Romantic/Classical Comparison

Introduction -- In the 19th century freedom of thought, individuality of expression, and above all the power of feeling, caused a revolution in all aspects of humanity. Tradtional (classical) concepts of religion, morality, science, social structure, politics, beauty, music, philosophy, and art in general were completly transformed. Wordsworth has maintained that the fundamentals of arts are "spontaneous overflow of emotion" and "sincerity." These ideas carried to their ultimate could result in anarchy but most romantic artists evolved from and remained closely tied to the Classical traditions rather than totally rejecting them.

Task -- Using the basic Principles and Elements of Design we will compare and contrast 18th Century Classical and 19th Century Romantic artistic style in painting and show how these are directly linked to major changes in thought and perception in the 19th century. Your final product will be either a PowerPoint presentation or any web based program that will allow direct access to images on the web.

Process --Create a table listing in one column the Principles/Elements of Design.

In a second column provide a description of each characteristic for 18th Classicism and in the next column a description of each characterstic for 19th Romanticism. Include in these descriptions the title and location of an image that illustrates your description. As you research your images you will encounter statements describing a variety of 19th concepts. In a fourth column list the 19th Romantic concepts/ideas that are represented in your chosen image.

For Example:

Principals/elements of Design 18th c. Classsicism 19th c. Romanticism 19th. Concepts/ideas

Form
description of Classical concept of form description of Romantic concept of form One of the issues or concepts reflected in 19th c. form

Image location needs to include complete web address, title of painting, artist, and museum or physical location of the painting.

Resources

Description Link

Neoclassicism to Romanticism http://www.calvin.edu/~twagstro/art/

Principals and Elements of Design Principles of Design

Study Guide daphne.palomar.edu/mhudelson/StudyGuides/NeoCvsRomant_WA.html

Excellent Art search engine. Find what you need! www.artcyclopedia.com/

Web Museum http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/

Neoclassicism Tour www.NGA.GOV/collection/gallery/gg56/gg56-main1.html

Our own Home Page ARHS Romanticism

18thc. France- Enlightenment http://www.NGA.GOV/collection/gallery/gg55/gg55-main1.html

Romantic/Realism Tour www.NGA.GOV/collection/gallery/gg93/gg93-main1.html

Evaluation Rubric-- Your work will be evaluated based upon the comprehensiveness of the Principals/Elements of design, your ability to find appropriate examples of each, the correlation of 19th issues represented in each image. This will constitute 50% of your grade. You final conclusions (see below) will constitute 50% of your grade.

Conclusion -- You now have explored a wide variety of Classical and Romantic Art.

Select two 18th century examples and two 19th century examples. Describe each in detail discussing the elements and issues illustrated in each. Include either a hard copy or JPEG version of your images. Be sure to completely identify the source, artist, title, and physical location of your image.

Your final product will be either a PowerPoint presentation or any web based program that will allow direct access to images on the web.