Though the movement started in Germany, which preferred intuition and emotion to the rationalism of the Enlightenment, the French Revolution was definitely a contributing factor.
Thus, the early period of the Romantic Era proved chaotic. The French Revolution (1789–1799), followed by the Napoleonic Wars through 1815, along with the political and social turmoil, were the themes, motives and backgrounds for Romantic artists to use either to express their feeling about the events themselves or to envision the pursuit of a better tomorrow.
Philosophers and historians have agreed and disagreed on Romanticism, but it remains largely a movement that was one of rebellion.
The philosophy of Romanticism itself, was disturbing as seen by Isaiah Berlin (a 20th century Latvian-British social and political theorist, philosopher). He theorized that Romanticism had contributed for over a century to “the melting away of the very notion of objective truth.” Therefore, it is not surprising that the end of the Romantic Era
came, in some areas, with Realism, led in France by
Balzac and Flaubert in literature, and Courbet in painting.
The new genre wanted to return to a more rationalized and realistic interpretation of the surrounding world.
William Blake (1757–1827), The Wood of the Self-Murderers: The Harpies and the Suicide (1824). Illustrations to Dante's 'Divine Comedy.’ Graphite, ink and watercolor on paper. Tate Britain. PD.
14 | Ceres Magazine | Spring 2016
Sources: http://www.online-literature.com/periods/romanticism.php, http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/roma/hd_roma.htm, http://www.artsjournal.com/postclassic/2006/07/american_romanticism_music_vs.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/romanticism, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantic_music, https://michelkoven.wordpress.com/category/frederic-edwin-church/, http://www.wmich.edu/musicgradexamprep/RomanticIndex.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cole, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Goya, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_Edwin_Church