Romanticism (Unit 2)

Romanticism

International movement that touched all art scenes throughout Western Europe. At its base level, it is a counter to the Enlightenment and focused on emotion, feeling, and the soul rather than intellect and logic.

Ingres

Jacques-Louis David’s most famous pupil. Took over David’s master role as Napoleon’s painter

Repurposing images

One of the things Ingres was well-known for. Technique used in Napoleon on the Imperial Throne which takes direct inspiration from Jupiter and Thetis to liken Napoleon to the Roman king of gods

Jupiter

The Roman equivalent of Zeus. King of the gods

Thetis

Mother of Achilles. Asked Zeus to make the Trojans strong so her son would gain more fame in his triumph against them

Working by imagination

How Ingres composed his ideas

Transitional artist

The kind of artist Ingres was known as, blending Neoclassical and Romantic art

Odalisque

A slave girl / girl who’s meant to be part of a harem. An exotic image of the orient

orient

A term that was popular throughout the 19th century. A place that does not exist except in the imaginations of Western Europeans. A fantastical place that is the conglomeration of exotic, foreign lands from North Africa to Southeast Asia to even Russia. Does not refer to a real geographic place

Orientalism

Devotion/love to all things oriental. Gets popular with Napoleon after he conquered North Africa (particularly Egypt) and the discovery of the Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone

Allowed scholars to translate Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics

Erotic fantasy

A widespread narrative about how some French businessman’s wife would be kidnapped and sold into white slavery where she would spend her time lounging on silk sheets, fanning herself, smelling incense, and smoking opium. Not an event that actually happened

Devotion to old masters

One of Ingres’s Neoclassical elements. His deep respect for the old painters, particularly Titian and Raphael

Correction of the human body

One of Ingres’s Neoclassical elements. His imposing of an aesthetic system on the natural world, such as elongating the subject’s spine in the Odalisque

Subject matter

The romantic element of Ingres’s work

Fusion of Neoclassicism and Romanticism

Ingres’s style. Becomes the default style of the Academy for the entire 19th century

Johann Wolfgang van Goethe

His philosophies made the Romantic movement more intellectual

German Romanticism

Approached the movement on a philosophical basis

Sturm and Drang

“Storm and stress.” Goethe’s idea of Romanticism. Out of storm and stress, the self is fashioned; who we are is not only determined by rational experiences but by storm and stresses we undergo

classical influences

What Sturm and Drang rejected

Subjectivity

What Goethe celebrated in his philosophy as opposed to objectivity

Collision between how we see the world and how it actually is

A major focal point of Goethe’s philosophy that tied into how he felt that, in ever-differing ways, we are always creating who we are and creating the world we inhabit. Sturm and Drang arose from this conflict. Goethe believed it should be celebrated in art

Fantasy world

The subjective world we create in our minds about who we are and what our lives mean. A Goethe idea

Real world

The reality of life

“Feeling is all”

A quote from Goethe that effectively encapsulates Romanticism

Casper David Friedrich

German Romantic artist who painted the landscape/natural world as his emotions and subjectivity changed it

Deep contemplation of nature

Where Friedrich felt his work arose out of

Obsession with nature

One attribute all Romantics shared

Inner spiritual eye

Where Friedrich’s work came from rather than an objective eye

raison d’etre

The point

In studio

Where most Romantic artists painted most of their landscapes

Monk by the Sea

A work by Friedrich that completely mystified his audience since it was absent of a narrative or character. Instead, it had a theoretical point to it

Rational mind and the irrational spirit

The struggle between these two things is the focus of Friedrich’s Monk by the Sea

Sublime

A deeply complex philosophical concept. In its relevance to the art world, it is the idea of an experience so powerful it overwhelms the rational mind. Meant to be scary and threatening. Craved by Romantics. Believed to allow us to understand our own minds by suddenly becoming aware of them when we usually are not

the natural world

A major focal point of Romanticism. Contrary to widespread belief, it is often portrayed as unfeeling and a malevolent force rather than something peaceful

Romanticism in Great Britain

One of the first countries to adopt Romanticism where it found an eager audience primarily due to Neoclassicism’s association with the French Revolution. Appealing since it casted off the chains of the Enlightenment

Starving artist

This portrayal of artists is a product of Romanticism. One whose unique artistic spirit is so powerful that it gives them physical pain when they express it. Many artists try to embody this notion

Henry Fuseli

One of the earliest British Romantic artists. Major proponent of artists’ individual visions and originality

The Nightmare

An incredibly controversial work by Fuseli due to its subject matter of sexuality and portraying a virgin woman enjoying terrifying sex dreams. Features a black horse and an incubus sitting atop a sleeping woman

Incubus

The creature in The Nightmare representing sexuality and bad dreams. Arguably Fuseli’s self portrait

white

The color of the dress the woman in The Nightmare is wearing, suggesting she is a virgin

Shakespeare

One of Fuseli’s favorite authors. English Romantics’ love for his works even after he had become unpopular began a resurgence interest in his works and entered him into the Western canon. The subject matters of his players were decidedly Romantic

Gothick

Happening at the same time as Fuseli’s works. A Romantic version of the Gothic filled with monsters, humans getting their comeuppance, and madness

Dracula and Frankenstein

Two famous Gothick novels

Landscape painting

One of the ways Romanticism found its cleanest expression. The fore of the Romantic movement

John Constable and Turner

The two masters of British Romantic landscape painting

Prokofiev

Romantic composer who composed the music for Romeo and Juilet

natural objective

What Constable sought to balance with a more romantic understanding of nature

nature as a symbol for the self

What Constable sought to balance with true objective landscape painting. An emotional and fantasized reality that corresponds to various higher level emotions and thinking

Constable

Sought to find a balance between the scientific and poetic in his landscape paintings. Exact and arranged all elements of his works so

Drawing from nature

How Constable created his compositions, taking elements from different areas

rural England

The subject matter of Constable’s works which he felt were being destroyed by the rise of industrial society. Idealized.

industrial society

What Constable felt was destroying rural England and, therefore, English culture/people

soil of a nation

A Romantic idea. Supposedly made the spirit of said nation. Created a connection between landscapes and the spirit of a people

Nationalism

Romanticism went hand-in-hand with the rise of this in the 1800s. The unification of Germany and Italy into one nation state arose from people’s interest in their roots and discovering/rediscovering their past

“land of the nation”

A notion introduced by Romanticism. Stood for the culture of the people. Eventually filtered down into the core tenants of the Nazi party

gestural and abstract

Turner’s unconventional painting style which made him very controversial during his entire career

The Fighting Temeraire

The subject of Turner’s nautical painting. One of the great British wooden sailing war ships that is decommissioned by a new steam-powered ship

naval tradition

What the British were very proud of

sun setting and rising

Represents setting on the past and rising on the future of British oceanic dominance in Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire

Slave Ship

A piece by turner based on a contemporary event where a slave ship dumped its human cargo into the ocean, believing the ship to be more important than the people it was carrying. Widespread outrage

contemporary subject matter

What Romanticism often focused on rather than historical subject matter. There is now a rise of artists making work about current events - news being turned into artworks. The more violent or upsetting the news, the more attracted artists were to paint it

Romanticism in France

Took a while for Neoclassicism to be shaken out of this country’s artistic establishment, because it was the government’s official style, and they did not want to revert to Rococo. Took a while to be embraced

Gericault

One of the first French Romantic painters. Had a reputation as an independent, public-minded artist who didn’t care for money or fame. A rebel who valued spontaneity and passion over traditional elements of art

autobiographies

Become commonplace for Romantic artists who are interested in how they appear to the world (often emphasizing traits that aligned with Romantic ideals or playing up a persona). Though not all artists felt the pressure, self promotion became common

Raft of the Medusa

A triumphant work for Gericault completed over the course of two years shortly before his death. Featured the crazy story of a raft that fell apart with few survivors (those with lower social statuses didn’t make it onto the lifeboat). Huge scale

large scale paintings

Initially reserved for history paintings. Later, the notion that important scenes must be on larger canvases arose, and Romantic artists experimented with portraying contemporary events on the scales of historical paintings

hospital

What Gericault bought a studio next to because of the painting’s size, and because he created studies of and sketched people who were brought in with diseases

amputated limbs

What Gericault paid mortuary workers to let him keep for his daily studies and sketches

triangular shape

How Gericault designed the raft in The Raft of Medusa. This in combination with the eye level gives the illusion that the raft is rising up, and all the corpses are falling onto the viewer’s face

insane asylums and public executions

Where Gericault hung around on top of hospitals and mortuaries for his works. The sort of drama Romantics loved

Eugene Delacroix

Big name in French Romanticism. Worked for a time with Gericault. Known for being undisciplined

painting from [his] spirit

What Delacroix as known for in combination with his lack of learned routines

imagination and creativity

The focuses of Delacroix’s inspiration process. Spontaneous, fast execution to catch ideas as quickly as they came

Chios

The name of the town whose townspeople were murdered or sold into slavery following a Greek revolt against their Turkish overlord

Greeks

Believed by Romantics to represent Western civilization which was under threat by barbarism (the Turks)

depicting Greeks and Turks as oriental

A controversial decision of Delacroix’s in his painting Massacre at Chios in how it did not celebrate the Greeks and made them identical to the “barbaric” Ottoman Turks

Massacre at Chios

The first work that got Delacroix attention. Has a strange earthy tone to it, an awkward composition, and no real unifying design other than bizarre colors. Composed of seemingly unrelated vignettes. Most likely compiled of unrelated news stories

Death of Sardanapalus

Another Delacroix Orientalist painting. Inspired by a play by Lord Byron with a vague oriental feel to it. Includes Indian elephants, Moorish, Egyptian hoods, and more. Controversial reception at the Salon it was featured in. Delacroix loved the attention it got

Sardanapalus

A madman hero - the perfect Romantic subject. Upon his city being sacked, he poisoned himself, set his things on fire, and watched the destruction of his material goods as he died

black romanticism

What works such as the Death of Sardanapalus became known as. Romanticism heavily involved in ideas of destruction, decay, death, and violence

“This time, Delacroix has gone too far”

The headline in the newspaper in response to the Death of Sardanapalus’s showing at a Salon

Delacroix’s oriental works

A bit more truthful than other oriental works such as Ingres’s large Odalisque, since he was more familiar with Africa

Liberty Leading the People

Another contemporary event by Delacroix. Commemorating the event

July Revolution

The event that Liberty Leading the People is depicting. In 1830, the French people overthrew their king and installed a new one (who lasted 18 years before being overthrown)

upheaval in France

Did not stop with the French Revolution. Throughout the 19th century, there were revolutions, civil wars, or invasions every other decade. Many protests and rebellions

Liberty

An allegorical figure in Delacroix’s most famous piece. Holds a tricolor flag and is leading a cross section of the French populace: a young boy, a middle class man, and a working class man as they storm over the barricades. Delacroix imagined it as a metaphor for Romanticism’s victory over classicism

Les Miserables

The modern theatre production that takes direct inspiration from Liberty Leading the People in its aesthetics and other elements

Goya

Entered Spain on its downward trajectory

Mismanagement

The primary reason for Spain’s ruin in the beginning of the 19th century. Successions of incompetent royals and ministers

Spain at the beginning of the 19th century

Largely ruined, nation went bankrupt at one point

Spain and artistic revolutions

Country left behind by much of the artistic revolutions occurring since the Baroque. Lagged behind France, Italy, etc. by a few decades

Mings

Group of people whom Goya worked with

The Parasol

One of Goya’s first works. It’s Rococo style is a testament to how Spain was lagging behind the rest of Europe artistically

Charles IV

The Spanish monarch who was interested in Goya and appointed him as one of his official painters

Family of Charles IV

A resoundingly successful painting for Goya that got the attention of Charles IV

tension between Enlightenment and Romantic ideals

What Goya and Spanish intellectuals were torn between

Spanish nobles

By Goya’s time had become increasingly scared of the populace and referred to the lower classes as “useless”

Reserved and conservative

Traits of the Spanish monarchy

War of the Pyrenees

War between Spain and France in 1793 that invigorated a revolutionary spirit in the country