Romantic Art and 18th Century

Romantic Art and 18th Century Revolution

The career of the French artist Jacques-Louis David bridges what is commonly thought of as the dividing line between Romantic and Neoclassical art. In works like "The Oath of the Horatii" and "The Death of Marat," elements of both periods are manifest. On one hand, particularly in "The Oath of the Horatii," the subject may seem Classical in its setting. David's works "The Death of Bara," "Lepeletier," or "Napoleon Crossing the Alps" portray their subjects in a heroic mold, similar to Classical sculpture in these painting's worship of the body, militarism, or athleticism. But the emotion and energy of David's works in the line of the human figures, and the story-like quality of the works takes them out of the pure Neoclassical mode.

Even in "The Oath of the Horatii," which was painted before the French Revolution, the young men do not simply take an oath and strike the viewer as excellent physical specimens, as they might in dispassionate Neoclassical reproductions. Instead, their faces, and the faces of the man holding the swords are agitated, and women in the background turn away in grief. "Marat" is not simply a portrait of a beautiful dead body. The subject's humble, naked position in the bath reminds the viewer of the French Revolution and the circumstances that spawned his death. In all of these words, partly as a reflection on the French Revolution and particularly the "Rights of Man," the individual is at the focus of David's art, not simply creating Neoclassical balance and proportional positioning of in the artist's composition. The individual may be beautiful and heroic, but still the historical story of the individual Horatii, Marat, or Napoleon has come to the forefront of the design and subject in a new and unique fashion.

Similarly, Antoine-Jean Gros' studies of Napoleon such as "Napoleon on the Battlefield of Eylau" and "Napoleon Bonaparte on Arcole Bridge" are of the moment, a part of Napoleon's life, and do not merely pay homage to him as a leader. The exoticism and escapism of Romantic Art is manifest by the focus in the features of Napoleon on the bright or the wider scenes of the battlefield. However, it is the works of Francisco Goya that perhaps most perfectly epitomizes the intense individualism and emotion of Romantic art. Even the titles of Goya's works like "Yo lo Vi (This I saw)" and "Para Eso Yo Nacido (for this I was born) places the artist's individual consciousness squarely in the center of the meaning of the painting. There is no attempt at objectivity, and no apology for the subjective nature of the representation.