Romanticism: Painting Love and Passion

German landscape painter David Casper Friedrich infused the romantic element with allegories. For French painter William Bouguereau, the art of painting was a proper means to adore the beauty of women. The bare body females painted by him are like the representatives of freedom and love. He painted many canvases showing the natural beauty of women.

ROMANTICISM ARTISTS

Bouguereau: Painting Photo-Realistic Figures :

For Bouguereau the art of painting was an allegory. He had painted the movements of female body extremely beautiful. In many of his paintings, we can see the hips of a cloth-less woman swinging.

Here in this bare-body painting,The Wave, the charm and physical beauty of the woman competes with the strength of roaring waves of seawater. This painting is one of the most beautiful paintings done in photo realistic style.Bouguereau was pupil of Jacques-Louis David.

Picot: Painting Romantic Women : The artists like François-Édouard Picot (1786-1868) would not only look at the methods of paintings, they would try painting emotions through the brushes loaded with their artistic prowess. The play of boundless emotion would be the base, a romantic artist would consider as primary goal. Realistic approach or following the rules set by convention were not vital for these artists influenced by romanticism.

Theme: Romanticism Movement Painting Freedom and Emotions

The painting of human form is ancient one. But we can say that the days of pictorial composition had taken it full fight during the period of renaissance. The artists after that era started working with a method. That gave bestowed much respect to the art of painting in general and the figurative painting in particular.

Leda and Swan -by Picot

It is Greek Mythology that Zeus had come to Leda in shape of a swan. and Leda had given birth to Helen, the daughter of Zeus even if she was not his wife. The above painting is depiction of that mythological story in a romantic style of painting.

Disciple of the master painter like Jacques-Louis David and teacher of the photo realistic artist William Adolf Bouguereau, Picot was a person who painted the sensual female figures. Here in this painting ‘Leda and Swan', he has depicted a mythological story of love of a woman Leda and a bird the Swan. The subject is a mythological one, but the theme of the painting is to show the romantic gestures of a cloth-less female figure. On seeing the painting 'Leda and Swan' we see how the bare bodied female feels it comfortable in that position. This depicts that the the artist was free of conventions showing suppression on the face of a woman sitting so cloth-less.

The romantic artists saw how the figure could be showing emotions and how far the basic elements like emotions were revealed on canvas. Later the romantic painters like Bouguereau searched for infusing the beauty of the form into the painting. (Image courtesy By François-Édouard Picot (1786–1868) Date of birth/death 17 October 1786(1786-10-17) 15 March 1868(1868-03-15) Location of birth/death Paris Paris Work period ca. 1813-1868 Work location Paris [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons)

Jacques-Louis David Painting Cloth-less man :

David: If we prepare a list of the painters attached with neoclassicism movement, the name of David, Jacques-Louis David, would come on top. He is believed to be the true founder of French Neoclassicism movement of the art of painting. His pictorial representations possessed the features ofsculptures; and his colours on the paintings were smooth looking.

American Artists : Painting Women : I

n this painting Fantasia, Brazilian artist Antonio Parreiras has depicted his control over the use of limited palette and the use of brush strokes. Here the model woman is working without wearing clothes. She is doing some artwork on an earthen pot. She looks comfortable in sitting and doing work, even there is no single clothes on.

Romanticism Artists Painting Cloth-less Women :

Theme: Romanticism Artists Painting Emotions and Freedom of Expression through Landscapes and Clothe-less men and Women Figures

In ordinary life we use the words ‘Romantic’ or ‘Romanticism’ in its general sense. But while we talk about the movements of arts which have kept the world of art so alive, these words refer to a specific meaning. If we think in larger perspective, the word ‘Romanticism’ reminds us the concept that leads artists to show sentiments and inner feelings.

Ballerina Carlotta Chabert as Venus -by Francesco Hayez

Realism Vs Romanticism

Artists have always respected the reality. But the period of romanticism had paid less attention to the aspects of idealism or reality. The artists following romanticism believed that the passion of love prevails over all the other things. While standing before their canvases, these painters would not confine their artistic passion into watertight compartments.

Freedom of Expression in Art: The artists value the freedom of expression as a major factor. While painting their art pieces, these artists flying on the wings of their imaginations would ignore most of the social norms. They would keep their eyes blinded for the set of rules written by convention. During eighteenth and nineteenth century, the Romanticism movement in art sector provided them extensive opportunity. These artists crossed all the boulders blocking their path and endeavoured to reclaim the artistic freedom. The romanticism artists like Ingress loaded their brushes with the colours of free play of emotion. They gave free hand to their imaginative powers.

They were not unrealistic in every respect. The paintings done in the romantic style had given much space to the element of nationalism, too. This factor made them feeling themselves attached with the ground reality. If we see the paintings done my French artists, we should not miss noticing praise of Napoleon in those artworks. Paintings of Spanish artist Goya showed horror of war as one of his prime subjects. Thus these paintings also carry a nationalistic spirit.

Romantic Painters Searching New Perspectives: The romantic artists were on a journey searching for the new aspects of human nature and the elements that shape our personality. They would choose their subjects according to their imagination. Thereafter they would infuse those imaginations into the figures and objects they painted. Being fascinated by the beauty of nature, romanticism movement has created many good landscape painters. {Image courtesy By Francesco Hayez (1791–1882) Description Italian painter Date of birth/death 11 February 1791(1791-02-11) 11 February 1882(1882-02-11) Location of birth/death Venice Milan Work location Milan, Venice, Rome [null], from Wikimedia Commons ]

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hey were not unrealistic in every respect. The paintings done in the romantic style had given much space to the element of nationalism, too. This factor made them feeling themselves attached with the ground reality. If we see the paintings done my French artists, we should not miss noticing praise of Napoleon in those artworks. Paintings of Spanish artist Goya showed horror of war as one of his prime subjects.Thus these paintings also carry a nationalistic spirit. [ Image courtesy By William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905) Alternative names Bouguereau, Adolphe-William Description French painter Date of birth/death 30 November 1825(1825-11-30) 19 August 1905(1905-08-19) Location of birth/death La Rochelle La Rochelle [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons ]