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Art & Ideas (Phaidon)
Romanticism. Phaidon Art and Ideas
Romanticism was 'a way of feeling' rather than a style in art. In the period c. 1775-1830, against the background of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, European artists, together with poets and composers, initiated their own rebellion against the dominant political, religious and social ethos of the day. Their quest was for personal expression and individual liberation, and in the process, the Romantics transformed the idea of art, seeing it as an instrument of social and psychological change.
In this comprehensive volume, David Blayney Brown takes a thematic approach to Romanticism, relating it to the concurrent, more stylistic movements of Neoclassicism and the Gothic Revival, and discussing its relationship with the political and social developments of the era. He not only looks at how artists as diverse as Goya, Delacroix, Friedrich and Turner responded to landscapes or depicted historical events, but also examines artists such as David and Ingres who are not usually considered Romantics. As a result, the reader is given a clear understanding of a complex movement that produced some of the greatest European art, literature and music.
The Art & Ideas series offers introductory books on all aspects of the history of art. Each book is written by an outstanding expert in the field, in an accessible and lively style. Completely up-to-date and comprehensive, these books are essential reading for students and rewarding for anyone curious about art.
In this comprehensive volume, David Blayney Brown takes a thematic approach to Romanticism, relating it to the concurrent, more stylistic movements of Neoclassicism and the Gothic Revival, and discussing its relationship with the political and social developments of the era. He not only looks at how artists as diverse as Goya, Delacroix, Friedrich and Turner responded to landscapes or depicted historical events, but also examines artists such as David and Ingres who are not usually considered Romantics. As a result, the reader is given a clear understanding of a complex movement that produced some of the greatest European art, literature and music.
The Art & Ideas series offers introductory books on all aspects of the history of art. Each book is written by an outstanding expert in the field, in an accessible and lively style. Completely up-to-date and comprehensive, these books are essential reading for students and rewarding for anyone curious about art.
448 pages, Paperback
First published August 20, 2001
11 people are currently reading
120 people want to read
About the author
David Blayney Brown
43 books4 followersDavid Blayney Brown (9 April 1952 - ) is senior curator of British art, 1790-1850, at Tate Britain and is responsible for the Turner Collection. His books include Turner and Byron, Turner in the Alps, The "Lucerne" Sketchbook, and Romanticism.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 17, 2025
I read David Blayney Brown's "Romanticism" (2001) because I was dissatisfied with Kenneth Clark's "Romantic Rebellion" (1973) which I read several months earlier. Clark's greatest sin was that he ignored Caspar David Friedrich and in fact did not cover any German romantic painters. Blayney in contrast put Friedrich on centre stage and examined German romanticism in great depth. Blayney's book is very much worth reading for any member of the general public interested in art history. I am in no way qualified to comment on the book's value for the academic reader
Brown argues that the romantic movement was born out the despair that was caused by the failure of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras which instead of improving man's condition simply wrecked havoc and caused human suffering on a massive scale. Romanticism was a movement that promoted the expression of emotions rather than of reason while seeking a reason to hope.
Brown sees no consistent romantic ideology. His book is based on seven tendencies of romanticism. In the first chapter, Brown examines the tendency of the romantic artist to put himself at the centre of his work. Romantic artists and writers such as Delacroix, Turner, Friedrich the English poet Wordsworth all imposed their perspectives on their viewers or readers .
In the second chapter, Brown shows how the romantics transformed historical painting. In their works the historical event was presented as chaotic and destructive. Their pictures were highly emotional and subject matter was always tightly linked to contemporary events. Brown uses Delacroix and Benjamin West as examples of historical romantic painters. He includes David usually considered a neo-classicist in the group because David also spoke directly to contemporary events.
In the third chapter, Brown describes a movement to convert nature into the supreme deity. David Caspar Friedrich is the most important painter in the group. The others cited (Ludwig Richter, Carl Blechen, Karl Schinkel, Philipp Runge, etc.) are also German.
The same German artists also dominate the fourth chapter where Brown describes a tendency to turn Europe's fast into a fairy-tale land. The chapter includes a full page picture of KingLudwig's Neuschwanstein.
In the fifth chapter, Brown discusses the propensity of the romantic movement towards exotic locations. He summarizes the thesis found in Edward Said's "Orientalism". There are several paintings of Delacroix presented. Johann Zoffany, Joseph Wright, Joshua Reynolds and William Hodges are among the English painters mentioned. John Nash the architect of the Brighton Pavillion is also discussed.
The sixth chapter on the subject of madness and the macabre is dominated by Francisco Goya and William Blake.
The seven chapter analyses the romantic relationship between love and death. Pictures by Goya and Blake appear. Antoine-Jean Gros, Pierre Paul Prud'hon, and Benjamin Haydon are also presented.
Brown finishes the book with an Epilogue that in my mind falls flat. He argues that the romantic movement's legacy continues to our day in that the myth of the artist as rebel still persists. Blake also argues in his epilogue that in the 20th century the paintings of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner were linked to the barbarism and exoticism of the romantic movement. Similarly the constructions of Mareile Neudecker that link spirituality to nature have their origins in the romantic cult of nature.
Brown's disappointing finish is however a small matter. The book as generally great fun to read. A bonus for those who are more familiar with literature than art is that Brown has a great deal to say about writers. Amongst others, Brown discusses William Wordsworth, Edmund Burke, Heinrich Von Kleist, Alfred de Musset, Jean Paul, Novalis, Victor Hugo, and Clemens Brentano. Brown talks at the greatest length on François-René de Chateaubriand. Unfortunately Brown's views on Chateaubriand differ significantly from mine. I did however have fun reading Brown's comments.
Brown argues that the romantic movement was born out the despair that was caused by the failure of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras which instead of improving man's condition simply wrecked havoc and caused human suffering on a massive scale. Romanticism was a movement that promoted the expression of emotions rather than of reason while seeking a reason to hope.
Brown sees no consistent romantic ideology. His book is based on seven tendencies of romanticism. In the first chapter, Brown examines the tendency of the romantic artist to put himself at the centre of his work. Romantic artists and writers such as Delacroix, Turner, Friedrich the English poet Wordsworth all imposed their perspectives on their viewers or readers .
In the second chapter, Brown shows how the romantics transformed historical painting. In their works the historical event was presented as chaotic and destructive. Their pictures were highly emotional and subject matter was always tightly linked to contemporary events. Brown uses Delacroix and Benjamin West as examples of historical romantic painters. He includes David usually considered a neo-classicist in the group because David also spoke directly to contemporary events.
In the third chapter, Brown describes a movement to convert nature into the supreme deity. David Caspar Friedrich is the most important painter in the group. The others cited (Ludwig Richter, Carl Blechen, Karl Schinkel, Philipp Runge, etc.) are also German.
The same German artists also dominate the fourth chapter where Brown describes a tendency to turn Europe's fast into a fairy-tale land. The chapter includes a full page picture of KingLudwig's Neuschwanstein.
In the fifth chapter, Brown discusses the propensity of the romantic movement towards exotic locations. He summarizes the thesis found in Edward Said's "Orientalism". There are several paintings of Delacroix presented. Johann Zoffany, Joseph Wright, Joshua Reynolds and William Hodges are among the English painters mentioned. John Nash the architect of the Brighton Pavillion is also discussed.
The sixth chapter on the subject of madness and the macabre is dominated by Francisco Goya and William Blake.
The seven chapter analyses the romantic relationship between love and death. Pictures by Goya and Blake appear. Antoine-Jean Gros, Pierre Paul Prud'hon, and Benjamin Haydon are also presented.
Brown finishes the book with an Epilogue that in my mind falls flat. He argues that the romantic movement's legacy continues to our day in that the myth of the artist as rebel still persists. Blake also argues in his epilogue that in the 20th century the paintings of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner were linked to the barbarism and exoticism of the romantic movement. Similarly the constructions of Mareile Neudecker that link spirituality to nature have their origins in the romantic cult of nature.
Brown's disappointing finish is however a small matter. The book as generally great fun to read. A bonus for those who are more familiar with literature than art is that Brown has a great deal to say about writers. Amongst others, Brown discusses William Wordsworth, Edmund Burke, Heinrich Von Kleist, Alfred de Musset, Jean Paul, Novalis, Victor Hugo, and Clemens Brentano. Brown talks at the greatest length on François-René de Chateaubriand. Unfortunately Brown's views on Chateaubriand differ significantly from mine. I did however have fun reading Brown's comments.
May 27, 2016
I devoured it. Art and Ideas. Someday I will go back and read it again slowly. By structuring it thematically instead of chronologically, I could see how the fascinations, debates and uncomfortable contradictions are still with us even if we express them differently now. Plus, Phaidon. So the book itself is beautiful.
July 28, 2019
υπέροχη έκδοση, τρομερές πληροφορίες, φεύγει νερό, τρομερά καλογραμμένο και οι επιλογές ήταν λίγο έξω από το σύνηθες
επίσης, αν και είναι από τις αγαπημένες μου περιόδους/κίνημα στις τέχνες, σε αυτό εδώ πολλές φορές διάβασα πράγματα που δεν γνώριζα καν
όλη η σειρά είναι τρομερή που να πάρει
επίσης, αν και είναι από τις αγαπημένες μου περιόδους/κίνημα στις τέχνες, σε αυτό εδώ πολλές φορές διάβασα πράγματα που δεν γνώριζα καν
όλη η σειρά είναι τρομερή που να πάρει
February 23, 2013
The best book on Romanticism I've ever read ... Bar none! If you want a great primer for the period in general, this is the one to read.
June 5, 2019
It was a way of feeling rather than a style of art. Artists from 1775 to 1830 in particular started looking for a way of personal expression and individual liberation. The idea of the “Romantics” was transferred to the “idea of art”.
Art became a tool for social change. For more on this see: https://connectedeventsmatter.com/blo...
Art became a tool for social change. For more on this see: https://connectedeventsmatter.com/blo...
July 8, 2025
I’d call this a good review of that hard to pin down style called “Romanticism.” It’s easy to think that you know what it is, as well as who practiced it. However there’s more than meets the eye in this international movement from the late 19th century.
May 6, 2009
Was interesting, but didn't hold my attention further than the halfway point. Sometimes the history of artists seems too much like gossip.
October 19, 2011
The landscape portion introducing Friedrich, Turner and Constable was fascinating, but after the midway point it seems to stray too far in the exposition....
August 20, 2025
Only the stories behind Caspar David Friedrich's great paintings fascinated me!
December 17, 2015
very helpful
May 3, 2017
During 1760-1830 the world was rocked by American Independence and then French revolution in short order. A new breed of Artists emerged from the deep social fissures; free spirited, rebels, outsiders, leaders, part of an avant garde, to be judged on originality, integrity, personal response, and probably suffering for all these things. This is the Romantic legacy aptly summarised through the work of Turner (1775-1851), Constable(1776-1837), William Blake(1757-1827), Goya (1746-1828), Caspar David Fredrich (1774-1840), Gericault(1791-1824) & Delacroix (1798-1863).
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews