The Raft of the Medusa and the Roots of Romanticism

The emphasis accorded these contingencies of physiognomy and the resolute refusal of any concession to our - or, so it would appear, antiquity’s - ideas of desirable physical appearance lead one easily to the conclusion that those portraits are uncompromising attempts to transcribe into plastic form the reality of what is seen, innocent of any “idealization” or programmatic bias. These are the portraits of the conservative nobility (and of their middle-class emulators) (luring the death-agonies of the Roman republic. There is no need to doubt that much of their character refers to quite real qualities of their subjects. These are men in later life because the carefully prescribed ladder of public office normally allowed those who followed it to attain only gradually and after many years to such eminence as would allow the signal honor of a public statue. One may well suppose that these hard-bitten and rather unimaginative faces closely reflect the prevailing temperament of the class and society to which they belong, and the twisted and

For centuries artists have moved audiences through the use of pictures. As time progressed those images became more and more demanding of the viewer until they were meant to invoke a physical response. Perhaps the earliest account of such emotionally exact artwork is the 1818 piece, Raft of the Medusa, by Theodore Gericault. As time progressed people became more politically aware and involved and generations of art portrayed this. Pablo Picasso's Guernica, created in 1937, is a great example of how modern times soon saw a peak in the occurrence of allegorical and politically packed artworks. Gericault's The Raft of the Medusa and Picasso's Guernica are both horrifying accounts of the nature of men that aimed to alter a viewer's political

The Romanticism art movement praised imagination over reason, emotions over logic, and literature over science. The Romanticism artists were known for replacing the classical 18th century literature heroes with much more complex and passionate characters. Romanticism focuses on self-expression and individual uniqueness that does not lend itself to be defined nor controlled by society. The landscape on Romanticism was commonly displayed in cool rich colors and untamed peaceful surroundings. In Romanticism, nature was used to represent the extension of the human personality, the capability of feeling love, serenity, and sympathy.

American Romanticism is a journey away from the corruption of civilization and the limits of rational thoughts, and toward the integrity of nature and the freedom of imagination. In other words, it is a journey away from industrialism or rationalism, which is working hard and earning money. This movement, originally started in Europe and later reached in America. It can be best defined as a thought that values feeling and intuition over reason. Some of the characteristics include the importance of feeling and intuition over reason, placing faith in inner experience and the power of imagination, preferring youthful innocence over educated sophistication, finding beauty and reality in exotic locales. It encouraged people to enjoy the integrity of nature and freedom of imagination. It also encouraged one to have faith in imagination and inner experience. In addition, romanticists found inspiration in myth, legend, and folk culture and found poetry as the highest expression of imagination. Romanticists believed that the landscape was regarded as an extension of the human personality, capable of sympathy with man 's emotional state, whereas nature was regarded as a vehicle for spirit just as man; the breath of God fills both man and the earth. However, romantics would create chaos when the issues were connected with human rights, individualism, and freedom from oppression (Arpin 138-150).

The Greek mythology presents Medusa as a monster, with the power to turn anyone who looks into her eyes to stone and with snakes that replicate her hair. But, in the poem by Mary Sarton “The Muse As Medusa” we see an incomparable image of Medusa to the Greek mythology. In this poem Medusa helps the speaker through a difficult time. The speaker depicts herself through her poem as someone who is lost, sad and defeated by the world around her. The speaker sees herself in Medusa, where they are both misinterpreted by the world around them. Medusa being powerful is able to cope with the world's misconception of her and shows the speaker how that's possible. The speaker takes into account how the world is the one that misinterpreted them and

The Raft of the Medusa was created by Theodore Gericault in the years 1818 and 1819 during the French Romantic period. This oil painting, which stands at a massive 491x716cm, was created to capture the tragedy of the Medusa.This essay discusses what the Raft of the Medusa was, the reasons behind why Theodore Gericault made this painting and the political impacts it had at the time it was made. The ‘Medusa’ was a french frigate that set sail in 1816 from Rochefort heading to Senegalese. Harris (2011) states that Gericault read an account by survivors about the tragedy of the shipwreck and was intrigued to learn more. He learnt that the

Romanticism was a period time 1750 to 1870 in Europe, Latin America and The United States. Romantic Movement didn’t reach to France until the 1820’s. Romanticism main spirit was against of rule, law and formulas that classicism the different characterized of general in 18th century. Imagination, Subjectivity of approach, freedom, Expression and the idealization of nature will be focused in movement of Romantic Literature. In this period industrial revolution with the social and political norms form as age of enlightenment and against of scientific rationalization of nature. Some Literature element of that period will be emotional, imagination and suspense. Romanticism movement brings some of different writes such as John Keats, Blake William, Wordsworth William and other. They came with the different illustrated, poetry that expresses the language, emotion and imagination. Romanticism is a phenomenon characterized by subjectivity of approach and reliance on the imagination, An Idealization of nature and freedom of though and expression.

Medusa means "sovereign female wisdom." In Sanskrit it's Medha. Medusa was originally a Libyan Goddess, worshiped by The Amazons as their Serpent-Goddess. She was considered the destroyer aspect of the Great Triple Goddess also called Neith, Anath, Athene or Ath-enna in North Africa and Athana in 1400. BC Minoan Crete. She can also be connected to Africa where she had a hidden, dangerous face, and her hair was represented as resembling dread locks. Libyan Amazons believed that no one could possibly lift her veil, and that to look upon her face was to glimpse one's own death as she saw yours.

A. The painting of Alcibiades on His Knees Before His Mistress was painted in French,

The background plot for the painting was borrowed from the Corneille’s play, Horace. The approximate symmetry of the painting becomes more prominent in the case when the viewer knows the story of the Corneille’s play. It is essential to refer to the fact that there is a difference between the right and left sides not only in terms of physical composition, but more than that, various emotional connotations are depicted by each ones.

The visual work I have chosen is the Bith of Venus and is one of the world’s most famous works of art. Painted by Sandro Botticelli between 1482 and 1485, it is the first example of painting on canvas. The written work I have chosen is the Stanze per la Giostra. It was written by Angelo Poliziano, written between 1475-8. Both works are examples from the Italian Renaissance era, during the Medici rule, and share the theme of beauty and humanism. The works I've selected share the same subject matter, Venus, and is the perfect example of beauty and humanism. She is the epitome of beauty and her birth from the sea is an example of her metamorphosis of humanism. For this paper, I will compare both works then discuss how the shared theme is seen in contemporary works. How does Venus and her beautiful metamorphosis fit into contemporary forms of beauty and humanism?

The sculptures “Apollo and Daphne” and “Two Women” share elements and principles with one another, such as shape, size and texture. Bernini’s work is a life size piece that complements the figure of the two characters. The facial expressions, hands, feet and hair of “Apollo and Daphne” are in reasonable detail; however there are no lines on the bodies to create depth and texture. On the other hand, Mueck challenge’s the viewer by changing the scale of his work, with “Two Women” minute and in incredible proportion with the features and figure of the women.

Throughout history, specifically in ancient Rome and Greece, people admired painting to the point where it was taught to every son of respectable families, yet forbidden to the slaves. This goes to show how this form of art in particular was considered fit only to those of high social class. Although it was reserved for the educated and cultured, painting attracted everyone and pleased them equally. In particular, “[n]ature herself delights in painting.”(Alberti 64) Alberti persists in showing us how painting is of nature; he first references nature by saying that Narcissus was the inventor of painting. In the myth of Narcissus, nature plays the role of the artist who paints a portrait so beautiful that Narcissus cannot take his eyes off of it. To further convince the reader of the pleasures painting gives, the author recounts a personal anecdote of how gratifying and relaxing painting can be.

Romanticism can be used to describe a time period when poets, painters, essayists and composers increasingly came to view nature itself as the greatest teacher (Sayre 177). Romantic artist believed that the past Classical values of dominance were over. Romanticism believed by a new way of living one where emotion and feeling can into play. Romantics had a very deep and passionate feeling for the beauty of nature and how it corresponds to life. The emotion of the new view of an individual creator, whose creative spirit is more important than strict adherence to formal rules and traditional procedures in romanticism (Britannica). I feel that people felt a time of relief when painting they did not need to feel like they were subject to a certain

Artists and paintings can have a significant influence over the general attitude of a time period by spreading a certain sentiment throughout their paintings, and overall these artists played a major role in the spread of romanticism during the late eighteenth century. The romantic movement defined Europe by shifting the focus from rationalism and classicism of the Enlightenment towards emphasizing the expression natural human emotions and imagination in art. Romanticism in general can be characterized as a sort of rebellious reaction to the Enlightenment and Neoclassicism, and the movement produced a new aesthetic form of art based around addressing human nature. In this way, romantic works successfully stood as sort of refreshing contrast to the overdone impressions of classicism. In the late eighteenth century, romanticism would continue to emerge as a literary, artistic, and musical movement throughout Europe.