Romanticism in Germany and England: Friedrich & Schinkel.
Romanticism to Fin-de-Siècle, Week 2
Background:
Romanticism was at first a literary movement called ‘Sturm Und Drang’ (‘Storm and Drive’),
which was a movement of the late 18th century that favoured nature,
feeling and human individualism and reacted against the Enlightenment cult of
Rationalism.
The first person to use the term ‘Romanticism’ was Friedrich
Schlegel in 1800. It was first attached to poetry and literature, and then
moved to art.
There is no clearly definable aesthetic for Romanticism.
Romanticism is, more than any other movement, a reaction against Classicism.
Romanticism marks the beginning of Modernity. It is a reaction against the cult
of reason. There is a strong emphasis on emotion and the individual, as opposed
to universal standards. Artists were expressing themselves from within.
The leaders of the French Revolution believed that ‘Reason
is God’. The Cult of the Supreme Being was an artificial religion, created by
Maximilien Robespierre. It was an attempt to construct a national religion
based on patriotism, republican values and deism (the Enlightenment idea that
God existed but did not interfere in the affairs of men). Lots of
iconographical art created to portray the ‘Supreme Being’. Many churches were
transformed into Temples of Reason.
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| Celebration of Supreme Reason, 1794 |
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God of Reason (made up of a mixture of Apollo and Reason) crushing Superstition, which is an allegory for the church.
Germany.
One of the great products from the Sturm und Drang was Caspar David Friedrich. He was born in
North Germany to a Protestant family. Friedrich expressed aptitude towards
nature, in a way that was different to anything else that had been seen
previously.
Monk by the Sea (1809) is a landscape that requires
interpretation. Friedrich concentrates on the power of the natural climate and
so charges the landscape with a divine authority, one which seems to all but
subsume the figure of the monk. Each element, land, sea and air, is endless and
without solace. Its starkness is unavoidable. The figure acts as a visual cue,
drawing the viewer into the painting.
Definition: The sublime is the
quality of greatness, whether physical, moral, intellectual, metaphysical,
aesthetic, spiritual, or artistic. It is the aptitude of the human spirit when
confronted with the immensity of nature.
Claude Lorrain’s Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of
Sheba (1648), blends a religious narrative with architecture and nature. He
presented nature and antiquity in an idyllic, idealised form. It is a
completely staged setting, almost like a theatre set.
John Constable, Flatford
Mill, (c. 1816) is very different to the previous landscapes. But it is as
innovative when compared to classical aptitude. It’s different because of the
ordinary people depicted within the scene. Unlike Lorrain’s Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of
Sheba, Constable paints a real place. Depicting nature as it is, not as it
should be. This was considered to be completely revolutionary.
Friedrich’s work is more challenging, as his paintings are
metaphorical; they are about the relationship of the soul and the expanse of
the universe.
To oversimplify it - Classicism
is based on rationality, whereas Romanticism is based on expression.
Novalis: “The
individual soul must achieve harmony with the soul of the World.”
Caspar David
Friedrich: “The artist should paint not only what he sees before him, but also
what he sees within him.”
Friedrich’s Abbey in the Oakwood (c. 1810) depicts a medieval
church in ruins at twilight, reclaimed by nature. The Romantic spirit was very
much associated with the medieval and tends to re-evaluate medieval traditions.
The stark, leafless trees evoke a sense of melancholy, yearning and mystery.
In Two Men
Contemplating the Moon (1819), two figures are seen from behind, so
that the viewer can join their contemplation of nature. Again expresses
Friedrich’s interest in the feeling of the relationship between man and nature.
The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818) is one of
Friedrich’s most famous paintings. The figure stands in contemplation,
captivated by the haze of the sea fog as if it were a religious or spiritual
experience. Friedrich uses a brighter palette than in most of his paintings.
Using blues and pinks across the sky with the mountain and rock in the distance
echoing these colours.
Karl Friedrich
Schinkel was the first great 19th century architect. He was a
genius painter and theatre designer. His design for Mozart’s Magic Flute has a
clear cosmic influence and is an immense breath of German Romanticism.
His design for the Altes Museum was undoubtedly inspired by
an ancient Greek ionic temple. However, he ignores the classical ideas by
focusing on the side view of a Greek temple (no pediment etc.)
It is interesting to note that at
the same time he was building the Altes Museum, he was also building the Friedrichswerder
church. This is a Gothic church, a completely different style to what he
simultaneously working on, showing his versatility.
Landscape Painting.
Landscape painting increased in
popularity in the 17th century.
Constable painted his vision of
nature, imbued with a sense of affection for rural life, and ignored the
universal standards.
J.M.W. Turner was one of the most
influential landscape painters of the period. He created dramatic and sublime
landscapes with a sense of the heroic, or tragic. Turner had originally wanted
to be a history painter, but turned to landscape and was very successful.
Snow Storm: Hannibal and his
Army Crossing the Alps shows the
power of nature overcoming human spirit. The general and his troops are dwarfed
by the overwhelming scale of the landscape and engulfed in the swirling vortex
of snow.
Rain, Steam, and Speed is very loosely painted. Turner innovatively
began to dissolve nature into light and shade in a very impressionist style. It
shows urban and rural conflict, a symbol of modernity intruding on a rural
landscape. His contemporaries thought he was losing his mind.
Romanticism and later Neoclassicism in France: Ingres, Gericault and
Delacroix
Classicism versus Romanticism:
Antiquity vs. Modern Life
Ingres was obsessed with the human
form. His painting, The Ambassadors of Agamemnon in the tent of Achilles shows the human form in nearly every angle.
The evenly lit piece depicts an episode from Homer’s Iliad. Ingres is clearly
influenced by classical antiquity; the painting demonstrations his knowledge of
literature, geometry, perspective and anatomy.
Goya’s The Third of May
1808 was a radically new piece. It depicted not a classical subject, but an
episode of contemporary history (6 years previous). It portrays immediacy and
realism. Goya transforms Christian iconography and its poignant portrayal of
man’s inhumanity to man. The central figure of the painting, takes the place of
the crucified Christ. This painting also stood for the standard against which
Romantic artists were rebelling.
Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825)
The Oath of the Horatii is a history painting with a moral subject.
A great example of virtue.
David’s style was very influential
and he soon became canonical.
His famous painting Napoleon
Crossing the Alps, was a idealised equestrian image of Napoleon, presented
like Alexander the Great.
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) was a pupil of David. He
was a defender of previous art and thus becomes associated with Classical art.
But he was also considered to be a Romanticist artist.
La Grande Odalisque illustrates Ingres’ fascination with the
near East. The body of the nude takes up the entire frame of the canvas. Ingres
received criticism in his rendering of the female body, many suggesting that
she had two or three too many vertebrae. The distorted figure is reminiscent of
the work from the Mannerist period, such as Parmigianinio’s Madonna of the
Long Neck (c.1535). Ingres took inspiration for his reclining nude from
artists such as Velazquez (Rokeby Venus, 1647-51), Giorgione (Sleeping
Venus, 1510), and Titian (Venus of Urbino, 1538).
Théodore Géricault (1791-1824) was a very influential 19th
century painter, but died very young (aged 32). He never received traditional
training.
The Raft of the Medusa, is
a gigantic painting. Géricault was striving to compete with the history
painting of the Neo-classical period. This painting caused a scandal, as it was
an episode of contemporary history. He depicted humanity in an extreme
situation. It is a stark contrast to the traditional academic paintings, which
displayed virtue, something which Géricault does not portray. Instead he
illustrates human behaviour outside the superstructure of society, it asks
larger questions. With the sea tempest raging around the raft, some survivors
can be seen gesturing towards a sail on the horizon. Géricault knew how to
create an impact. He has used the image of the heroic nude but in a completely
different context. He was a self-trained painter, instead of studying antiquity
to learn anatomy; he went to the morgue and studied dead bodies and truncated
limbs. And thus was able to represent death in a convincing way. Chiaroscuro
creates drama and impact. Pyramidal structural composition. Death in the
foreground at the bottom of the painting, and life at the top. This was a
revolutionary painting, it was a new subject, although it was scandalous, it
incorporated many classical values. The youth display action, and a longing for
life at the top of the composition, whereas the old are contemplating the dead
at the base.
Géricault also painted the
portraits of patients in an asylum. These portraits portrayed the opposite of
the idealised, classicised tradition. These were hyper-real, and were very
intimate, psychological portraits.
Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863)
Eugène Delacroix was another great
Romanticism painter. He was a big fan of Géricault. His brushwork is very
visible.
In The Massacre at Chios the influence from Titian and Constable is
obvious, especially in the sky. He employed free use of the paint rather than line.
The Massacre at Chios, was another contemporary episode, the island of
Chios rebelled against the Ottoman guard and many were massacred by the Turkish
army. Delacroix depicts the brutality, oppression and desperation.
Liberty Leading the People is Delacroix's most famous painting. In a way, it marks the end of Romanticism. Commemorating one of the most important revolutions of the 19th century, the July Revolution (1830). Step by step the industrial revolution lead the rural masses into the cities, and was the creation of the working class as the engines of the industrial revolution. The painting depicts a woman personifying the concept, and the Goddess of Liberty leads the people forward over a barricade and the bodies of the fallen, holding the flag of the French Revolution – the new flag of France in one hand, and brandishing a bayonetted musket with the other. The political message attached to this painting was considered too radical and so it was not displayed to the public. It was seen to be an example of vice rather than virtue. The Romantic aspect, is that Liberty is a concept, a personification, which is one of the most traditional ways of expressing a concept in Classical art.. Truth is always naked, it needs to reveal itself immediately. The power of this painting, is that it uses contemporary scenes, the freshness and the immediacy of the subject make it more relatable. This piece has the same power as Goya's Third of May, or Géricault's Raft of the Medusa. Chronically contemporary, but Classical in that still uses allegory and a classic composition. This is not altogether surprising, after all, Delacroix was classically trained.
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