All Things Romanticism

An international compendium of global movements in Romanticism, what inspired them, and what they have continued to inspire.

[allthingsromanticism]

A new video project on romanticism and the role geography played in the lives of Romantic poets.

[ladylyrica-deactivated20181205]

The anti-rationalist revolt was carried forward on all levels of society and manifested itself in a great variety of ways: in a turning from a satisfaction with sober reason to an indulgence in passion and sensibility; from a confidence in the universality of reason to an emphasis upon the diversity of truth; from a compact, stable society to an unstable, revolutionary society; from a concentration on the general to a search for the minute and the singular; from an adherence to the agreed standards of the age to an eccentric, anti-social disregard of convention; from scientific mechanism to philosophical idealism; from the Newtonian world of science to the supernatural world of myth and mysticism; from a religion of comfortable deism to a religion of optimistic theism; from the uniformity of behavior to the differentness of men and their opinions; from the civilized and the modern to the simple, the rustic, and the primitive; from a preference for urban life to a love of country life, natural scenery, and solitudes; from preoccupation with human nature to a preoccupation with aesthetic and spiritual values of external nature; from a concern with the species to a concern with the individual; from traditional creeds to individual speculations and revelations; from the ideal of order to the ideal of expansiveness; from a distrust in originality to faith in the validity of novelty; from an interest in the usual, the ‘natural’ to an absorption with the abnormal, the eccentric, and the peculiar; from imitation of classic authors to glorification of native tradition, especially the medieval; from a love of the simple and the direct to a preference for the complex and the fanciful; from the conception that poetry is an acquired art to the conception that poetry is a gift of nature; from a poetry of prose statement to a poetry of image and symbol; from satire to lyric; from the Augustan couplet to earlier verse patterns and variations upon them; from poetic diction to common language; from indifference toward social problems to a broad humanitarianism; from the ascendancy of reason to the ascendancy of the imagination.

— Russell Noyes: from “Major Aspects of English Romanticism”

allthingsromanticism this is the best, most all-encompassing definition I’ve seen yet

(via ladylyrica)

[godlessgreg-deactivated20181212]

The Seventh Crusade before Jerusalem (1838-1850) - Francesco Hayez

[mentecaptus]

Goya’s Demons

Francisco Goya | Saint Francis Borgia Assisting a Dying Man (fragment) | Sketch vs. Final Painting | 1788

[organt]

i was wondering if you could direct me towards some byron-related reading? all i really know abt him is that he died in messolonghi and that it was kind of hilarious

Books:

Life, Letters, and Journals of Lord Byron

By John Murray, edited by R.E. Prothero. Literally covers everything. Link leads to the first of six volumes. From 1788-1824, if you want something comprehensive, this is it.

John Polidori’s Diary

(1816) If you’re looking for some firsthand information coming from someone who traveled with Byron for over half a year, this is  the place to go.

 Conversations of Lord Byron

By Thomas Medwin, 1924. basically his records of conversations he had with Byron in the 1820s. Some information is kind of dubious, proceed with caution unless you can get your hands on a copy edited by Ernest Lovell.

Byron: A Biography

 By Leslie A. Marchand, 1951. Pretty much the best there is in terms of Byron Biographies. Currently out of print, but finding a cheap, used copy isn’t difficult.

Byron: A Portrait

 Also by Leslie A. Marchand, 1979. Shorter and gayer than the last one; also very good. Also currently out of print, but again, not difficult to find a used copy.

Films:

Gothic (1986)

Campy 80’s semi-horror exploitation film about Byron Shelley Shelley and Polidori over the summer of 1816. Horrible mischaracterisation of basically everyone. Kind of disgusting, but delightful at the same time.

Haunted Summer (1988)

 Another campy 80’s movie, slightly better characterisation if you squint. Everyone’s hair is the wrong color and everyone has sex with everyone. That being said, not as inaccurate as Gothic. 

Byron (2003)

 Probably the best/most accurate Byron movie around. It covers most of his life as a poet, as well as his subsequent life in Greece. Still a bit off at times, but if you want to get a general idea of his life with only 3 hours of commitment, this is what you’re looking for.

 Other:

How To Be A Monster: Life Lessons From Lord Byron

 A 2013 article from The Awl, very short, but funny, and it should give you a basic impression of byron’s jerkassery and so forth.

Go forth and learn of the mad, bad, dangerous Lord Byron, my friend.

[pintoras]

Louise-Joséphine Sarazin de Belmont (French, 1790 – 1870): The Roman Theatre, Taormina (1825) (via The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

[vagabondzine]

I must stay alone and know that I am alone to contemplate and feel nature in full; I have to surrender myself to what encircles me, I have to merge with my clouds and rocks in order to be what I am. Solitude is indispensable for my dialogue with nature.

Caspar David Friedrich (via vagabondzine)

[seaglassandeelgrass]

—- Mrs. Bryan and her children- William Nutter and Samuel Shelley (1797)

"An engraved portrait of Margaret Bryan (fl. 1795-1816), educator and writer on natural philosophy, with her daughters. They are depicted with a telescope, armillary sphere, globe, sextant and dividers. Bryan ran a boarding-school for girls at Blackheath from 1795 to 1806, opened a school in London in 1815, and moved to Margate in 1816, where she also ran a school. Unusually, she included science and mathematics as subjects suitable for girls. Her books include A Compendious System of Astronomy (1797) (from which this image is taken), Lectures on Natural Philosophy (1806), An Astronomical and Geographical Class Book for Schools (1815). She was able to obtain the approval of the mathematician Charles Hutton (1737–1823), and was a friend of the Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskeleyne (1732–1811). She was the scientific advisor for a 1804 revised version of the board game ‘Science in Sport, or the Pleasures of Astronomy’" (x)

[pintoras]

Marie-Victoire Lemoine (French, 1754 – 1820): The Interior of an Atelier of a Woman Painter (1796) (via The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

[sixthbaron-deactivated20200711]

O mighty mind, in whose deep stream this age Shakes like a reed in the unheeding storm, Why dost thou curb not thine own sacred rage?

P.B. Shelley, ‘Fragment: To Byron’ (via sixthbaron)

[loeilballon]

Francisco de Goya, Los Caprichos - n° 74 “No grites, tonta” (1799)

[1910-again-deactivated20180810]

Johan Christian Dahl, Clouds in Moonlight October 5, 1849

[creativity--takescourage]

Ivan Aivazovsky

Battle of Sinop

Battle of Chios

Battle of Navarino

"One of the most prominent Russian artists of his time, Aivazovsky was also popular outside Russia. He held numerous solo exhibitions in Europe and the United States. During his almost sixty-year career, he created around 6,000 paintings, making him one of the most prolific artists of his time. The vast majority of his works are seascapes, but he often depicted battle scenes, Armenian themes, and portraiture. Most of Aivazovsky’s works are kept in Russian, Ukrainian and Armenian museums as well as private collections."

[incorrectromanticism-deactivate]

I’m stressed, depressed, but well dressed.

Lord Byron (via incorrectromanticism)

[vagabondzine]

Moritz von Schwind - Nixies and drinking deer, 1846

[superbestiario]

Gustave dore, The holy bible.  On wikiart

Adam and Eve Are Driven out of Eden

Cain Slays Abel

The Confusion of Tongues (The tower of Babel)

The Deluge

Jacob Wrestling with the Angel

Samson Slays a Lion

The Destruction of Leviathan

David Slays Goliath

Zechariah, the vision of the four war chariots

The Vision of Death

[alwaysenduphere]

Le génie du mal [The genius of evil, aka; Lucifer]; Guillaume Geefs 

“The statue was originally a commission for Geefs’ younger brother Joseph, who completed it in 1842 and installed it the following year. It generated controversy at once and was criticized for not representing a Christian ideal.The cathedral administration declared that “this devil is too sublime.” The local press intimated that the work was distracting the “pretty penitent girls” who should have been listening to the sermons.” [x]

[The original ‘sublime’ version shown below, and the ‘revised’ one in the photoset above]

[kaon4shi-deactivated20160722]

> Make sculpture of the devil

> No this sculpture is too hot for church

> Make another one

> It’s even hotter