From the Enlightenment to Romanticism (19th century)
The activity of William Blake
England at war with France until almost 1815, the final victory of Waterloo; the beginning of the Romantic Movement at the end of the 18th cent - against the rule of reason and the restraints of Classicism. Romanticism = the glorification of freedom, imagination, and emotion, the rediscovery of wonder, a retreat from the town to the country, to medieval romance, the mysterious, irrational and supernatural.
The cult of nature, the landscape, architectural cult of the picturesque
1795 John Carter published his Ancient Architecture of England and in the same year James Wyatt began the building of Fonthill Abbey, a vast Gothic mansion in Wiltshire resembling a cathedral, with soaring central octagonal tower (Fonthill built for the millionaire William Beckford who wrote the Gothic story Vathec, a fantastic book of black magic).
Jeremy Bentham (died in 1832) and his concept of “utilitarianism”: only the thing which is useful contributes to human happiness. Utilitarianism = radical democracy = `every man is count for one and no man for more than one' - John Stuart Mill (see the relevant handout for Carlyle, Mill and Arnold as the most representative views of the century in terms of history, philosophy, individualism, culture and politics);
Most important views of the 19th century: liberty, free trade, enlightened self-interest, restriction of State action, laissez-faire =an idealistic philosophy which meant to promote happiness (to leave the workman unprotected by the State as to wages, hours and factory conditions, while denying him the right to protect himself by combination = unjust; it was the liberty for the master and repression for the men); when it led to the misery of the greatest number it was Utilitarianism that inspired people's protection. Protecting the workmen Ricardo demanded the legalization of the trade unions.
The sculpture of John Flaxman - for the Protestant Church (a counterpart of Michaelangelo in Catholic church); his sculptures in St. Paul's cathedral: Lord Howe and Nelson.
- the age of Bowdler (to bowdlerize =to expurgate, to censor) and his expurgated Family Shakespeare in 1811: in his works most of females are heavily draped and mourning over funerary urns and his men- improving their minds with the book.
Music in England; Henry Bishop: composer of forgotten operas and incidental music for the trivialities of the stage; the music for the ballet Tamerlan et Bejazet - the first composer to have written the music for the ballet form of art imported from France (greatly developed in England esp. after the arrival of Marie Taglioni in 1820s. H. Bishop's opera The Maniac; the Philharmonic Society founded in 1813 - Bishop one of the directors and also taking over as a conductor to substitute the aging Clementi (Italian born composer and conductor); the Waverly Novels (Scott) provided him with the librettos for his Waverly Operas; professor of Music at Edinburgh and Oxford, the first musician knighted by Queen Victoria;
Opera confined to London but concerts were organized elsewhere; 1791 Haydn visited England and his Symphony in G major was christened “Oxford” - performed in the Sheldonian Theatre on the occasion of his receiving the honorary degree. German influences replace Italian and French; Anton Weber in England and his opera Oberon, commissioned by Kemble for Covent Garden (Weber died in London after performing 12 performances). Mendelssohn in London and his overture Midsummer Night's Dream and his journey to Scotland (Scottish Symphony inspired).
Painting. The visionary art of William Blake.
Henry Fuseli - German-Swiss who settled in England (1780), his Nightmare (unconscious mind), his Surrealistic interpretations of A Midsummer Night's Dream exhibited in the Shakespeare Gallery. Inspiration for Blake and Samuel Palmer (who painted apocalyptic visions of nature);
East Anglian painting - John Constable, the nature painter (for him it was important to “pursue nature” not to copy from it)- new freshness, brilliance and greenness rather than conventional colouring - revolutionary in this art (The Hay Wain, Leaping Horse, Brighton Beach with Colliers) - a faithful reproduction of English atmosphere of the 1820s.
J.M.William Turner, the landscape painter, topographical watercolour, oil paintings (eg. Calais Pier - dramatic: a torn white sail against the overcast sky, a heaving sea and groups of straining men; a mountain snowstorm Hannibal and His Army Crossing the Alps); his travels in Germany, Switzerland, France, and Italy - inspiration for his subjects; his paintings= interpretations of the elements: land, sea, air and fire, patterns of grey, blue, white, lemon, and crimson (plus passionate intensity and understanding).
Thomas Lawrence- painted portraits, the royalty and nobility of England and Europe.
2