In the US visual arts, the form developed into “‘the exaltation of an untamed American landscape’ as found in the paintings of the Hudson River School.” [Wikipedia]. The themes were no longer simply pastoral, but almost emblematic of the New World. These artists completely omitted human figures in their paintings, and concentrated on nature alone, counterbalancing it with a remarkable approach to light.
Thomas Cole, Albert Bierstadt and Frederic Edwin Church sometimes painted ancient ruins of the old world, such as in Fredric Edwin Church’s piece Syria by The Sea. It reflected death and decay in its gothic beauty. They also wanted to distinguish themselves from their European counterparts, and therefore depicted landscapes and scenes unique to America. This desire for identity in the art world is illustrated in W. C. Bryant’s poem, To Cole, the Painter, Departing for Europe, where Bryant encourages Cole to
remember the scenes that can only be found in America. Thomas Cole's paintings are most famous with his allegoric The Voyage of Life series painted in the early 1840's, showing the stages of life set amidst an immense nature.
The term “Romanticism,” as we know it when applied to the period roughly from 1800 until 1850, did not coincide with the Romantic musical movement. Musical Romanticism mainly represented a German phenomenon that remained its own group with its own influences.
It is said that, in France, Hector Berlioz was the only true representative of the movement, while in Italy, the claim went to Giuseppe Verdi. “Nevertheless, the huge popularity of German Romantic music led, ‘whether by imitation or by reaction’, to an often nationalistically inspired
America Over
12 | Ceres Magazine | Spring 2016
Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900), Syria by The Sea (1873). Oil on canvas. PD.