The Death of Socrates 1787, METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK, US
The Intervention of the Sabine Women 1799, MUSÉE DU LOUVRE, PARIS, FRANCE
Bonaparte Crossing the St. Bernard Pass 1800, MUSÉE NATIONAL DE MALMAISON, RUEIL-MALMAISON, FRANCE
Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris on 2 December 1804 1808, MUSÉE DU LOUVRE, PARIS, FRANCE
Romanticism to Realism
c.1800–1900
Romanticism in the arts developed partly in opposition to elitist, aristocratic social and political attitudes during the Age of Enlightenment. Emphasizing the emotions, it also rejected the rigor of Neoclassicism and gained popularity during the upheaval of the Industrial Revolution. Two movements followed on closely—Academic art was an attempt to fuse Romanticism with Neoclassicism; Realism was a reaction against both styles.
Romanticism
Originating in the first two decades of the 19th century, Romanticism appeared in art, music, literature and poetry across Europe and America. Artists including the poets Goethe, Wordsworth and Keats; the composers Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn; and the painters Delacroix, Géricault, Blake, Turner and Friedrich demonstrate the diversity of the movement. Emphasizing the emotions, in many ways Romanticism was the antithesis of Neoclassicism, while in some ways the two movements overlapped. Romantic art featured swirling shapes, dramatic compositions and bold colors. A reaction against rationalism and an age of great upheavals, it was also a manifestation of the revolutionary spirit of America and France. Romantic artists prized intuition, passion, suffering, the power of nature and individual heroics. The imagination was respected and established rules rejected; subjectivity and individuality took precedence over reason. Investigating human nature in adversity, the Romanticists’ work was emotionally charged, aiming to elude many of the rapid social, technological, economic and political changes that were taking place.
Academic art
Simply meaning “art of the Academy,” Academic art came to mean skillfulness without individuality. During the 19th century, the art academies of Europe had supremacy over the art world. Most artists could not achieve success unless they were accepted at the main academy of their country. Those who ran these institutions became increasingly conservative and opposed to innovation. In 1816, the Parisian Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, founded in 1648, merged with the Académie de Musique and the Académie d’Architecture, to form the Académie des Beaux-Arts. It became the standard which all other academies followed and it insisted that all artists should aim for a fusion of Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Painters were taught to aim for clean lines, detailed and lifelike depictions, invisible brushwork and subtly blended tones and colors. In addition, certain subjects took precedence over others. Of greatest prestige were paintings ennobling historical, biblical or mythological topics, and portraiture.
Realism
With the invention of photography in 1839, debates arose about the nature and purpose of painting and both Neoclassicism and Romanticism soon seemed dated and contrived. Realism was a revolt against emotionalism, emphasizing “truth to nature.” As new technologies developed, social and political changes took place, and many artists decided that ordinary people and their activities were worthy subjects for art and that the styles of Neoclassicism and Romanticism were too contrived and self-conscious. Courbet, Manet and Millais were three Realist painters who individually stressed factual accuracy and avoided exaggeration. As with many art movements, Realism manifested itself in various ways in different places and at different times. From about 1800 to 1899 in France, Realists painted the modern life they saw around them objectively without embellishment or personal bias. Aligning with the Revolution of 1848 in France (which led to Louis Napoleon’s election as President of the Second Republic), Realists were reacting as much against society’s artificiality and materialism as against academic rules and ingrained artistic traditions.
Other groups had similar philosophies. For instance, during the 1840s and 1850s, some French artists painted in the Forest of Fontainebleau near the village of Barbizon, far away from the Parisian Académie. Following on from the traditions of 17th-century Dutch and early 19th-century English landscape painting, they painted directly from nature. Meanwhile in England, from 1848, a group of painters, poets and critics formed the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood to paint only “truth to nature” rather than adhering to the academic traditions that insisted on following Raphael. The PRB believed that many artists before Raphael were more liberated and honest, and focused on achieving realism through accurate details and color.
timeline
1794
The Ancient of Days,
Blake
(1757–1827)
1803
Calais Pier,
Turner
(1775–1851)
1812
Construction of Park Crescent,
John Nash
(1752–1835)
1814–17
Three Graces,
Antonio Canova
(1757–1822)
1814
La Grande Odalisque,
Ingres
(1780–1867)
1816–17
Flatford Mill,
Constable
(1776–1837)
1819
The Raft of the Medusa,
Géricault
(1791–1824)
1822
Moonrise over the Sea,
Friedrich
(1774–1840)
1827
The Death of Sardanapalus,
Delacroix
(1798–1863)
c.1831
The Great Wave off Kanagawa,
Hokusai
(1760–1849)
1833–34
Rainstorm at Shinō,
Hiroshige
(1797–1858)
1839–52
Building of the Palace of Westminster,
Barry
(1795–1860) and
Pugin
(1812–52)
1845
Restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris,
Viollet-le-Duc
(1814–79)
1849–50
A Burial at Ornans,
Courbet
(1819–77)
1851–52
Ophelia,
Millais
(1829–96)
1857
The Gleaners,
Millet
(1814–75)
c.1861–65
Orpheus Lamenting Eurydice,
Corot
(1796–1875)
1866
Orpheus,
Moreau
(1826–98)
1874
Proserpine,
Rosetti
(1828–82)
BLAKE
1757–1827 • ROMANTICISM
The Ancient of Days
1794 WATERCOLOR, BLACK INK AND GOLD PAINT, OVER A RELIEF ETCHED OUTLINE PAINTED IN YELLOW
23.3 × 16.8 CM (9 × 6 IN)