Romanticism: the beautiful and the sublime in art

Abstract

"The Romantic era ignited a profound shift in the arts, celebrating imagination, emotion and the sublime power of nature. The book offers a nuanced view of Romanticism's revolutionary impact. Journeying through the movement's origins in the 18th century, its apex in German, French, and British painting, and its echoes across Europe and North America until today, its author examines key figures such as J.M.W. Turner, Caspar David Friedrich, Eugène Delacroix, and Théodore Géricault" -- Back cover.

Contents

I. The spirit of Romanticism -- 'Romanticism [...] lives from contrasts' -- Tenor of the extraordinary -- In the prism of painting -- II. The experimental grounds of the 18th century -- Beyond Enlightenment -- Pre-Romantic art -- III. Romantic painting in Germany -- Early and High Romanticsim. Philipp Otto Runge. The landscape as emblem ; The portraits ; The seasons -- Caspar David Friedrich. Key early works ; 'The tragedy of landscape' ; Rear-view figures ; Reflections on seeing ; Pictorial geometry --The Dresden circle around Friedrich -- The Nazarenes. The Roman frescoes ; Philipp Veit ; Johann Friedrich Overbeck ; Franz Pforr ; Peter von Cornelius ; Judgments of the Nazarenes by contemporaries and posterity -- Stylistic migrants. Karl Friedrich Schinkel ; Carl Blechen ; Carl Rottmann -- Finale and reverberation -- IV. France -- Nascent Romanticism ; Antoine-Jean Gros -- At the summit. Théodore Gériccault ; The Raft of the Medusa ; Monomaniacs -- Eugène Delacroix ; 'Sujets pathétiques' ; A Romantic Classicist? ; Colour and light, agitations and conflict -- Accompanying voices and coda -- V. Great Britain -- The aesthetics of sensation -- Henry Fuseli: 'his laugh is the mockery of hell ]...]' ; William Blake: The esoteric master -- The metamorphoses of landscape ; J.M.W. Turner: 'As though seeing the world for the first time [...]' ; Light and colour, eye and mind ; The dissolution of boundaries -- Fading chords -- VI. Other European centres -- Scandinavia ; Russia -- Spain - Italy -- VII. North America -- The Hudson River School -- Luminism -- VIII. On the relevance of Romanticism.