”National Gallery of Art, DC

Thomas Cole, View of the Catskill, Early Autumn, 1836-7Metropolitan Museum of Art

The “picturesque” refers to the beauty of nature unspoiled by human intervention


In the 18th century, people began to appreciate what we now call “scenic” spots: charming views of mountains or streams, a sunrise or sunset, or simply watching wild life in their natural

habitat

If you have ever driven on a road and seen signs for a look out point, where you are likely to get a good photograph, that is a “picturesque” spot!


Ironically, this appreciation for the “picturesque” emerged in the context of the Industrial Revolution, when “unspoiled” nature was under threat of extinction


This painting by Thomas Cole depicts a view of the Catskill Mountains from near his home in Catskill New York


By the time the picture was painted, the view no longer looked like this


“The Canajoharie and Catskill Railroad was being constructed through its heart, dooming hundreds of trees. Cole, who was also a poet and an essayist, wrote in despair of the ruthless sacrifice. In the painting, the misty distant mountains, the calm light on the water, and the pastoral figures in the foreground constitute a scene that he mourned as lost forever.”Metropolitan Museum

Albert Bierstadt, Storm in the Mountains, c.1870Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The third type of landscape is called the Sublime


In a famous treatise on the nature of the “Beautiful” and the “Sublime,” the 18th century philosopher Edmund Burke defined the Sublime as the sensation produced when we are

confronted with beauty in its most terrible form


“Sublime images . . . show Nature at its most fearsome . . . Burke believed that “terror is in all cases… the ruling principle of the sublime.” There is an awe and reverence for the wild that to Burke was akin to violent passion. Humanity is small and impotent in front of raging rivers, dizzying cliffs and canyons, ferocious animals, and violent storms. These works can also be uplifting, but in a deeply spiritual way. The Sublime emphasizes God’s dominion over humanity and considers the possible folly in mankind’s overriding confidence.”University of Arizona Museum of Art

http://www.artmuseum.arizona.edu/events/event/19th-century-landscape-the-pastoral-the-picturesque-and-the-sublime


This is the kind of landscape that gives you goose bumps, and makes your heart race (think of huge mountains, tumultuous seas, powerful storms, or erupting volcanoes)

For thrill-seekers (like me, seen here in Bear Lakes Basin in the Sierras), this is the ultimate nature experience –and Romantic landscape painters became the “extreme-sport” thrill-seekers of their day, seeking out remote locations where they could capture nature in all of its sublime grandeur

Caspar David Friedrich, The Wanderer above the Mists, 1817-18Kunsthalle, Hamburg

One of the leading Romantic landscape painters was the German painter Caspar David Friedrich, whose work is often related to the 18th century concept of the Sublime — the sensation we experience when confronted with the boundlessness of nature, or the immeasurable power of natural forces


The Sublime evokes feelings of terror and wonder because it allows our mind to glimpse the infinite, or powers much larger than us


In this painting we see a solitary individual (possibly the artist), gazing out over an awe-inspiring and terrifying natural landscape


The viewer is invited to see the scene through the eyes of the wanderer, and to experience for ourselves the transformative experience he is having


The stunning landscape is thrilling in its beauty, but it is also terrifying – reminding us of our frailty and insignificance in the larger scheme of things

Thomas Cole, Distant View of Niagara Falls, 1830Art Institute of Chicago

The American Hudson River School was also influenced by the Sublime

http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/90048


Founded by the American painter Thomas Cole, the Hudson River School focused on the awe-inspiring magnificence of the American landscape, as seen in this painting of Niagara Falls



However, Cole has altered the scene to reflect his Romantic ideal of nature untouched by civilization



“The painting bears little resemblance to the landscape surrounding the falls at the time, which was marked by factories, scenic overlooks, and hotels that accommodated the multitude of tourists that visited every year. Instead of realistically representing this scene, Cole presented a romanticized view of Niagara Falls that mourns the vanishing American wilderness.”Art Institute of Chicago


Thomas Cole, The Oxbow (View from Mt. Holyoke, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm), 1836Metropolitan Museum

This painting by Thomas Cole depicts a sharp curve in the Connecticut River near Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/10/na/ho_08.228.htm

The painter is depicted in the foreground, a tiny speck overwhelmed by the vast forces of nature


The left hand portion of the painting shows a dense forest under stormy skies, symbolizing the wilderness



The right hand portion depicts cultivated fields under a sunlit sky, symbolizing civilization


Thomas Cole, Installation diagram for the Course of Empire, 1833

Between 1833 – 1836 Cole worked on an epic series of paintings titled The Course of Empire, which illustrated his belief about the cyclical nature of social progress

Thomas Cole, The Savage State, from The Course of Empire, 1834

The series begins with The Savage State – a primitive landscape inhabited by hunters, resembling Native American Indians

It is an ideal world, in which human inhabitants live harmoniously with nature

Thomas Cole, The Arcadian or Pastoral State State, from The Course of Empire, 1834

The second scene depicts The Arcadian or Pastoral State


The same craggy mountain can be seen in this scene, but the wilderness has given way to plowed fields and pastures, while a Stonehenge-like temple can be seen on hillside in the

middle distance


The scene remains peaceful and idyllic, as humans continue to live in harmony with nature

Thomas Cole, The Consummation of Empire, from The Course of Empire, 1836

In the third scene, the natural world has been completely dominated by human expansion

Thomas Cole, The Consummation of Empire, from The Course of Empire, 1836

Modeled on the architecture of ancient Rome, Cole does not look to this moment as a grand climax in the progress of civilization, but rather as a period of decadence that will soon lead

to its own undoing

Thomas Cole, Destruction, from The Course of Empire, 1836

In the next scene we witness the inevitable destruction of civilization

Thomas Cole, Desolation, from The Course of Empire, 1836

And in the final scene, we see the ruins of a lost and forgotten civilization, as the wilderness begins to reclaim its rightful place

John Constable, The Haywain, 1821National Gallery, London

In England, the leading landscape painter was John Constable

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/john-constable-the-hay-wain


He painted scenes of the countryside near his boyhood home in Suffolk



The Haywain depicts a placid country scene, with a small cottage to the left, and two men leading a horse cart across a stream – a quintessential Pastoral theme



Constable’s landscapes were painted when the industrial revolution was transforming the English countryside – making them a nostalgic representation of a rapidly disappearing way

of life


J.M.W. Turner, Rain, Steam, and Speed, 1844National Gallery, London

Constable’s contemporary, Joseph Mallord William Turner, also responded to the impact of rapid modernization in the 19th century

J.M.W. Turner, Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway, 1844National Gallery, London

This picture depicts a locomotive crossing the Maidenhead railway bridge, which had been completed just 5 years before the picture


The bridge cuts a diagonal across the canvas, as the locomotive surges forward, cutting through the fog and rain with unstoppable force


Just as the rain storm dissolves the solid forms of the urban surroundings, the speed of the locomotive renders the iron-clad engine a substanceless blur, as ephemeral as a wisp of air


Turner’s style at this late stage of his career had become sketchy and impressionistic, focusing on effects of light and atmosphere, rather than solid forms


One of his patrons complained that he painted “as if his brains and imagination were mixed upon his palette with soapsuds and lather”


But the style anticipated both Impressionism, and later experiments with abstraction

Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On), 1840Museum of Fine Arts Boston

This painting was based on an account of the captain of a slave ship who threw his sick and dying slaves overboard in a storm, because his insurance only covered slaves lost at sea, and not those who died of other causes

http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?recview=true&id=31102

As the sun burns fiery red through the storm, we see the foundering ship in the middle distance

It takes a moment to notice that in the foreground, the sea is choked with the drowning victims, their their shackled limbs making any chance of survival impossible


Turner’s picture recalls Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa in its treatment of a true story that reveals unthinkable human depravity and injustice



But it also invokes the theme of the sublime, in an image that shows humans as miniscule and defenseless before the powerful and terrifying forces of nature


romantic landscape painting

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