Isn't it Romantic?

Ah, a sense of the past, an admiration for feeling, and a rebellion against the formality of the times...

We shall start with a Romantic proper and later go through some of the styles derived from Romanticism:

William Blake,
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Blake_the_Great_Red_Dragon_and_the_.jpg
The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Blake_The_Omnipotent.jpg
God as an Architect

Both Christian subjects, the former is a scene from the book of Revelations with the Dragon and the Woman, where as the latter is an image of God, in the creation of the universe. They have an ethereal quality, they are fuzzy and imprecise, but therein lies their beauty. They are not stark, perfect, linear depictions.


And on into the Pre-Raphaelites, who reacted against the formalism of art in the 19th century and looked upon Raphael as the pinnacle of Western art:

John Everett Millais,
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Millais_Lorenzo_and_Isabella.jpg
Lorenzo and Isabella

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Millais_Cymon_and_Iphigenia.jpg
Cymon and Iphigenia

In these two works by Millais, we see a still rather refined style (certainly as compared with the earlier above works by Blake), but there is a sense of the past and a sense of detachment from the formality and technicality of the Academic painters that were so prominent then. And now to the Symbolists, inheritors of the Romantic and Pre-Raphaelite traditions, inspired by dreams and mysticism:

Gustave Moreau,
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Moreau_The_Triumph_of_Alexander_the.jpg
The Triumph of Alexander the Great

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Moreau_Oedipus_the_Wayfarer.jpg
Oedipus the Wayfarer

Moreau's work, like the Symbolists in general, is very dreamlike and draws upon mysticism as well as the Romantic tradition and the past for inspiration, in these two works we have History Paintings, one a true historical scene and the other a scene from Greek mythology, both have a certain serene omprecision to them.

P.S. There is no postscript.

Other threads in this series may be found at the following:
I'm feeling Baroque
I'm in the mood for a Renaissance
Impression, soleil levant
It's quite Classical at the Academies
A Byzantine Web of Gothic Horror and Romanesque Decadence

Another work by William Blake, yet again a religious piece, very highly stylised:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Blake_The_Body_of_Abel_Found_by_Ada.jpg
The Body of Abel Found by Adam and Eve

Joseph Mallord William Turner was another Romanticist painter, he painted very heavily individualistic works, often of maritime scenes or landscapes.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Turner_Burial_at_Sea.jpg
Peace - Burial at Sea

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Turner_The_Parting_of_Hero_and_Lean.jpg
The Parting of Hero and Leander - from the Greek of Musaeus

Some works by a Pre-Raphaelite, a woman of Greek descent living in England, Maria Spartali Stillman, her works are fairly typical of the era and of the genre (and she was quite lovely herself).

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Stillman_Marie_Spartali_The_Enchant.jpg
The Enchanted Garden of Messer Ansaldo

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Stillman_Marie_Spartali_Self_Portra.jpg
Self-Portrait

You, my dear, are mesmerizing

just pet said:

You, my dear, are mesmerizing

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Thank you!

Still firmly in Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, we have some works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the painter and poet and member of the rather prodigious Rossetti family (who, by the way, are still better than yours).

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Rossetti_Dantes_Dream_at_the_Time_o.jpg
Dante's Dream at the Time of the Death of Beatrice

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Rossetti_Sir_Galahad.jpg
How Sir Galahad, Sir Bors and Sir Percival Were Fed with the Sanc Grael; But Sir Percival's Sister Died By the Way

These are gorgeous.

~Fata Morgana~ said:

These are gorgeous.

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I quite agree, they have an interesting balance between the old fashioned and modernist sensibilities.


Moving forward in time we have some late Symbolist paintings by Franz von Stuck, paintings with a certain Expressionist quality, dark and mysterious, the subjects alluring but dangerous.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Stuck_Sensuality.jpg
Sensuality

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Stuck_Sin.jpg
Sin

Another work, in characteristic style, of J.M.W. Turner, who apparently was not a fan of brevity in nomenclature:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Turner_Snow_Storm.jpg
Snow Storm - Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth Making Signals in Shallow Water, and Going by the Lead. The Author was in this Storm on the Night the Ariel Left Harwich

Lovely too. Reminds me a little of John Collier's Lilith - one of my favourites.

~Fata Morgana~ said:

Lovely too. Reminds me a little of John Collier's Lilith - one of my favourites.

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Yes, Collier's Lilith is a lovely work and it does have a certain stylistic similiarity, in the pose and in the feel of the subject herself.

Whereas, Rossetti's Lady Lilith is a rather different piece, lighter, she seems almost vain:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Rossetti_Lady_Lillith.jpg
Lady Lilith

And another by Rossetti, apparently likewise not a fan of brevity:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Rossetti_Sir_Galahad.jpg
How Sir Galahad, Sir Bors and Sir Percival Were Fed with the Sanc Grael; But Sir Percival's Sister Died By the Way

Another Pre-Raphaelite painting, by the painter Evelyn de Morgan,
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Morgan_Evelyn_de_Hope_In_The_Prison.jpg
Hope in the Prison of Despair

And a Symbolist/Expressionist painting by the Norwegian painter, Edvard Munch,
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Munch_The_Madonna.jpg
The Madonna

Caspar David Friedrich was an early Romantic artist, his works tend to be fairly traditional in a sense, but they often depict desolate naturalistic scenes. His paintings of ruined buildings amid the natural overgrowth gives a sense of the mortality of man and the power of nature.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Eldena_Ruin.jpg
Eldena Ruin

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Abbey_in_an_Oak_Forest.jpg
Abbey in an Oak Forest

That second Friedrich, Abbey in an Oak Forest, has a rather Gothic feel to it, to me -- with the moonlight and the mists in such a desolate scene.

Another Moreau,
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Moreau_The_Unicorns.jpg
The Unicorns

We have a clear fantasy element in this, with the inclusion of the legendary unicorn and the general feel of a fairytale evoked by the piece.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Millais_Knight_Errant.jpg
This work of John Everett Millais, The Knight Errant, is a scene apropos the Victorian age in which it was created, a Romantic account of a mediæval meeting, the knight in shining armour and the damsel in distress.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/The_Cemetery_Gate.jpg
The Cemetary Gate: The Churchyard

In this work by Friedrich, we see again a sort of scene in which the artificial has begun to decay, nature is starting to overtake the man-made world again. The gate is falling of it's hinge and plants have begun to grow atop the wall and the natural progression of things takes its course.

Equinoxe said:

That second Friedrich, Abbey in an Oak Forest, has a rather Gothic feel to it, to me -- with the moonlight and the mists in such a desolate scene.

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And the pointed arch of the window maybe? Quite a bit of that thing a couple of centuries after the dissolution of the monasteries by Hank VIII.

kotori said:

And the pointed arch of the window maybe? Quite a bit of that thing a couple of centuries after the dissolution of the monasteries by Hank VIII.

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Ah yes, indeed. (I must say the use of "Hank VIII" made me smile)

Equinoxe said:

Ah yes, indeed. (I must say the use of "Hank VIII" made me smile)

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I must say the fact that you "flipped" your AV picture to look into the page made me smile.

kotori said:

I must say the fact that you "flipped" your AV picture to look into the page made me smile.

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I decided that it looked more appropriate that way, but thank you.

Moreau, once again, with a painting that combines a Romantic theme and subject, with an almost Impressionist use of colour:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/equinoxe/Moreau_The_Dead_Poet_Borne_by_a_Cen.jpg
Poète Mort Porté par un Centaure