Romanticism

 ROMANTICISM

Romanticism is  a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe and lasted till the mid-nineteenth century.

 It started as an artistic and intellectual movement that protested against established values (social order and religion). They proclaimed individualism, subjectivism, irrationalism, imagination, emotion over reason and senses over intellect.

Romantic artists were fascinated by nature, history (mainly the Medieval Ages), exotic countries, ruins, occultism and mystery.

The typical hero is a person whose life is not easy. He is full of emotions and feelings, love (usually unhappy love), this person is very often an outlaw without friends. He often feels lonely and usually loves an ideal woman so he never finds his true love. The world does not understand him and he does not understand the world….

The author identifies with the hero.

ART:

European painting was  represented by a new generation of the French school. They wanted to fight against the strict and rigid rules of the neoclassicism which was  taught in the academies.

Architecture:

Romantic gardens with artifical ruins, temples, grottas or hermitages were very popular.

People liked the atmosphere of Ghotic and this interest led to the Gothic Revival.

Romantic buildings should have looked like old historic buildings(Hluboká). Architects were inspired by Gothic (Neogothic style arose), Renaissance (Neorenaissance style), Baroque (Neobaroque)

Some architects found inspiration in exotic countries so prayer towers  (Lednice) or Chinese pavilions were built.

Some buildings looked like ruins (Janohrad)

Painting:

Themes: the Middle Ages, nature, fantasy, exotic countries, wars

Artists:

Eugene Delacroix: a French painter graphic and drawer. He was influenced by P.Rubens, Veronese or F.Goya.  His pictures were inspired with current political events and he was looking for inspiration in literature, too.

William Blake is a representative of early  English Romanticism. He was a painter, graphic, illustrator,engraver as well as philosopher, poet  and mystic. He wrote many poems and he illustrated them as well. He said he could communicate with angels and ghosts. He also created his own religion.

He made a series of watercolours illustrating Dante's Divine Comedy.

Maybe his most known books are books of poetry called Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience

John Constable was another English representative. He was a brilliant landscape painter.

He inspired the French impressionists

William Turner was another amazing English landscape painter who specialised in watercolours.His popular themes were sunsets and  sunrises and seascapes.

Thomas Gainsborough who was a very popular English portraitist.

Francisco Goya y Lucientes- a Spanish painter and printmaker. He worked for the Spanish king as a royal portraitist (Charles IV of Spain and His Family ) Near the end of his life, he started to produce frightening and obscure paintings of madness, and fantasy called Black Paintings (Saturn Devouring His Son) The style of these Black Paintings shows that a new movement is slowly starting - the expressionist movement. 

Two of Goya's best known paintings are The Nude Maja (La maja desnuda) and The Clothed Maja (La maja vestida). They depict the same woman in the same pose, naked and clothed. It is the first totally profane nude in Western art.

Czech lands:

The family of Mánes:

Josef Mánes – who is considered to be a founder of Czech modern art. He created the classical ideal of a Slavic hero. He loved folk culture. He was a keen patriot.

His brother Quido found inspiration in normal life in a town or village.

Amálie was their sister. She was a landscape painter and often depicted Alpine nature

Adolf Kosárek, J,Navrátil, F,Tkadlík

Literature:

A.E.Poe - an American writer, poet, editor and literary critic. He is said to invent the detective genre and he influenced the genre of science fiction.  He was one of the first Americans who decided to earna  living as a professional writer so he was very poor.

The Raven, The Black Cat, The Murders in the Rue Morque.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe  was a German writer .He  is considered by many to be the most important writer in the German language and one of the most important thinkers in Western culture. He was interested in poetry, drama, literature, theology, philosophy, and science. His most famous work  is the drama Faust.

Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley (Frankenstein)  – English Romantists

Victor Hugo – a French writer ( Les Misérables , Ninety-Three)

Alexander Pushkin. Mikhail Lermontov  - Russia

Karel Hynek Mácha

Complex  - úplný, souhrn

Originate /oridžineit/ vznikat

Last /la:st/ trvat

Established /isteblišəd/ zavedený

Proclaim /prokleim/ prohlašovat

Outlaw /autlo:/ vyvrhel

Artificial  /a:tifišəl/ umělý

Ruin /ruin/ troska

Hermitage /h3:mitidž/ poustevna

Current /karənt/ současný, aktuální

Event /i’vent/ událost

Representative /riprizentətiv/ představitel

Printmaker - grafik

Depict – dipict/ zobrazit

Profane /prə‘fein/ světský, bezbožný

Nude /nju:d/ akt

He is considered – je považován

He is said – říká se o něm