Revolutionary events such as the French and American revolutions affected the Romantic movement of 19th century art and literature. Many outside factors impacted Romantic writers in the 18th century, but the revolution in France was the most significant. The new government under Napoleon wanted a national culture to match its military might. They created a school system based on Greek and Roman classics that was intended to produce patriotic young men willing and able to serve in their army.
Romanticism was an aesthetic movement that began in Europe around 1780. It was inspired by ideas from several different sources including classical antiquity, the Renaissance, and early modern Europe. Its main manifestations were in poetry and music, though it also had an impact on other arts such as painting and architecture. Modern scholars often group the Romantics with other related movements such as Neo-Classicism and Baroque art and literature.
Romantic artists and poets tried to capture the spirit of nature during a time when technology was becoming more advanced and science was making great strides. They used words and images to express their feelings about life, love, and nature without using conventional literary forms.
Romanticism is known for its emphasis on emotion over reason. This can be seen in many poems written at this time by British and German poets. These poems contain phrases like "dark, mysterious, or gloomy" to describe scenes or situations from daily life.
The Romantic movement was an artistic, literary, and philosophical movement that began in Europe in the second half of the 18th century and grew in response to the Industrial Revolution (Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d.). Music is a vital part of this movement which expressed itself in many different forms: poetry, literature, painting, and sculpture.
Romantic music originates from France but it is not known when someone first started using words like "romantic" and "romance" to describe what we would now call music. It may have been before they were officially adopted into the language in the late 18th century. However, these terms were very commonly used to describe anything related to love prior to this time so they are likely to have been in use for some time before that.
Music has always been important in France, and throughout the centuries many great artists have come from here. It is believed that French musicians helped inspire the work of Mozart and Beethoven, for example. In the early years of the French Revolution (1789-1799), however, many traditions were abandoned because they were seen as links with the past rather than contributors to the future. This also included music, so from about 1790 there were no more court composers working in France. Instead, new music was produced by amateur performers who played according to the latest Italian models.
The movement originated in response to Romanticism, which had dominated French literature and art since the late 1800s. Realism rebelled against the Romantic movement's exotic subject matter, heightened emotionalism, and drama. "Realism" means "something actual or genuine," and this new literary direction was well suited to address the political and social changes of France after Napoleon.
Romanticism had made its influence felt through poetry, music, and painting. The Austrian emperor Francis I was the most famous fan of Romantic artists such as Gainsborough, Reynolds, and Van Dyck. In 1765 he opened the first exhibition of his paintings in Austria, which drew thousands of visitors a year.
But by the early 19th century, the empire was in decline, and Europe was becoming aware of new ways of thinking about society and politics. So realism offered a needed change from the over-the-top emotions of Romanticism to the everyday realities of modern life.
It is important to note that realism did not mean documentary prose or autobiography. Rather, it meant an attempt to represent reality accurately and completely. Before realists, authors often relied on oral testimony, correspondence, and other second-hand sources for information about their subjects' lives. Now they tried to find original material, whether documents or interviews with people who knew the subjects.
Romanticism validated the human imagination as a critical authority, allowing for artistic independence from traditional ideals of form. The Industrial Revolution also had an impact on Romanticism, which was primarily concerned with fleeing from modern reality. However, it was the connection between these two movements that made modern art possible.
Romantic artists such as William Blake and John Constable used imagery from nature to express their ideas about humanity's place in the world. They sought to move away from the artificiality of classical sculpture and painting and create works that were more true to life. This desire to capture real life accurately led them into conflict with the Royal Academy, which commissioned paintings that adhered to classical rules. The academy favored works that displayed order, symmetry, and perfect composition instead of being chaotic or unfinished.
The Industrial Revolution brought new technologies that enabled artists to produce work faster and better. For example, Blake created all his drawings by hand and then painted them directly onto his prints using watercolors and oils. This allowed him to combine complex images with great detail. Other artists began to do the same, producing hundreds of drawings and paintings before starting on a single piece of work.
These methods were different from those used before so they attracted criticism from some members of the academic community.
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