Romanticism

The romanticism period started off in the 18^th century and developed more in the 19^th century. This period came right after neoclassicism, and took a whole opposite take on the use of technique in drawing.

The romanticism period took a whole variety of thoughts and featured emotions and imaginative looks to their art forms. The artists in this art phase looked at past centuries because they felt the thought of nostalgia and were inspired from them. They developed and explored their ideas in different ways. They mostly looked at Neo-gothic, medieval and Middle Ages times, where art and architecture were done in a massive form and design.

A good example is the painting of the Addolorata Cathedral (Neo Gothic 1860s)

[Designed by Emanuele Luigi Galizia, 1830-1907] 

 

A strong topic in realism was to embrace the emotion and the creative imagination. Henri Fuseli was one of the brave artists that featured strong paintings with this thought in mind. One of the most interesting works of Fuseli is ‘The nightmare’. 

[Henry Fuseli, 1781, The nightmare, Oil on canvas, 101.6cm x 127cm, Detroit Institute of Art]

This art piece made Fuseli a very famous artist because he gave the audience something to think about when looking at his painting.

The nightmare features a woman who’s in a deep sleep which is shown by her body language. On top of her is and ‘incubus’ which is a mythological and legendary creature that symbolizes a demon. At the right-hand side of the painting there’s a horse which is identifying her nightmare. 

Fuseli took good care that this painting is interacted well to the audience by creating interesting forms and contrasts. The woman is wearing white which shows something pure and clarity whilst at the back you can notice the vibrant red draped curtain that symbolizes the evil and the ugliness of the nightmare. 

This painting has really stricken people not only from that period but also people in this century. Artists identify this painting as a very strong and symbolic art form.

This is an illustration made by David Parkins. He decided to do this illustration because at that time there was bombings in London and ‘Abu Hamsa’ was preaching hatred at the Finsbury Mosque. So Parkins used the idea from Fuseli’s Nightmare and translated his creativity into his own nightmare because of all that was happening around him.

Malta family history (2001-2014) Addolorata Cemetery, http://website.lineone.net/~remosliema/addolorata.htm , [Accessed : 19 Feb2014]

David.P (July 08,2008) The Nightmare, http://www.toonpool.com/cartoons/The%20Nightmare_16462, [Accessed : 19 Feb 2014]