Romanticism was an artistic movement that began in the late 18th century and affected many art forms. Unlike Neoclassicists who valued order and reason, Romantics believed in imagination, emotion, and individualism. They often portrayed nature as wild rather than orderly and showed individuals as small within vast landscapes. Romantic artists also explored themes of horror, madness, and the supernatural.

2. Romanticism was a multi-layered movement that took many
forms and affected most branches of the arts. It began in the late 18 th
century and flowered most fully in the early 19 th.
Unlike the Neoclassicists who promoted order and reason, the
Romantics believed in the power of the imagination, emotion and
individualism. These qualities could be evoked in very different ways.
Much of their work was focused on the past but was typically set in the
Middle Ages rather than classical antiquity. While classical artists
reshaped nature to suit their ordered compositions, the Romantics
portrayed it as wild and ungovernable. In their landscapes, some
Romantic painters liked to show the individual as being dwarfed by the
forces of nature, which were portrayed as an expression of human
emotions and often given a mystical or visionary role.
At the same time, a sense of individualism can also be linked to
the spirit of rebellion that epitomizes the Romantic era. Its anti-rationalist
overtones led artists to explore themes that were linked with horror,
madness, violence and the supernatural. There was also a taste for the
exotic.

3. Cupid and
Psyche
by
Gerard

7. Portrait of
Madame
Récamier
by
Gerard

10. Portrait of the
Empress
Josephine
by
Prud’hon

13. The Raft of the Medusa by Gericault

19. A
Madwoman
and
Compulsive
Gambler
by
Gericault

21. The
Madwoman
Afflicted
with Envy
by
Gericault

24. Aspasia
by
Delacroix

27. The
Massacre
of Chios
by
Delacroix

31. Liberty
Leading
the
People
by
Delacroix

35. The Algerian
Women
by
Delacroix

39. The
Departure of
the
Volunteers
of 1792
by
Rude

48. Esther
by
Chassériau

51. Witches
in the Air
by
Goya

53. The Witches’
Sabbath
by
Goya

55. Time and the
Old Women
by
Goya

58. Saturn
Devouring
His Son
by
Goya

60. The
Hülsenbeck
Children
by
Runge

63. The
Wanderer
Above the
Sea of Fog
by
Friedrich

66. The Sea of Ice by Friedrich

69. Man and Woman
Contemplating the Moon by Friedrich

73. The Romantic movement in Germany was led by a
group of artists known as the Nazarenes (c.1809-30), who
sought to revive honesty and spirituality in Christian art. This
was most obvious from their attempts to mimic the lifestyle of
the painter-monks from the early Renaissance. The term
“Nazarene” stemmed from their communal, semi-monastic
lifestyle and their affectation of wearing biblical clothing and
hair styles.
Contemporary critics believed that the Nazarenes were
responsible for the rebirth of German art, although they
conceded that much of their work was focused on the past. The
Nazarenes were also closely linked with the upsurge of
nationalist sentiments in Germany, which led some of their
members to portray patriotic themes from German history and
legend. The Nazarenes also attempted to revive the art of
medieval fresco painting.

74. The Wise and Foolish Virgins
by von Cornelius

76. Italia and
Germania
by
Overbeck

79. Christ’s First Appearance to the People
by Ivanov

83. Pegwell Bay by Dyce

87. The Nightmare by Fuseli

89. The Three Witches by Fuseli

92. The
Ancient of
Days
by
Blake

94. The Red
Dragon and
the Woman
Clothed in
the Sun
by
Blake

96. Early Morning
by Palmer

99. Shoreham
Garden
by
Palmer

102. Pandemonium by Martin

107. The Great Day of His Wrath by Martin

110. The White
Horse by
Constable

114. The Hay Wain by Constable

119. Stonehenge by Constable

122. The
Slave
Ship
by
Turner

127. Rain, Steam and Speed by Turner

131. Moonlit Landscape by Allston

133. Elijah in the Desert by Allston

136. Daniel
Boone
Sitting at
the Door
of His
Cabin
by
Cole

139. The Course of Empire: Destruction by Cole

141. Fanciful Landscape by Doughty

143. Desert Rock Lighthouse by Doughty

145. Denning’s Point, Hudson River by Doughty

147. Indian
Rescue
by
Durand

151. Niagara
Falls from
the
American
Side
by
Church

154. The Oregon Trail by Bierstadt

159. Rocky Mountain Landscape by Bierstadt