Day 62 - Romanticism

The term for the movement that flourished between 1800-1840, between Neoclassicism and Realism is called Romanticism. The roots of Romanticism are in the 18th century and the influences of  The Romantic painters flew in the face of the Enlightenment and tried to capture the exotic, erotic and fantastic in their art. Many of the Romantics emphasized freedom (as seen in Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, 1830) and feeling.  Henry Fuseli (1741-1825) a Swiss born painter from England was the first to attempt to depict the dark and ominous nature of the human subconscious.  Fuseli's work is very dark and gothic and he uses ghoulish lighting and demons in most of his work, he definitely seemed to be working through inner turmoil and his inner demons become manifest on the canvas.

Henry Fuseli, The Nightmare, (1781), Detroit Institute of Art.  This
painting was among the first to depict the dark nature of the Human subconscious

Henry Fuseli, The Mandrake: A Charm, (c. 1785)  An image of a grotesque witch
digging up a Mandrake root. The Mandrake was thought to have
mystical powers; it would scream or send out noxious fumes on being dug up.

References:

1. Gardner's Art Through the Ages, A Global History, 13th ed., by Fred S. Kleiner - Chapter 30
2. http://darkclassics.blogspot.com/2010/06/john-henry-fuseli-johann-heinrich.html
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Fuseli