Skip to main content

Romantic Art

ROMANTIC STYLE

In emphasizing emotion and imagination, romantic art shifted away from the restraint of classicism and neoclassicism that had dominated art in Europe since the Renaissance. Romanticism achieved its greatest popularity in art, literature, music and philosophy between 1780 and 1830, although its expression of individual experiences ranging from awe to passion informed culture in the decades after.

Landscape painting was especially popular during the romantic period, as were nature studies of wild animals and fantasies of exotic lands. Romanticism varied across Europe as it reacted to the rise of industrialization, a more personal relationship with faith that was distanced from the church and the rationalist thinking of the Enlightenment.

British painters such as John Constable and J.M.W. Turner responded dramatically to the light and atmosphere of the natural world, while William Blake conveyed humanity’s connection to the divine in his visionary art. In Germany, the late-18th-century Sturm und Drang, or Storm and Drive, movement, with its probing of the unconscious, inspired a sense of mystery in work by romantic artists such as Caspar David Friedrich and Philipp Otto Runge. In France, where the French Revolution had turned tradition upside down, Théodore Géricault and Eugène Delacroix used lush brushwork to paint monumental canvases with tumultuous scenes of nature and history.

The romantic movement and its subject matter were a significant influence on the Pre-Raphaelites, Symbolists and the American painters of the Hudson River School, as well as on other cultural movements in the 19th and 20th centuries that saw artists build on this perspective in which art was guided by emotion rather than reason.

Find a collection of romantic paintings, sculptures, prints and multiples and more art on 1stDibs.

to
225
433
191
165
94
104
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
24
426
281
256
24
10
43
8
15
6
8
5
19
34
23
115,100
65,076
54,116
26,956
14,881
9,148
6,268
5,738
4,190
3,054
2,606
2,305
2,229
720
515
382
35
607
370
176
162
157
103
90
84
72
71
50
50
46
40
40
36
31
30
29
28
625
456
279
259
165
32
11
11
10
9
465
126
523
445
Style: Romantic
Hudson River Region Painting “Natural Bridge”, listed artist Asa Warren, ca 1880
Located in Baltimore, MD
This is a wonderful antique American landscape featuring a natural stone formation. It certainly looks like it may have been a natural bridge at one time, but perhaps it was the rem...
Category

Late 19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Oil

Allegory of Love, Cupid With Beauty in Fine Dress Carrying a Basket of Flowers
Located in Cotignac, FR
A late 18th Century oil on canvas laid on board of a young beauty in period costume carrying a basket of flowers on her head. Presented in a very fine gilt, period 'Directoire' frame...
Category

Late 18th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Board

Young Girl in Blue
Located in New York, NY
Signature bottom right Frederick Arthur Bridgman was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, then later moved to Boston and New York. Before long, he had enlisted a group of Brooklyn businessme...
Category

19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Paul Gavarni (1804-1866) Portrait of a young man, signed drawing
Located in Paris, FR
Paul Gavarni (1804-1866) Portrait of a young man leaning on a Chair Signed lower right Black pencil on paper 23.7 x 17.6 cm In good condition Framed : 40 x 34 cm This fine portr...
Category

1840s Romantic Art

Materials

Carbon Pencil

Drawing from Hagbynäs Sweden, 1779
Located in Stockholm, SE
Jonas Carl Linnerhielm (1758–1829) Hagbynäs Dated and titled “1779 in Aug. Vid Hagbynäs” Red chalk on paper
21.3 × 33.4 cm (8.4 × 13.1 in.) with frame 40.5 x 51 cm (15 ⁷/⁸ x 20 ⅛ i...
Category

1770s Romantic Art

Materials

Paper, Chalk

Still Life Italian School 19th Century Paint Oil on canvas Italy Art Quality
Located in Riva del Garda, IT
Still life with vase of flowers Italian School of the nineteenth century Oil on canvas cm. 74 x 92,5 frame 97 x 112 Beautiful painting representing a rich still life, of great deco...
Category

Mid-19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Oil

A Day in the Countryside by Henry John Yeend King
Located in Stockholm, SE
This delightful painting by the renowned Victorian genre and landscape artist Henry John Yeend King captures the serene charm of the English countryside. Depicting an idyllic riversi...
Category

Late 19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

PAYSAGE D’ ITALIE
Located in Santa Monica, CA
JEAN-BAPTISTE CAMILLE COROT (1876 - 1875) PAYSAGE D’ ITALIE 1866 (Melot 7 iii/iii) Etching, plate 6 ¼ x 9 inches, Third state after the removal of the text but before the random scr...
Category

1860s Romantic Art

Materials

Etching

A Scandinavian Landscape View by Swedish Artist Oscar Lycke, Large Size Painting
Located in Stockholm, SE
Oscar Lycke was a Swedish artist from Sundsvall. He is best known for his impressive colourful landscape paintings in a national romantic and realism styl...
Category

1920s Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

French painting Troubadour Interior Convent Nuns mid 19th
Located in PARIS, FR
François-Marius GRANET (Circle of) Aix-en-Provence, 1775 – Aix-en-Provence, 1849 Convent interior with nuns Oil on canvas 35 x 27.5 cm (39.5 x 31 cm with frame) Beautiful black and g...
Category

Mid-19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Oil

Louis DAVID (1798-1849) Le Moulin La Butte aux Cailles, Paris, signed drawing
Located in Paris, FR
Louis-Alphonse DAVID (1798-1849) Le Moulin de la Butte aux Cailles, Paris, (The Mill at la Butte aux Cailles) signed lower left Pencil and white chalk on paper 22,5 x 36 cm Framed : 40,5 x 55 cm Louis-Alphonse David is known for a relatively small body of work, including portraits and large compositions. In any case, in this work he shows a remarkable mastery of drawing, with particularly suggestive and subtle plays of light and shadow. The Butte aux Cailles, now part of the 13th arrondissement of Paris, was a hill covered in meadows, vineyards and woods, built with several windmills and overlooking the river Bièvre. It was named after Pierre Caille...
Category

1830s Romantic Art

Materials

Pencil, Chalk

Düsseldorf school 1902 - Portrait of Sisterly love - German portrait
Located in Aartselaar, BE
Sweet and large oil painting "Sisterly love" signed and dated 1902 by August Algermissen The present painting depicts two sisters seated in an interior, the youngest is gleefully lo...
Category

Early 20th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

La Sortie du Bain
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Eugene Leroux (1807-1863) La Sortie Du Bain Lithograph, c. 1840 Signed in the lower left corner of the image (see photo) Inscribed "Imp Bertauts Paris" in bottom margin Inscribed "55...
Category

1840s Romantic Art

Materials

Lithograph

Rare Southern Painting of the French Broad River, North Carolina ca 1890
Located in Baltimore, MD
This is an unsigned, but rare, late 19th century oil on canvas of a view of the French Broad River in North Carolina. It is amongst the world’s oldest rivers. The scene depicted is mountainous and the water is swiftly moving. This would put the location at the northern end of its course, north of Asheville and near the North Carolina and Tennessee border. Much like the Hudson River School in...
Category

1880s Romantic Art

Materials

Oil

Monumental Pair French 19th Century Putto Flambeaux Urns Torchere Urn Sculptures
Located in LA, CA
A Monumental Museum Quality Pair of French 19th Century Figural Gilt and Patinated Bronze Rosso Granite Marble Flambeaux Urns, each depicting a pair of standing allegorical and whims...
Category

Late 19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Granite, Marble, Brass, Bronze

Country Lane with Trees & Birds in English Countryside by 20th Century Artist
Located in Preston, GB
Country Lane with Trees & Birds in English Countryside by 20th Century British Landscape Artist, James Wright Signed, Original, Oil on Canvas, housed in a beautiful ornate gold frame. Provenance: Part of the English Heritage...
Category

1990s Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Located in Cotignac, FR
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in a landscape, Mid century oil on wood panel. This vibrant and charming painting vividly portrays a whimsical forest scene featuring Snow White and ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Oil, Wood Panel

Elsbeth Rudolff(1861-1945) Untitled, paper/mixed media, 76x50cm, 1889
Located in Riga, LV
Elsbeth Rudolff(1861-1945)
Category

1880s Romantic Art

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media

19th century painting of a shepherd with his flock of sheep - countryside moon
Located in Aartselaar, BE
Romantic 19th century painting of a shepherd with his flock attributed to Hippolyte Paul Vayson Hippolyte Paul Vayson is a French painter and engraver born on December 4, 1841 in Go...
Category

19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Oil, Panel

Disegno neoclassico mitologico inglese del XIX secolo
Located in Florence, IT
Disegno matita su carta, 45 x 68 cm; con cornice dorata 72 x 94 cm. La scena si svolge sulla costa, nel punto in cui il mare tempestoso lambisce la terraferma, che si presenta rocci...
Category

Early 1800s Romantic Art

Materials

Paper, Pencil

Ceiling of the Paris Opera House
Located in Boca Raton, FL
Ceiling of the Paris Opera House This is a print made by Center Art Galleries-Hawaii, Inc. You can google their name to get a sense of the litigation surrounding this manufacturer,...
Category

20th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Paper, Ink

“Male Portrait” Isabelline Spain, Blas González García-Valladolid
Located in Valladolid, ES
Beautiful and timeless portrait .It represents a half-length male portrait, with the sitter seated in a chair, slightly in profile. He is a young man, belonging to a prominent politi...
Category

1870s Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas

Winter Landscape Snow Scene in the English Countryside by 20th Century Artist
Located in Preston, GB
Rural Winter Landscape Scene with Snow & Winter Trees in the English Countryside by 20th Century British Artist, James Wright Signed, Original, Oil on Canvas, housed in a beautiful ornate gold frame. Provenance: Part of the English Heritage...
Category

1990s Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

'The Young Courtesan', 19th Century French School, French Romanticism, Large Oil
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left, 'P. Lagiere' (French, 19th century) and dated, '1868'. After 'La Jeune Courtisane', 1821, by Xavier Sigalon (French, 1787–1837), held in the permanent collection o...
Category

1860s Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

French Romantic painting BERNARD Napoleon Soldiers Mother and Child 19th
Located in PARIS, FR
Adolphe BERNARD (Attributed to)Ghent, 1812 – Ghent, 1890 The soldier's wife and her son by the fire Oil on canvas46 x 38 cm (61 x 52 cm with the frame) Signed and dated lower left "B...
Category

1830s Romantic Art

Materials

Oil

The Fighting Temeraire: A Framed 19th C. Engraving After J. M. W. Turner
By J.M.W. Turner
Located in Alamo, CA
This beautiful 19th century framed engraving "The Fighting Temeraire" by James Tibbetts Willmore is based on an original painting by the renowned British artist J.M.W. Turner. It was published by James S. Virtue & Co. in London between 1859-1875. It depicts the once mighty British warship the HMS Temeraire being towed away down the river Thames by a much smaller steamboat to a ship-breaking yard to be broken up for scrap. The Temeraire was first launched in 1798 and represented the pinnacle of British ship-building. 180-feet long, constructed of English oak and armed with 98 guns, she was one of the largest warships of the period. The Temeraire became a symbol of British pride and military power that endured throughout the 19th century. The man-of-war served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and was among the last serving ships to have been at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. It became one of the many older ships put out of service in the 1830s and 1840s. The once mighty and feared ship symbolizes a once magnificent, but now obsolete, technology. Turner seems to lament her inglorious final journey, being towed by a less magnificent, but modern steam powered tugboat. The Turner painting was created in 1838 and is now held in the National Gallery in London. Willmore's engraving, created in 1859, captures the dramatic scene with great detail and skill. The image has become an iconic representation of the decline of Britain's naval power and the transition from sail to steam in the 19th century. The sunset in the background is symbolic of the sun going down on British naval power and tradition. The painting conveys profound and diverse themes that are central to the human experience: those of mortality and change, technology and progress, heroism and brutality. The painting demonstrates Turner’s skill as an artist. His ability to produce scenes of great beauty that are dramatic, but are also symbolic, stimulating both thoughtful analysis, as well as emotion. Turner's painting was voted by the British public in a 2005 BBC radio sponsored survey to be the British people's favorite painting of all time. In 2020 it was included on a new British banknote...
Category

Mid-19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Engraving

"Landscape Painting"
Located in Edinburgh, GB
19th-Century Landscape Painting – Pastoral River Scene Artist: Unidentified Medium: Oil on Board Dimensions: Framed: 35 x 47 cm Artwork: 25 x 38 cm Style: Romanticism / Pastoral Lan...
Category

19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Oil, Board

Hilding Werner (1880-1944) - Moonlight Over Krokvattnet (near Glafsfjorden)
Located in Stockholm, SE
Hilding Werner (1880-1944) was a Swedish artist known for his portraits, romantic landscape paintings of Värmland, and caricature drawings. We are privi...
Category

Early 20th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Auguste Mayer (1805-1890) A seascape with a boat, signed drawing
Located in Paris, FR
Auguste Mayer (1803-1890 A seascape with a boat signed with the initials on the lower left Pencil and heightenings of white gouache on paper 17.5 x 26 cm...
Category

1860s Romantic Art

Materials

Carbon Pencil, Gouache

Portrait of a Young Man (Russian male portrait)
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Friedrich Wigand (Russian, 1800-1853). Portrait of a Young Man, 1841. Oil on canvas, 12.5 x 16 inches. Framed measurement: 17 x 20.5 inches. Signed an...
Category

Mid-18th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Sunset in the Trees - 19th century Oil on Canvas
Located in Stockholm, SE
Carl Frederik Aagaard, Sunset over Dyrehaven. Signed C.F. Aagaard. Oil on canvas laid on card box panel. 22×32 cm without frame. A tergo written:...
Category

1860s Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Piper and Dancers, Orientalist Bronze Sculpture by Franz Bergmann
Located in Long Island City, NY
Franz Bergmann, Austrian (1861 -1936) - Piper and Dancers, Year: circa 1900, Medium: Cold painted bronze sculpture, Size: 3.5 x 5 x 3 in. (8.89 x 12.7 x 7.62 cm)
Category

Early 1900s Romantic Art

Materials

Bronze

Auguste Legras (1817-1887) Portrait of a young man in profile, drawing signed
Located in Paris, FR
Auguste Legras (1817-1887) Portrait of a young man in profile, signed lower right Charcoal, red and white chalks on paper 45 x 31.5 cm Framed : 52 x 39 cm This particularly evocati...
Category

1860s Romantic Art

Materials

Chalk, Charcoal

Painting of Lake & Trees in the English Countryside by 20th Century Artist
Located in Preston, GB
Painting of Lake & Trees with Birds in the English Countryside by 20th Century British Artist, James Wright Signed, Original, Oil on Canvas, housed in a ...
Category

1990s Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

'Cutting the Bread' by Gerard Portielje (Antwerp 1856 – 1929 Remich, Luxembourg)
Located in Knokke, BE
Gerard Portielje Antwerp 1856 – 1929 Remich, Luxembourg Belgian Painter 'Cutting the Bread' Signature: signed lower left 'Gerard Portielje', artist’...
Category

Late 19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Oil, Panel

Notes To Oneself, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Oil on canvas :: Painting :: Romanticism :: This piece comes with an official certificate of authenticity signed by the artist :: Ready to Hang: Yes :: Signed: Yes :: Signature Loca...
Category

2010s Romantic Art

Materials

Oil

'In Memory of (66)' original Kellogg & Comstock hand-colored mourning lithograph
Located in Milwaukee, WI
The present hand-colored lithograph was produced as part of the funeral and mourning culture in the United States during the 19th century. Before the printmaking boom of the 1830s, however, such inexpensive memorial images were not widely available. These prints became popular as ways of remembering loved ones, an alternative to portraiture of the deceased or to meticulous hand-embroidered memorials often made by female academy students. In the image, the urn-topped monument contains a space where a family could inscribe the name and death dates of a deceased loved one, though this example was never used. In the variations of this image type produced by the Kellogg...
Category

Mid-19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Lithograph, Watercolor

Enfants à la plage (“Children at the Beach”)
Located in Stockholm, SE
Albert Roosenboom was a Belgian genre painter celebrated for his elegant depictions of everyday life in the mid to late 19th century. A pupil of the renowned Constantin Meunier, Roos...
Category

1870s Romantic Art

Materials

Oil, Wood Panel

Pool of Bethesda, Jerusalem: A Hand-colored Aquatint & Engraving by L. Mayer
Located in Alamo, CA
This is a hand-colored aquatint and engraving entitled "Pool of Bethesda, Jerusalem", published in London by R. Bowyer in 1804. The print was created by Thomas Milton (1743-1827) from drawings by Luigi Mayer. This beautiful, detailed, original engraving is printed on deluxe J. Whatman paper with very wide left and right margins. There is a watermark "1801" indicating the year the paper was made. The sheet measures 11.25" high and 16" wide. There is a small faint spot in the upper margin on the left and a tiny faint spot in the right upper corner and another in the left lower corner. The engraving is otherwise in excellent condition with vibrant colors throughout the image. "The Pool of Bethesda...
Category

Early 19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Engraving, Aquatint

Farm Scene with Haystacks in the English Countryside by Realist Landscape Artist
Located in Preston, GB
Farm Scene with Haystacks in the English Countryside by British Landscape Artist, James Wright. Signed, Original, Oil on Canvas, housed in a gilt frame ...
Category

1990s Romantic Art

Materials

Oil, Canvas

'A winter landscape with an ox-cart' by Willem De Klerk (1800 – 1876)
Located in Knokke, BE
Willem De Klerk 1800 – Dordrecht – 1876 Dutch Painter 'A winter landscape with an ox-cart on a wooded road near a village' Signature: signed lower left ‘W. de Klerk f’ Medium: oi...
Category

Early 19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Ink, Watercolor, Pencil

Pair of Hand-colored Romantic French Engravings after Francois Boucher
By (After) Francois Boucher
Located in Alamo, CA
A pair of French classical romantic prints original created in the 18th century by Jacques-Firmin Beauvarlet (1731-1797) after paintings by Francois Boucher (1703-1770), utilizing ...
Category

18th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Engraving, Etching

Romantic Lanscape Painting COENE Mountains Lake Belgian 19th
Located in PARIS, FR
Jean-Baptiste COENE Vilvoorde, 1805 - Brussels, circa 1880 Lively landscape by a mountain lake Oil on canvas 38 x 55 cm (53 x 70 cm with frame) Signed and dated lower left "J. Coene ...
Category

1870s Romantic Art

Materials

Oil

"Still Life and Hunting Dogs, 1851" P. M. Guillemin (French, 1800-1874)
Located in SANTA FE, NM
"Still Life and Hunting Dogs, 1851" P. M. Guillemin (French, 1800-1874) Monogrammed "EG" on right side. Oil on cradle board 26 x 21 (36 x 31 frame) inches Stunning example and un...
Category

1850s Romantic Art

Materials

Oil, Wood Panel

The Fair Skipper: boating on a mountain lake ca 1830 the Swiss Alps painting
Located in Norwich, GB
Here is an almost two hundred year old painting which is so irresistibly charming that it's crazy! You may have seen painted landscapes, portraits, genre scenes - but how many pretty...
Category

1830s Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Landscape Watercolour, Lake and View to the Mountains
Located in Cotignac, FR
Watercolour landscape of a lake and surrounding mountains by Nano. The painting is signed bottom left and presented in a fine period gilt frame under glass. This painting portrays a...
Category

Early 20th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache

'A View of Venice' by Antoine Bouvard, Saint-Jean-de-Bournay 1870 – 1955, French
Located in Knokke, BE
Antoine Bouvard snr. Saint-Jean-de-Bournay, France 1870 – 1955 French Painter 'A View of Venice' Signature: Signed bottom right Dimensions: Image size 22,5 x 27,5 cm, frame size 44...
Category

Early 20th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Merchant, Orientalist Bronze Sculpture by Franz Bergmann
Located in Long Island City, NY
Franz Bergmann, Austrian (1861 -1936) - Merchant, Year: circa 1900, Medium: Cold painted Bronze sculpture, Size: 5.75 x 9.5 x 6 in. (14.61 x 24.13 x 15.24 cm)
Category

Early 1900s Romantic Art

Materials

Bronze

Ruins of the Imperial Castle Outside Split in Croatia
Located in Stockholm, SE
Gustaf Wilhelm Palm (1810–1890) Sweden Ruins of the Imperial Castle Outside Split in Croatia pencil and watercolour unframed: 23.6 x 29.2 cm (9 1/4 x 11 1/2 in) framed: 40 x 45 cm...
Category

1840s Romantic Art

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Lucia - Portrait Oil Painting Colors Brown White Red Green Black Pale
Located in Sofia, BG
"Lucia" is a painting by the South African - French artist Leith Ridley. A bit of fun and colour based on the face of portrait of a young woman in a black hat by Petrus Christus in ...
Category

2010s Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Théophile Clément BLANCHARD - Landscape in Normandy
Located in PARIS, FR
Théophile Clément BLANCHARD 1820 - 1849 Oil on canvas 27 x 40 cm (45 x 58 cm with the frame) Signed lower right "Blanchard" Very nice 19th century gilded wooden frame French painter, lithographer and illustrator, Théophile Clément Blanchard is part of of those painters of the romantic era who represented picturesque views of France like Alexis Daligé de Fontenay or Eugène Cicéri. These painters traveled a lot and sought out picturesque sites, particularly in Normandy, Brittany, Switzerland and the Pyrenees. Blanchard participated in the illustration of “Picturesque and Romantic Travels in the Old France”. But the works of this romantic painter are rare because Blanchard died very young at twenty-nine year old ! We still know of him, in particular, a view of Bugey (dated 1846) which is at the Louvre Museum and a “Delicious Landscape” (from the 1840s) at the Salies museum at Bagnères de Bigorre...
Category

1840s Romantic Art

Materials

Oil

Lost in Her Thoughts, 1890-1892, by Pinckney Marcius-Simons, French Romanticism
Located in Grand Rapids, MI
Pinckney Marcius-Simons, (American, French, 1867-1909) Signed: Marcius-Simons, (lower, right) " Lost in Her Thoughts ", circa 1890-1892 Oil on mahogany panel bearing the stamp on verso of " H. Vieille e. Troisgros Sueei, 55 Rue de Laval...
Category

19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Oil, Board

I Ask You For A Caress And You Only Tickle Me 1860s Romantic French Oil Painting
Located in Sutton Poyntz, Dorset
Charles Zacharie Landelle. French ( b.1821 - d.1908 ). “Je Te Demande Une Caresse Et Tu Me Chatouilles”. (“I Ask You For A Caress And You Only Tickle Me”). Oil On Panel. Signed Lower...
Category

Mid-19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Oil, Wood Panel

19th century color lithograph landscape figures horseback house scene trees sky
Located in Milwaukee, WI
The present print is one of several examples produced for Nathaniel Currier by his longtime collaborator Frances F. "Fanny" Palmer. Harry T. Peters wrote of her: "There is no more interesting and appealing character among the group of artists who worked for Currier & Ives than Fanny Palmer. In an age when women, well-bred women in particular, did not generally work for a living Fanny Palmer for years did exacting, full-time work in order to support a large and dependent family ... Her work ... had great charm, homeliness, and a conscientious attention to detail." One of a series of four prints showing American country life in different seasons, the image presents the viewer with a picturesque view of a successful American farm. In the foreground, a gentleman rides a horse with a young boy before a respectable Italianate country house. Two women and a young girl pick flowers in the garden and several farm workers attend to their duties. Beyond are other homes and a city on the coast. 16.63 x 23.75 inches, artwork 28.13 x 33.38 inches, frame Entitled bottom center "American Country Life - May Morning" Signed in the stone, lower left "F.F. Palmer, Del." Signed in the stone, lower right "Lith. by N. Currier" Copyrighted lower center "Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1855 by N. Currier in the Clerk's office of the Southern District of N.Y." Inscribed bottom center "New York, Published by N. Currier 152 Nassau Street" Framed to conservation standards using silk-lined 100 percent rag matting and Museum Glass with a gold gilded liner, all housed in a stained wood moulding. Nathaniel Currier was a tall introspective man with a melancholy nature. He could captivate people with his piercing stare or charm them with his sparkling blue eyes. Nathaniel was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts on March 27th, 1813, the second of four children. His parents, Nathaniel and Hannah Currier, were distant cousins who lived a humble yet spartan life. When Nathaniel was eight years old, tragedy struck. Nathaniel’s father unexpectedly passed away leaving Nathaniel and his eleven-year-old brother Lorenzo to provide for the family. In addition to their mother, Nathaniel and Lorenzo had to care for six-year-old sister Elizabeth and two-year-old brother Charles. Nathaniel worked a series of odd jobs to support the family, and at fifteen, he started what would become a life-long career when he apprenticed in the Boston lithography shop of William and John Pendleton. A Bavarian gentleman named Alois Senefelder invented lithography just 30 years prior to young Nat Currier’s apprenticeship. While under the employ of the brothers Pendleton, Nat was taught the art of lithography by the firm’s chief printer, a French national named Dubois, who brought the lithography trade to America. Lithography involves grinding a piece of limestone flat and smooth then drawing in mirror image on the stone with a special grease pencil. After the image is completed, the stone is etched with a solution of aqua fortis leaving the greased areas in slight relief. Water is then used to wet the stone and greased-ink is rolled onto the raised areas. Since grease and water do not mix, the greased-ink is repelled by the moisture on the stone and clings to the original grease pencil lines. The stone is then placed in a press and used as a printing block to impart black on white images to paper. In 1833, now twenty-years old and an accomplished lithographer, Nat Currier left Boston and moved to Philadelphia to do contract work for M.E.D. Brown, a noted engraver and printer. With the promise of good money, Currier hired on to help Brown prepare lithographic stones of scientific images for the American Journal of Sciences and Arts. When Nat completed the contract work in 1834, he traveled to New York City to work once again for his mentor John Pendleton, who was now operating his own shop located at 137 Broadway. Soon after the reunion, Pendleton expressed an interest in returning to Boston and offered to sell his print shop to Currier. Young Nat did not have the financial resources to buy the shop, but being the resourceful type he found another local printer by the name of Stodart. Together they bought Pendleton’s business. The firm ‘Currier & Stodart’ specialized in "job" printing. They produced many different types of printed items, most notably music manuscripts for local publishers. By 1835, Stodart was frustrated that the business was not making enough money and he ended the partnership, taking his investment with him. With little more than some lithographic stones, and a talent for his trade, twenty-two year old Nat Currier set up shop in a temporary office at 1 Wall Street in New York City. He named his new enterprise ‘N. Currier, Lithographer’ Nathaniel continued as a job printer and duplicated everything from music sheets to architectural plans. He experimented with portraits, disaster scenes and memorial prints, and any thing that he could sell to the public from tables in front of his shop. During 1835 he produced a disaster print Ruins of the Planter's Hotel, New Orleans, which fell at two O’clock on the Morning of the 15th of May 1835, burying 50 persons, 40 of whom Escaped with their Lives. The public had a thirst for newsworthy events, and newspapers of the day did not include pictures. By producing this print, Nat gave the public a new way to “see” the news. The print sold reasonably well, an important fact that was not lost on Currier. Nat met and married Eliza Farnsworth in 1840. He also produced a print that same year titled Awful Conflagration of the Steamboat Lexington in Long Island Sound on Monday Evening, January 18, 1840, by which melancholy occurrence over One Hundred Persons Perished. This print sold out very quickly, and Currier was approached by an enterprising publication who contracted him to print a single sheet addition of their paper, the New York Sun. This single page paper is presumed to be the first illustrated newspaper ever published. The success of the Lexington print launched his career nationally and put him in a position to finally lift his family up. In 1841, Nat and Eliza had their first child, a son they named Edward West Currier. That same year Nat hired his twenty-one year old brother Charles and taught him the lithography trade, he also hired his artistically inclined brother Lorenzo to travel out west and make sketches of the new frontier as material for future prints. Charles worked for the firm on and off over the years, and invented a new type of lithographic crayon which he patented and named the Crayola. Lorenzo continued selling sketches to Nat for the next few years. In 1843, Nat and Eliza had a daughter, Eliza West Currier, but tragedy struck in early 1847 when their young daughter died from a prolonged illness. Nat and Eliza were grief stricken, and Eliza, driven by despair, gave up on life and passed away just four months after her daughter’s death. The subject of Nat Currier’s artwork changed following the death of his wife and daughter, and he produced many memorial prints and sentimental prints during the late 1840s. The memorial prints generally depicted grief stricken families posed by gravestones (the stones were left blank so the purchasers could fill in the names of the dearly departed). The sentimental prints usually depicted idealized portraits of women and children, titled with popular Christian names of the day. Late in 1847, Nat Currier married Lura Ormsbee, a friend of the family. Lura was a self-sufficient woman, and she immediately set out to help Nat raise six-year-old Edward and get their house in order. In 1849, Lura delivered a son, Walter Black Currier, but fate dealt them a blow when young Walter died one year later. While Nat and Lura were grieving the loss of their new son, word came from San Francisco that Nat’s brother Lorenzo had also passed away from a brief illness. Nat sank deeper into his natural quiet melancholy. Friends stopped by to console the couple, and Lura began to set an extra place at their table for these unexpected guests. She continued this tradition throughout their lives. In 1852, Charles introduced a friend, James Merritt Ives, to Nat and suggested he hire him as a bookkeeper. Jim Ives was a native New Yorker born in 1824 and raised on the grounds of Bellevue Hospital where his father was employed as superintendent. Jim was a self-trained artist and professional bookkeeper. He was also a plump and jovial man, presenting the exact opposite image of his new boss. Jim Ives met Charles Currier through Caroline Clark, the object of Jim’s affection. Caroline’s sister Elizabeth was married to Charles, and Caroline was a close friend of the Currier family. Jim eventually proposed marriage to Caroline and solicited an introduction to Nat Currier, through Charles, in hopes of securing a more stable income to support his future wife. Ives quickly set out to improve and modernize his new employer’s bookkeeping methods. He reorganized the firm’s sizable inventory, and used his artistic skills to streamline the firm’s production methods. By 1857, Nathaniel had become so dependent on Jims’ skills and initiative that he offered him a full partnership in the firm and appointed him general manager. The two men chose the name ‘Currier & Ives’ for the new partnership, and became close friends. Currier & Ives produced their prints in a building at 33 Spruce Street where they occupied the third, fourth and fifth floors. The third floor was devoted to the hand operated printing presses that were built by Nat's cousin, Cyrus Currier, at his shop Cyrus Currier & Sons in Newark, NJ. The fourth floor found the artists, lithographers and the stone grinders at work. The fifth floor housed the coloring department, and was one of the earliest production lines in the country. The colorists were generally immigrant girls, mostly German, who came to America with some formal artistic training. Each colorist was responsible for adding a single color to a print. As a colorist finished applying their color, the print was passed down the line to the next colorist to add their color. The colorists worked from a master print displayed above their table, which showed where the proper colors were to be placed. At the end of the table was a touch up artist who checked the prints for quality, touching-in areas that may have been missed as it passed down the line. During the Civil War, demand for prints became so great that coloring stencils were developed to speed up production. Although most Currier & Ives prints were colored in house, some were sent out to contract artists. The rate Currier & Ives paid these artists for coloring work was one dollar per one hundred small folios (a penny a print) and one dollar per one dozen large folios. Currier & Ives also offered uncolored prints to dealers, with instructions (included on the price list) on how to 'prepare the prints for coloring.' In addition, schools could order uncolored prints from the firm’s catalogue to use in their painting classes. Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives attracted a wide circle of friends during their years in business. Some of their more famous acquaintances included Horace Greeley, Phineas T. Barnum, and the outspoken abolitionists Rev. Henry Ward, and John Greenleaf Whittier (the latter being a cousin of Mr. Currier). Nat Currier and Jim Ives described their business as "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Pictures" and produced many categories of prints. These included Disaster Scenes, Sentimental Images, Sports, Humor, Hunting Scenes, Politics, Religion, City and Rural Scenes, Trains, Ships, Fire Fighters, Famous Race Horses, Historical Portraits, and just about any other topic that satisfied the general public's taste. In all, the firm produced in excess of 7500 different titles, totaling over one million prints produced from 1835 to 1907. Nat Currier retired in 1880, and signed over his share of the firm to his son Edward. Nat died eight years later at his summer home 'Lion’s Gate' in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Jim Ives remained active in the firm until his death in 1895, when his share of the firm passed to his eldest son, Chauncey. In 1902, faced will failing health from the ravages of Tuberculosis, Edward Currier sold his share of the firm to Chauncey Ives...
Category

Mid-19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Watercolor, Lithograph

Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta Palatial Oil on Canvas Portrait Isabelle McCreery
By Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta
Located in LA, CA
Raimundo De Madrazo y Garreta (Spanish School, 1841-1920) an exceptional and palatial oil on canvas "Portrait of Isabelle McCreery” depic...
Category

19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Oil

Phrosine and Mélidore
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Phrosine and Mélidore Etching, 1879 Signed in the polate lower left of image This etching is after the Dantan painting, a copy after the Pierre-Paul Prud’hom painting Published by Vv...
Category

1870s Romantic Art

Materials

Etching

A Spring Sunset, Original Oil Painting from 1952
Located in Stockholm, SE
This exquisite painting by the artist Otto Lindberg (1880-1955) is a mesmerizing depiction of a spring sunset. Crafted in 1952, this piece stands as one of Lindberg's final paintings...
Category

1950s Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

German School, Animal Hunting Scene, Hunter with Dogs, Hares, Cabinet Painting
Located in Greven, DE
German School or Swiss School, 19th Century, Hunting Scene, Hunter with Dogs, Hares, Painting indistinctly signed. Fine and detailed painted scene of a hunt with dogs, a hunter and h...
Category

19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas

Boy Smoking Pipe, Orientalist Bronze Sculpture by Franz Bergmann
Located in Long Island City, NY
Franz Bergmann, Austrian (1861 -1936) - Boy Smoking Pipe, Year: circa 1900, Medium: Cold painted Bronze sculpture, Size: 2 x 6 x 2 in. (5.08 x 15.24 x 5.08 cm)
Category

Early 1900s Romantic Art

Materials

Bronze

Harvest Scene With Farmer and Scythe, 1886
Located in Stockholm, SE
"Harvest Scene With Farmer and Scythe, 1886" is a captivating painting by the Swedish artist Alfred Thörne. Created during his travels through Germany, France, Italy, and Belgium bet...
Category

1880s Romantic Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Romantic art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Romantic art available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add art created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, purple, orange, pink and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Hiro Yokose, Francisco Goya, Leo Primavesi, and Dipen Bose. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Oil Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Romantic art, so small editions measuring 3 inches across are also available. Prices for art made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $119 and tops out at $1,300,000, while the average work sells for $2,213.

Recently Viewed

View All