Art Throughout History

Throughout the 19th century, history was brought through generations with multiple things: artifacts newspapers and the arts. The arts are so powerful and compelling that they carry messages from past events into present time. The inspiration and influence of art assists history through the ages into what is taught and learnt now. The arts are the essence of like in the 19ths century, the way people feel about themselves, the world around them and their thoughts on the events. The Romantic era spread from 1750-1850, romanticism is an artistic and intellectual movement which originated in Europe in the late 18th century.

Throughout history romanticism has been portrayed by art in multiple ways. In paaintings with colour, you can sense the feeling or mood in the painting. In William Blake's painting "The Resurrection" you can tell the colours are to represent somberness. The dramatic poses are almost elongated by the colour choice of whites and darks, with the subtlest hint of colours in certain parts of the painting. If the colours were to be red and orange rather than just simple shades of black and white the mood would completely change and then painting would take on a whole new meaning. The texture also portrays romanticism, by how thick or thin the paint is laid on. In Francisco de Goya's, "The Colossus", you can see that the feeling is powerful by looking at the thick lines and brush strokes representing power and strong will. Lastly, the physical features on people's faces can represent any mood, and show any sort of event that is occurring. Frowns, scowls, smiles, blurred faces; these are all a part of portraying emotions. Without the viewing of facial features emotions would also be difficult to figure out, facial features bring out the moods of the people. In Gericault's "The Raft of the Medusa" the centre of the painting is a man scowling, almost looking confused, thinking hard or making a decision. As the younger man lays across him looking, peaceful and somewhat ill or deceased. A very well-known painting; "Liberty Leading the People" by Eugene Delacroix is a grand representation of history through art in the Romantic Era. It was a fairly gruesome painting for that time, and although based on the French Revolution of 1830 it was greatly romanticized by Delacroix. With bodies piled high and a bare-breasted woman denoting liberty, carrying the national flag through the burning city; this was definitely a different piece of art with plenty of emotion. All of these are aspects of how history is portrayed through art; with these key things you can bring any event back to life through a piece of art, hundreds of years later. (Moments in Art: Romanticism)