In the age of revolutions, at the end of the 18th century, the mental and spiritual life of Europe and North America began to undergo a historic and irreversible change. The ideas of spontaneity, direct expression and natural feeling transformed the arts, encouraging artists to explore the extremes in human nature, from heroism to insanity and despair. Previously published as "Romantic Art" and now revised, William Vaughan's study analyses the achievement of the leading artists of the age - masters such as Goya, Blake, Gericault, Turner and Delacroix - and sets in context a host of fascinating figures in painting, sculpture and architecture: Palmer, Runge, Soane, Gros, Overbeck, Schinkel, Flaxman, Pugin, Bingham and many more. The result is an account of a dramatic and contradictory artistic epoch.

Table of Contents

Attitudes and ambiguities; hope and fear; the heroic era; the medieval revival; transcendent landscapes; natural paintings; sensation; romanticising the world.