THE ROMANTIC EDITION
John William Waterhouse
John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) was an English artist best known for embracing the legacy of Pre-Raphaelite artists – a group of English poets, painters, and critics who rebelled against the art establishment and the mechanic approach to art first adopted by Mannerist artists. Pre-Raphaelite artists took inspiration from Early Renaissance painting and Romantic painters, championing artistic individuality and individual methods of depiction.
His artworks usually depict heroines of classical and romantic literature, Greek mythology, and the Arthurian cycle through oil and watercolour paints. He would eventually experiment with en plain air painting in the second half 1880s (painting outdoors as opposed to in a studio), often through oil mediums, enhancing his treatment of landscape painting.
Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) was best known as one of the leading figures of the German Romantic movement. His primary interest was the contemplation of nature, and his messages of the Sublime, referring to “an aesthetic of immeasurable greatness” expressed by Romantic artists, came through this portrayal of landscapes, in which the concept of nature’s vast infinity and imaginative potential is explored with reference to religious iconography.
Friedrich’s own experiences with depression influenced his work, reflecting his mental state through the use of a darker, more muted palette and the integration of motifs and symbols such as vultures, owls, graveyards and ruins. His own patriotism as an anti-French German nationalist also impressed upon his work, in which he drew inspiration from his homeland to celebrate his German heritage. Additionally, he undertook a number of paintings in which he intended to convey political symbols solely by means of the landscape—a first in the history of art.