The romantic art basically emphasized on women and children, the heroic isolation of the artist or narrator and respect for a new, wilder, untrammeled and “pure” nature. Some of the distinct characteristics of the romantic period were:
• Increased nationalism and exoticism: Artists used their work for highlighting national identity. They displayed exoticism by painting new and foreign things, including far away places and objects.
• More interest in the nature and the supernatural: During the romantic period, many artists painted landscapes. They quite often used nature to convey emotions. The romantic artists painted from many supernatural texts and stories. The romantic period was a time of surging emotions and the supernatural represented cupids, demons and many other similar characters.
• Individuality: the romantic period focused on loosing formal constraints and giving way to artists to show their individual ideas and emotions. Many artists during this period developed their own unique styles, like Goya, who became the pioneer of new artistic tendencies, which were commonly used in the 19th century.
• Change in style of artists: The romantic period marked a change from the traditional decadent and rococo styles to the vivid, detailed and passionate artworks created by romantic artists. The new style of art explored the human heart, heroism of a revolutionary age or sometimes the emotional aspects of life.
• Heroism: Heroism became a big thing during the romantic period. Barring the common beliefs that heroism just meant supernatural myths and imaginary people, artists like Beethoven believed that the common man could also be a hero and this idea they painted in the romantic period.
Some of the greatest artists of the Romantic Period were:
- Thomas Cole
- Albert Bierstadt
- Jacques-Louis David
