Unit 4 exam question on romanticism

How Did Romantic Landscape Artists Portray The Elements Of The Sublime In Their Work?

What is the Sublime?

The sublime in a word cannot be easily defined. In fact, historically it was used to describe feelings of the experience of something quite extraordinary, aweinspiring, uplifting, beautiful, moving, transcendent, terrifying, magnificent or heavenly. Today however, the word sublime is used to describe the most normal of everyday experiences for example, ‘what a sublime goal’! or ‘the meal was sublime’!

To the Romantic artists the sublime held a deeper meaning and ideals that have been sought after within art and literature for centuries. In 1757 the philosopher Edmund Burke published a treatise on aesthetics (the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and appreciation of art, beauty and good taste) ‘A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful‘. In Sec V11 Of The Sublime Burke wrote:

“Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain, and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or

Edmund Burke

operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling….” 1 John Ruskin wrote of the theory of the sublime in his first volume of ‘Modern Painters’

“The fact is, that sublimity is not a specific term, — not a term descriptive of the effect of a particular class of ideas. Anything which elevates the mind is sublime, and elevation of mind is produced by the contemplation of greatness of ally kind....

Sublimity is, therefore, only another word for the effect of greatness upon the feelings; — greatness, whether of matter, space, power, virtue, or beauty....

The sublime is not distinct from what is beautiful, nor from other sources of pleasure in art, but is only a particular mode and manifestation of them”. 2

John Ruskin

In this essay I will be exploring how romantic landscape artists of the late 18th and early 19th century portrayed the sublime elements of nature in their works. I will be discussing the historical context, techniques, and methods employed in the works of three artists; JMW Turner, John Constable and Casper David Friedrich while tracing and explaining the inspiration behind each piece.

”I live not in myself, but I become Portion of that around me; and to me, High mountains are a feeling, but the hum Of human cities torture: I can see Nothing to loathe in nature, save to be A link reluctant in a fleshly chain, Class’d among creatures, when the soul can flee, And with the sky, the peak, the heaving plain Of ocean, or the stars, mingle, and not in vain”.

Lord Byron

Historical Context

bloodshed remained, a disenchanted attitude

The French Revolution 1789-99 marked a

failed to achieve all of its goals and at times

history starting in 1789 and ended in the late

movement played a critical role in shaping

Bonaparte. During this bloody period, French

power integral in the will of the people.

nations political landscape, uprooting and

During the same period Britain was in the

as an absolute sovereign and the feudal

18th and early 19th centuries was an era

followed. Although the French Revolution

pivotal turning point in modern European

collapsed into a disordered bloodbath, the

1790s bringing with it the ascent of Napoleon

modern nations by showing the world the

citizens destroyed and redesigned their

overthrowing centuries old institutions such

grips of the Industrial Revolution. The late

system, influenced largely by the principles of

of predominantly rural societies in Europe

the Enlightenment, particularly the concepts

of a popular monarchy and unchallengeable rights. The Enlightenment was a movement where thinkers wanted to create rational reasons and solutions to situations and

problems rather than drawing upon religion and superstition. However, when rational ideals failed and only revolution and

developing industry and urbanisation. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing was often carried out in people’s homes, using

hand tools or basic machines. Industrialisation heralded a shift towards powered, specialpurpose machinery, factories and mass

production. The textile and iron industries,

along with the growth of the steam engine,

played essential roles in the Industrial

Romanticism was borne as a reaction, against

transportation (the introduction of the railways)

classicism, as a rejection of the lucidity that

about an increased volume and variety of

Revolution in Europe had brought about

of living for some, it resulted in increasingly

for freedom and brotherhood leading to

for the poor and working classes.

towards the individual. The human form was

Revolution, which also saw improved systems of

the order and rigidity of Classicism and Neo-

and commerce. While industrialisation brought

characterised the Age of Enlightenment.

manufactured goods and an improved standard

significant social changes. The people longed

grim employment and bleak living conditions

new ideas and attitudes, with a rationale

already a prominent subject within the Neoclassical movement of intellectual painting.

Romanticism in Art The Romantic Movement that followed no strict structure in art started in Germany in the late 1700’s, it was established from a

sense of isolation and world-weariness or

“Weltschmerz”, rapidly the romantic ideas spread to England and France.

Neo-classical artists focused on traditionally

documenting history through close attention

to detail choosing to concentrate on the power of the subject matter drawing on elements

from antiquity while romantic artists played

with themes of man’s self elevation focussing

on nature and emotional individuality, a sense of self, creativity, imagination and the value of art to make a statement.

This role of the individual is reflected in the ideas of self-realisation through the act of contemplating and appreciating nature and all its wonders. The Romantics realised the importance of nature and the feelings of awe, apprehension and horror sensed by man on approaching elements of the sublime.

demand for towns and cities, disrupting man’s natural order. Nature was not only appreciated for its beauty, but to refocus on life before industrialisation.

As in art, the romanticism movement in music and literature coexisted alongside to communicate the fervent notions of the sublime, in an article by Professor Philip Shaw of the British Museum on discussing the poems of Lord Byron Shaw wrote: ”Romantic writers thought about the grandest and most terrifying aspects of nature, and the ways in which their writing responded to and influenced theories of the sublime”. 3 Byron wrote:

”I live not in myself, but I become Portion of that around me; and to me,

Detail from Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba, Claude Lorrain, 1648

Landscape painting as a genre began to grow in the 18th century, before then it was confined only as a backdrop to religious and historical paintings for instance in the work of Claude Lorrain yet it was false and stylised, merely administered to set the scene. Dutch painters such as Jacob van Ruysdael were beginning to paint in a more naturalistic manner based on what they actually observed. However, by the 19th century naturalistic landscape painting saw a remarkable popularity due in part to the industrial revolution, which transformed life from the peaceful countryside towards the

High mountains are a feeling, but the hum Of human cities torture: I can see Nothing to loathe in nature, save to be A link reluctant in a fleshly chain, Class’d among creatures, when the soul can flee, And with the sky, the peak, the heaving plain Of ocean, or the stars, mingle, and not in vain”. 4 Shaw goes on to say: ”When Byron writes of his wish to ‘mingle’ his ‘soul’ with the mountains, the ocean and the stars, he echoes over a century’s worth of thought about the relationship between human beings and the grand or terrifying aspects of nature”. 5

How did Turner portray the elements of the sublime in nature?

Joseph Mallord Turner 1775-1851 was the son of a London barber and was often described as the greatest landscape painter of the 19th century. He was fascinated by and passionate about the powers of nature.

Turner was a sickly child, and was sent to live with his uncle in rural England when he was ten years old, where he began his career as a landscape painter, bringing light and romantic imagery to his subjects. Initially his paintings were realistic developing into a more impressionistic style as he progressed in his career. The young artist enrolled in the Royal Academy and quickly began exhibiting his watercolours, which he had adapted from earlier drawings.

Fishermen at Sea, JMW Turner, 1796

In 1796 Turner exhibited his works at the Royal Academy beginning with the moonlit ‘Fishermen at Sea‘.

Three years later, he was elected to be an

headed to Europe where he witnessed the

Early in the 19th century, Turner began to travel, looking for inspiration abroad, he

Of all the romantic painters influenced by the aesthetic of the sublime, Turner’s works

associate of the Royal Academy. In 1802 he became a full academician, shortly after he was made a professor of perspective. During this time, his mother was committed to a mental hospital and his father moved in with him and began his lifelong role as his son’s studio assistant and manager due to the amount of commissions Turner was receiving for his success.

works of the ‘Great Masters’ in the Louvre Paris, as a result he produced more then 400 drawings. Predominately landscapes, although Turner’s seascapes proved to display his technique for varying settings within the style.

The prolific artist set out to document the nuance and variety within landscape portrayal from historical and architectural to pastoral and marine.

Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway.

JMW Turner, Oil on canvas 1844, (91 cm × 121.8 cm)

have been widely recognised as the most successful in capturing the effect. Turner conveyed the full impact of nature in his later works, preferring to work in oils Turner worked quickly and freely. In his most romantic pieces he tried to capture the power of nature unleashing violent, lashing storms, scraping the surface of his canvasses to form blended swirling mixtures of colour and light.

way of travelling and of seeing the world.

This painting was the first work of art created as a result to the artist’s direct experience of landscape. Turner was so excited by this new mode of transport and the sensation of speed that he was said to have stuck his head out of a moving carriage during an intense storm in order to experience the full power of the elements.

Exhibited at the Royal Academy 1844, Rain, ’Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway’ depicts the Maidenhead Railway Bridge across the River Thames. It is painted in oil on canvas.

John Ruskin commented that Turner painted ‘Rain, Steam and Speed’ ”to show what he could do with so ugly a subject” 6 suggesting a general perception of the material conditions of the Industrial Revolution helped bring about a crisis in the sublime.

With the advent of the railways, the British landscape was transforming and so was the pace of life. Train travel opened up a new

The Hare, with reference to the old perception of speed

Rapid brushstrokes, dramatic infusion of colours creating the illusion of form and speed

The sublime elements of this painting are concentrated on the storm, contrasting with the power of the new technology that splits through the rain towards us evoking a heightened emotion of awe. The majority of the painting is illegible, swathed within a dramatic infusion of colour, of rapidly applied brushstrokes of yellows, blues, greys and browns of land and sky. Yet Turner’s use of perspective converge at the point where the black imposing shape of the engine penetrates from the distance horizon in sharp contrast to the haze of nature. It is the main focal point like a mechanical iron beast. The driving rain dissolves the image creating an illusion of form and speed. To the left of the composition is a very faint indication of a stone bridge reminiscent of the old modes of transport, faint as if a mere

Stone bridge, faint as if a memory and the tiny tug boat reminiscent of the old modes of transport

memory. There is also a little tug boat and tiny human figures gazing up at the spectacle, they appear somewhat overshadowed and insignificant by this new technology. On much closer inspection Turner has incorporated a humorous component in the form of a small hare on the track this is probably in reference to the older symbol of speed from the fable of the tortoise and the hare.

Catastrophe and doom was a common theme in the romantic period. None more so then in natural phenomena or in the notion of peril that surrounded shipwreck and drowning which became a popular theme in the 19th century. Turner not only painted landscapes he also produced many seascapes with several pieces examining the effects of an elemental whirlpool or vortex

Snow Storm - Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth, JMW Turner, Oil on Canvas, 1842 (91.4 x 121.9 cm)

’Snow storm – Steam Boat off a Harbours Mouth’ is a perfect example of the portrayal of the sublime in nature.

There is a famous story that refers to Turner imaging this scene while strapped to the mast of a ship during a ragging storm at sea. The story albeit arguable,

demonstrates Turner’s passion and engagement with the natural world, in his insatiable desire to capture the very essence of the sublime. Turner is rumoured to have recalled:

The swirling curves of an elemental vortex

“I wished to show what such a scene was like, I got the sailors to lash me to the mast to observe it, I was lashed for four hours, and I did not expect to escape, but I felt bound to record it if I did.� 7

Dramatically exhilarating, this image instils a powerful visual effect, a fragile steamboat in the heart of the scene struggles to stay afloat in the middle of the vortex of a storm. The swirling shapes and blurred muted colours of brown and yellow hues, transmits a confused feeling of being caught up in the terror and turmoil of the dark encompassing wind and waves that loom over the ship moments before engulfing the tiny vessel.

The vessel can be interpreted as a symbol of mankind’s futile efforts to resist the forces of nature.

Again Turner used rapid and free brush movements building up layers of paint to achieve an almost impressionistic effect. The swirling motions and lighting create the dynamic chaotic result Turner wanted to convey, striving to simulate the true nature of a storm at sea. Amidst the vortex the bright white of the sail draws the eye directly to the vessel illuminating it and emphasising its surrender to the elements.

How did Constable portray the elements of the sublime in nature?

A contemporary of JMW Turner, John Constable 1776-1837 was born to a wealthy corn merchant family in Suffolk, England. His father was eager for his son to take over the family business, however, Constable’s love for art developed at a young age and he defiantly became an artist. John Constable loved the English countryside where he grew up and the focus of his work was on the natural English landscape.

Rejecting the ideals the artists of the Neoclassical era who employed landscape as a backdrop to historical and mythical scenes.

Constable used his work to show off the beauty and power of nature. Today his work is considered the embodiment of the Suffolk landscape (Constable Country) epitomising of the ‘Romantic Movement’ and the classical English countryside.

Early in his career Constable was introduced to art collector George Beaumont who showed Constable his prized Landscape ”Hagar and the Angel” by Claude Lorrain”.

This painting greatly influenced his technique as a landscape artist. Constable would draw on the inspiration nature gave him and try to capture a moment in time, testing his composition first in oil and pencil sketches.

John Constable received no formal training as an artist he was largely self-taught. As a youth Constable would embark on sketching trips in the Suffolk countryside subjects that would later be feature hugely in paintings. Constable remarked that these scenes ‘made me a painter and I am grateful’, ‘the sound of the water escaping from mill dams etc, willows, old rotten planks, slimy posts, and brickwork, I love such things’.8 Constable would spend hours sketching clouds in what he referred to as his “skying” sessions.

Example of ‘Skying’

This skill is evident in his later works as the artist perfectly recreates cloud formations and sunlight.

Constable’s compositions were determined by what he saw in front of him and the nature of the English countryside choosing to layer colours of red and green to build up texture.

Hagar and the Angel, Claude Lorrain, 1646,

Deham Vale, John Constable, 1802

Constable’s father agreed to grant him an allowance and he did enter the Royal Academy for a short time where he studied life classes and the old masters it was here he became inspired by Thomas Gainsborough, Claude Lorrain and Paul Rubens. Dedham Vale painted in 1802 shows clearly inspired by Lorrain’s Hagar and the Angel.

autobiographical approach, recording the rural settings of his early life of a vanishing landscape reminiscing on times before the Industrial Revolution, images that included people working the land. ’The Hay Wain’ portrays a site in Suffolk, near Flatford on the River Stour and depicts a typical tranquil rural scene.

In comparison to Turner his landscapes represented more naturalistic, calm aspects of romanticism focusing on pastoral, picturesque subjects therefore it is harder to describe Constable as an artist of the ‘sublime’ due in part to his devout Christian upbringing, Constable very rarely used the word ‘sublime’ in his own writings; significantly when he did it is almost always was in a religious context.

A closer look at ’The Hay Wain’ 1821 and ‘Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’1831, however, contradicts that idea. For the most part Constable’s work reflected a nostalgic

The hay wain, a type of horse-drawn cart, stands in the shallow water making its way to the mill while a small brown and white dog observes them. Across the meadow in the distance are a group of haymakers working in the intermitting sunlight, above them billowing clouds that dominate the sky with patches of blue on a blustery day. The cottage on the left belonged to a farmer and good friend of the Constable family Willy Lott which stands behind Flatford Mill and remains to this day. Unlike the style of his contemporaries Constable’s paintings are not

The Hay Wain, John Constable, Oil on Canvas 1821

symmetrical in composition concentrating on the aesthetics. Instead, Constable preferred to structure his works so each element was principle to the scene, however, with a clear emphasis on the sky. John Constable’s romantic techniques were innovative for the era, he was keen to depict nature as precisely as possible using quick brushstrokes and thick rapid marks with a palette knife to capture moving clouds and rain soaked fields, his technique for applying white paint directly as a highlighting tool was greatly criticised in England and the ‘The Hay wain‘ was not well received at the Royal Academy yet it won a gold medal at the Paris Salon.

The painting was particularly admired by the French Romantic artist Eugene Delacroix

who expressed: ”Constable says that the superiority of the green in his meadows is due to the fact that it is composed of a multitude of different greens.... what he says about the green of his grasslands can be applied to all other tones”. 9 Delacroix hailed Constable as ‘the father’ of modern French landscape painting.

The Suffolk scene, was created in the artist’s studio in London although Constable made a number of preliminary ‘plein air‘ - open-air sketches of the scene. He then made a fullsize preparatory sketch in oil to establish the composition. His full size sketches became famously known as ‘six-footers’.

The Hay Wain

Salisbury Catherdralf from the meadows, both paintings share a similar rural setting of pre-Industrial Revolution simple farming vehicles shown in the horse and cart.

’Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’ is one of a series of monumental ‘six-footer’ canvases painted by the artist. These finest of paintings were reserved for the Royal Academy exhibitions where he wanted to create the most impact.

In Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’ 1831 we are struck by the impact of an impending thunderstorm indeed a very

sublime concept. A preliminary studio sketch, about a quarter of the size of the full-scale sketch demonstrates a much more impressionist unrefined version depicting the imposing spire of the Cathedral with a storm brewing in the dark clouds. The colour palette is very characteristic of Constable’s work dark, mid and light greys, reds, blues and greens as so revered by Delacroix typically describes an approaching storm that is a

Salisbury Catherdral for the meadows, (preliminary sketch) John Constable, Oil on Canvas, 1831

Salisbury Catherdral for the meadows, John Constable, Oil on Canvas, 1831 (151.8cm x 189.9 cm)

Salisbury Catherdral from the meadows, the threat of a thunderstorm, billowing storm clouds and rainbow the symbol of hope, (the swelling of an interminable sky).

The arc of the symbolic rainbow ends at Archdeacon John Fisher’s cottage.

quintessentially English scene. The finished article displays a more sophisticated handling with the latter including the striking arc of a rainbow this element Constable added in as an after-thought. Dissimilar to previous paintings, ’Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’ was in fact, produced as a tribute to his close friend and confidant the Archdeacon John Fisher who had helped Constable after the death of his beloved wife Maria. Constable’s temperament had changed into a sorrowful nature resulting in a heavily influenced and more emotional, melancholy mood. It is probable that Constable’s Christian faith may have floundered during this difficult period of his life and is entirely possible that the rainbow held a highly significant symbolic meaning.

Indeed, this symbolic reading from James Thomson’s poem The Seasons (1727), which Constable choose to accompany the painting’s title makes reference to the ‘sublime’ swelling of an ‘interminable’ sky:

As from the face of heaven the scatter’d clouds Tumultous rove, th’interminable sky Sublimer swells, and o’er the world expands A purer azure. Through the lightened air A higher lustre and a clearer calm Diffusive tremble; while, as if in sign Of danger past, a glittering robe of joy, Set off abundant by the yellow ray, Invests the fields, and nature smiles reviv’d. 10 The composition of this painting displays strong similarities to the ‘Hay wain’; a cart and horses in the foreground likewise stands in the river and again a little farm dog, all characteristics of rural serenity yet they appear inferior against the turbulent menacing sky of swelling storm clouds. The spire of the cathedral (a religious reference) points directly to the looming darkening of the heavens. Yet, just above the spire there is a patch of white cloud a little symbol of hope drawing the eye to the curve of the rainbow which, coincidently ends at the location of Archdeacon John Fisher’s cottage.

Stonehenge, John Constable, Watercolor on paper, 1836

Constable visited Stonehenge in the summer of 1820, where he made a preliminary sketch that was eventually to become another largescale watercolour for his last exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1836.

The finished work in Victoria and Albert Museum, was captioned: ‘the mysterious monument... standing remote on a bare and boundless heath’.

Stonehenge in contrast to the ‘The Hay Wain’ and ‘Salisbury Cathedral’ portrays a sense of danger, intrepidation, terror, obscurity and power the idea of the ‘sublime’ as proposed

by Edmund Burke, who wrote “Stonehenge, neither for disposition nor ornament, has anything admirable; but those huge rude masses of stone, set end on end, and piled high on each other, turn the mind on the immense force necessary for such a work.”11 This is certainly In keeping with the romantic appreciation of desolate landscape.

The ancient ruins of Stonehenge was painted

at a sad period in the artist’s life. Both his wife, and his closest friend, John Fisher, had died, and two of his seven children had left home.

It is possible Constable painted ‘Stonehenge’ to express his sadness and loneliness in this disconsolate scene. Again Constable has displayed all the typical attributes of broad brushstrokes capturing the ever changing nature of the weather which is emphasised in all its grandeur, highly contrasting colours, stormy and menacing, Constable liked to place the horizon low in order to encompass a large dominating sky. The stone monument in ruins in the centre and bottom half of the composition are heavy, some upturned they certainly appear bleak, cold and remote in shadows caused by the darkening sky.

Perhaps the subject of the ruins was how Constable saw himself a broken man, after the tragic loss of his wife while the double rainbow, which was a recurrent theme in Constable’s later work symbolised the return of the sun after the rain.

How did Friedrich portray the elements of the sublime in nature?

The concept of the ’sublime’ in the Romantic Movement can really be discovered in the works of the prominent German romantic artist Casper David Friedrich 1794-1840.

Born into a family of ten children Casper David Friedrich suffered a tragic childhood, he was seven when his mother and sister had died and by the age of thirteen one of his brothers died whilst trying to save Friedrich’s life during an ice-skating accident. This event was to haunt the artist for the rest of his life. He was plagued with the guilt that manifested itself in his later works, for instance ’The Polar Sea’ and paintings that focused on graveyards and themes of death. The tragedy may have also inspired Friedrich’s attempted suicide and frequent bouts of depression. It is believed by many psychologists at the time that such traumas greatly impressed upon his art and moulded him into the emotional painter he was known to be. His fondness for landscapes was evident early on in his career and his work reflected upon his belief in the power of God through nature.

Friedrich began to study art formally in 1790 with Johann Gottfried Quistorp at the University of Griefswald. Studying with Quistorp, Friedrich often attended outdoor drawing classes which greatly nurtured his love for depicting nature.

Around 1806, Friedrich exhibited his first major painting, ‘The Tetschen Altar‘ or ‘The Cross in the Mountains’ creating a widespread controversial commotion for its religious contradictions; here Friedrich represents the crucifixion of Christ as a background component with the figure of Christ in the distance. The dominating feature is nature, the mountains, trees and shafts of sunshine.

This fuelled the anger of the critics and the work was not well received however, it drew great attention from the public.

The same year of his marriage to Caroline Bommer 1818, Friedrich painted ‘Chalk Cliffs on Rugen’, which depicts their happy union.

Friedrich had begun to incorporate people and the work he carried out during this time had a new sense of levity and a brighter palette. It is supposed that the artist included human element as realisation of family and the importance of such.

Friedrich often administered the “Rückenfigur” technique, where a person is seen from behind contemplating the view. This technique allows the viewer to absorb what the subject is seeing, sharing the experience.

Friedrich’s most famous and iconic of works; ‘Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog’ also 1818, places the figure of well-dressed man with his back toward the viewer employing the characteristic Rückenfigur technique. Here the subject is not, as first perceived excluding the viewer - rather he encourages the watcher to see the world through his own eyes, to share his personal involvement. This renders the figure something of a mystery to the viewer whom, can but only guess what he, the subject is thinking or what his reaction to the scene could be. This is in keeping with many of Friedrich paintings where the viewer

The Tetschen Altar, Casper David Friedrich, 1806

cannot see the figure’s face, creating a some what romantic idea, it seems fitting to believe that this wanderer stands respectfully before nature; great, vast, awe inspiring, terrifying - Sublime!

This atmospheric oil painting derived from a location inspired from sketches Friedrich made at Elbsandsteingebirge, in Saxony, could be considered not only a landscape maybe it is a self-portrait of Casper David Friedrich? The solitary figure dominating the scene standing in silent contemplation certainly resembles the young artist. The man looks out onto a haze of swirling sea fog. It is not an actual seascape but an ambiguous undecipherable abyss-like landscape of partially veiled rocky mountains and trees. In this solitary moment what is he thinking as he gazes upon the wonder of nature? Is he afraid, apprehensive or merely relishing the scene?

Hubertus Gassner, Director of the Hamburger Kunsthalle wrote:

�In this life of apparent wandering, the Romantic discovers the imponderabilities and abysses of his existence and at the same time his embeddedness and suspension in a heavenly world beyond the horizon, from which the faraway mountain with its perfect triangular form shines through all the fog of knowledge�. 12

Wanderer Above a Sea of Fog, Casper David Friedrich, Oil on canvas, 1818, 98 x 75 cm

Vertical and horizontal lines converge on a central axis.

The figure of the man resembles the artist

Swirling atmospheric hazy landscape resembles a foggy seascape.

Dark Pyramidal composition

The composition directly focuses on the Wanderer, central to the scene. All elements have vertical and horizontal lines that converge upon a central axis giving the impression of applied symmetry with the figure absolute centre appearing relatively small in comparison to the rest of the setting.

The figure stands in a contrapposto stance upon the cluster of rugged rocks in the foreground. Left hand on his raised thigh and right hand firmly grasping the walking stick that supports his weight. The dark clothing of the Wander almost silhouettes his frame together with the rocks also shadowy almost

black in colour in stark contrast to the misty faded blues, greys and off-whites of the vast unknown landscape that lies afore him drawing the eye upwards in a triangular pyramidal arrangement. Everything about the composition guides the viewer to experience the feeling of ‘sublime’.

In 1821 Friedrich wrote: “I must surrender myself to what surrounds me, unite myself with its clouds and rocks, in order to be what I am. I need solitude in order to communicate with nature.” 13

The Polar Sea by Caspar David Friedrich, Oil on canvas 1824

The wreckage of the ship represents the fragility of man when confronted with the sublime forces of nature

Akin to JMW Turner who also painted scenes surrounded in a mist or haze, a favourite scene among romantic landscape artists Friedrich’s works represented allegorical, landscapes. Similarly Friedrich shared John Constable’s visionary qualities especially in later life when his works displayed imagined scenes from a landscapes he had never visited.

Triangular, pyramidal construction of the composition mirrored in surrounding and distant objects

One of Friedrich’s grandest oil paintings, features the terrifying destruction of a ship having struck an Iceberg on an artic expedition ’The Polar Sea’ 1824. A scene he could never have witnessed first hand although he would have heard accounts of polar exploration.

Friedrich choose to focus on nature’s rejection of man’s presence.

Here the defenceless ship only just visible to the right of the composition has been crushed and rendered lifeless against the immense force of the mighty shards of ice. In contrast to Friedrich earlier works, there is no human representation here merely a portrayal of man’s fragility and surrender against nature. Eyewitness accounts have suggested that Friedrich made several drawings on tracing paper. There are oil studies of thick blocks of ice, possibly made in Dresden from observations of the Elbe. The striking jagged blocks of ice push upwards into a pyramidal arrangement insinuating an almost monumental construction that shares similarities to Constable’s equally monumental ’Stonehenge’. Most of the detail meticulously carried out is shown the broken blocks in the foreground emphasising the nature of sublime forces in an extraordinary realistic manner yet objects in the distance eerily mimic the broken ice displaying exceptional depth of field. It’s an frozen, icy barren landscape with a piercing blue artic sky serene, yet devastating in its stillness evoking an absolute feeling of the ‘sublime’ force of nature.

Perhaps this painting is a metaphor, representing the ice-skating accident that tragically claimed his brother’s life. The symbol of the ship as a hopeless wreck - Friedrich, attempting to deal with his by his lose and guilt.

The focus is on the foreground, the nature, the mightier force

Conclusion How did the romantic landscape artists portray the elements of the sublime in their work? In Romantic art, nature with its uncontrollable power, unpredictability, and potential for cataclysmic extremes offered an alternative to the ordered world of enlightenment thought, revolution, disillusionment and increasing urbanisation of the modern world, compelling the romantic landscape artists to depict a world of wonder, of danger, yet beautiful and mystifying in a more emotional thought-provoking manner.

JMW Turner, used a dynamic extreme approach, rapid, free brushstrokes utilising colour and light. The artist was able to suggest great depth and gravitational force in his depictions of the elements, while embracing the new technologies.

His contemporary John Constable in comparison was inspired by the natural landscape from his childhood of pre-industrial England, drawing on personal relationships and experiences that influenced his largescale depictions of serene countryside amidst tumultuous thunderstorms.

Of all the landscape artists Casper David Friedrich can be described as truly romantic in his portrayal of the sublime. Focusing on the individual and the influence that the natural world has on man. Inviting the viewer to share the experience. The sense of solitude and feelings of awe when confronted with the terrifying elements of nature are clearly present in his work.

While all three artists differ in their approach all have displayed certain similarities and a common link, they have all depicted the elemental aspects as a greater, mightier force. Encompassing all the aspects of awe, vastness, terror, loneliness, mystery, hope and joy summing up the apprehension and horror sensed by man on approaching the elements of the sublime in a most beautiful enduring legacy that is still identified with today.

Word Count: 5279

Bibliography and References 1

A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful‘. In Sec V11 Of The Sublime

2

http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/ruskin/atheories/3.1.html

3 http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/landscape-and-the-sublime 4

Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Canto 3, stanza 72

5 http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/landscape-and-the-sublime 6 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime/alison-smith-the-sublime-in-crisis-landscapepainting-after-turner-r1109220 7 http://www.artble.com/artists/joseph_mallord_william_turner/paintings/snow_storm _-_steam-boat_off_a_harbour%27s_mouth 8

http://www.visit-constablecountry.co.uk/articles/who-was-john-constable-the-man-behind-the-brush

9

(Delacroix Journals 1824-46)

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/flatford-bridge-cottage/visitor-information/article

10 http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poems/seasons-poem 11 Edmund Burke 1729-1797, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful 12 www.deutschland.de/en/topic/culture/arts-architecture/wanderer-above-the-sea-of-fog 13 Caspar David Friedrich: 1774-1840 : the Painter of Stillness, By Norbert Wolf, page 47

Other sources of reference: Art – The Definitive Visual Guide – Editiorial Consultant Andrew Graham-Dixon, 2008