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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.

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Style: Romantic
Period: 1970s
Brooklyn Bridge Abstraction with Romantic Out of Focus Floral Colors
Located in Miami, FL
The romantic merges with the classic in Mitchell Funk's 1970s interpretation of the Brooklyn Bridge. With a long lens, Funk incorporates the emotionally joyful colors of out-of-focu...
Category

1970s Romantic Art

Materials

Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment

From the Barcelona suite
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist: Alvar Title: From Barcelona Suite Year: 1979 Medium: Color lithograph with embossing Edition: Numberd 145/185 in pencil Paper: Arches Image siz...
Category

1970s Romantic Art

Materials

Lithograph

From the, The Barcelona Suite,
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist: Alvar Sunol Munoz-Ramos (Spanish, born 1935) Title: From Barcelona Suite Year: 1979 Medium: Color lithograph with embossing Edition: Numbered 1...
Category

1970s Romantic Art

Materials

Lithograph

'River Landscape with Birch Trees', Italianate Romanticism
By Caret
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
A substantial oil landscape showing an idyllic view of a lake screened by silver birch trees with fortifications rising above the far shore. Signed lower left, "Caret" and painted c...
Category

1970s Romantic Art

Materials

Oil, Board

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' Palms Composition ' Oversize Limited Edition Signed print
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' Palms Composition ' Oversize Limited Edition Signed Archival print 2013 by Stuart Möller edition of 15 only this size. unframed. A Summer evening scene of delicately pink lit palm trees. Stuart Möller's background is in fine art, with his images being contemplative, meditative observations. Stuart Möller ALL EDITION SIZES & Prices 10x12 25 $325 12x16 25 $595 20x16 25 $885 20x24 20 $1,100 30x20 15 $1,250 40x30 10 $1,495 60x40 5 $2,500 contemporary modernist religion religious atheism agnostic sea sun beach bikini...
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Located in Phoenix, AZ
mixed media on paper image size: 7.25 x 13.25 inches Neoromantic painter Hiro Yokose fuses multiple layers of wax and oil paint to create mysterious, veiled landscapes illuminated...
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2010s Romantic Art

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mixed media on paper image size: 7 x 13 inches Neoromantic painter Hiro Yokose fuses multiple layers of wax and oil paint to create mysterious, veiled landscapes illuminated with f...
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2010s Romantic Art

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Waves - Morgan Silk, Contemporary Aerial Photography, Beaches, Waves, Sea
Located in Brighton, GB
Please bear in mind that all prints are produced to order and lead times are between 15-20 days. Waves is a stunning Archival Inkjet Print by contemporary photographer Morgan Silk. ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Romantic Art

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Archival Ink, Inkjet, Photographic Paper

West Bow, Edinburgh
By George Cattermole
Located in Storrs, CT
West Bow, Edinburgh. c. 1847. Lithograph by Harding after a drawing by Cattermole. 16 3/4 x 11 9/16 (sheet 21 1/2 x 14). From the portfolio "Scotland Delineated in a Series of Views," originally produced for John Parker Lawson and published by E. Gambart in London and Edinburgh, 1849 - 1854. Lithographed by Day and Son. The popular series went through several printings. This is probably from the first edition, volume 1. Scattered foxing, unobtrusive vertical paper fold along the left-hand side. A good impression printed on heavy off-white wove paper Signed in pencil by Cattermole. Housed in a 22 x 20-inch archival mat, suitable for framing. Cattermole was born at Dickleburgh, near Diss, Norfolk. At the age of fourteen he began working as an architectural and topographical draughtsman for the antiquary John Britton...
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Mid-19th Century Romantic Art

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A Pair of Framed 19th Century Colored Lithographs of Tudor Scenes by Joseph Nash
Located in Alamo, CA
This is a pair of framed 19th century tinted lithographs with hand-coloring entitled "Gallery Over the Hall, Knowle, Kent" and "Terrace Bramshill, Hants" by Charles Joseph Hullmandel (1789-1850) after drawings by Joseph Nash (1809-1878), from "Mansions of England in the Olden Time", published in London in 1839-1849. Nash's publication consists of a series of views of Tudor domestic architecture, which Nash said depicted "the most characteristic features of the domestic architecture of the Tudor Age, and also illustrating the costumes, habits, and recreations of our ancestors." The scenes of the aristocratic ladies and gentlemen (including Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I), who are depicted inhabiting the rooms of these great houses, were taken directly from the portraits on the walls. Charles Joseph Hullmandel, was involved in the creation of these lithographs. He was a famous British lithographer, who invented the "lithotint" process, which he named and patented in 1840. This technique, allowing for greater nuance and value gradation than pure lithography, was an ideal means of expression for Nash's historically rich and picturesque depictions of Tudor mansions and their inhabitants. Hullmandel is also remembered for creating many lithographs from the paintings by J. M. W. Turner. The "Gallery Over the Hall" depicts a great hall with children playing with skittles (wooden pins resembling bowling pins), a doll and what looks to be a St Charles spaniel, while a lady in Tudor attire watches over them next to a massive stone fireplace. Adults are watching from in the distance while a man bows...
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Late 19th Century Romantic Art

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Muse Terpsichore: Framed Hand-colored 19th C. Engraving after 17th C. Painting
Located in Alamo, CA
"Dessine par Gallier" is a hand-colored engraving and etching by Pierre Laurent (1739-1809) and Pierre Audouin (1768-1822) after a painting by Eustache Le Sueur...
Category

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Christmas Tree In The Snow
Located in Cotignac, FR
An oil on panel view of a Christmas tree in a landscape heavy with snow by Boggio. The painting is signed bottom left. A charming view of a snow scene, a Christmas tree its branches...
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Mid-20th Century Romantic Art

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Napoleon a Bautzen
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Napoleon a Bautzen Lithograph, 1822 Signed in the stone (see photo) From: Arnault, A. V. Vie Politique et Militaire de Napoleon (120 plates) Published, Paris, Librairie Historiquem 1...
Category

1820s Romantic Art

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"Seascape" - Framed 20th Century Romantic Realistic Ocean Painting
Located in New Orleans, LA
I wish I knew who painted this dramatic Romantic seascape depicting a rough surf crashing on the rocky shores of some volcanic island. The sea is en...
Category

Late 20th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Oil

'In Memory of William W. Peabody' original hand-colored lithograph by N. Currier
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. Images like this were popular as ways of remembering loved ones, an alternative to portraiture of the deceased. This lithograph shows a man, woman and child in morning clothes next to an urn-topped stone monument. Behind are additional putto-topped headstones beneath weeping willows, with a steepled church beyond. The monument contains a space where a family could inscribe the name and death dates of a deceased loved one. In this case, it has been inscribed to a young Civil War soldier: William W. Peabody Died at Fairfax Seminary, VA December 18th, 1864 Aged 18 years The young Mr. Peabody probably died in service for the Union during the American Civil War. Farifax Seminary was a Union hospital and military headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. The hospital served nearly two thousand soldiers during the war time. Five hundred were also buried on the Seminary's grounds. 13.75 x 9.5 inches, artwork 23 x 19 inches, frame Published before 1864 Inscribed bottom center "Lith. & Pub. by N. Currier. 2 Spruce St. N.Y." Framed to conservation standards using 100 percent rag matting and TruVue Conservation Clear glass, housed in a gold gilded 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...
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Mid-19th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Watercolor, Lithograph

Sailing Away
Located in Cotignac, FR
An oil on panel idyllic seascape by Boggio. The painting is signed bottom right. An idealised seascape scene, boats under sail on a tranquil sea moving away from a rocky outcrop wit...
Category

Mid-20th Century Romantic Art

Materials

Board, Oil

Sailing Away
Sailing Away
H 5.91 in W 9.45 in
Previously Available Items
Elegant woman oil on canvas painting portrait
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
José Puyet Padilla (1922-2004) - Elegant Woman - Oil on canvas Oil measures 76x61 cm. Frameless. Puyet was born in Malaga, Spain. He was the grandson of Professor José Padilla, a Spanish artist who began painting in the nineteenth century. As a child, Puyet learned to paint by watching his grandfather, whose company he preferred to that of children his age. At the age of eight he had started working on paencils and oils. At the age of 20, Puyet entered the Spanish army...
Category

1970s Romantic Art

Materials

Oil, Canvas

In the dresser oil on burlap painting woman portrait
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
José Puyet Padilla (1922-2004) - In the boudoir - Oil oil on burlap Oil measures 80x65 Frameless. Puyet was born in Malaga, Spain. He was the grandson of Professor José Padilla, a...
Category

1970s Romantic Art

Materials

Burlap, Oil

LOVERS Signed Lithograph, Erotic Portrait, Nude Couple, Ochre Gold Black White
By José García Ocejo
Located in Union City, NJ
LOVERS is an original hand drawn, traditional lithograph by the prominent Mexican artist José García Ocejo printed using hand lithography techniques ...
Category

1970s Romantic Art

Materials

Lithograph

Study of a Robin in a Winter setting, with snow and a sprig of Holly berries
By Ron Jobson
Located in Woodbury, CT
A fantastic scene of a Robin in a Winter setting, painted in watercolor and pencil. Ron Jobson is an English illustrator and painter of many different types of subjects. His skill in...
Category

1970s Romantic Art

Materials

Watercolor

Study of An English/British Hare in a landscape
By Ron Jobson
Located in Woodbury, CT
A wonderful portrait of a seated English Hare..looking around. Ron Jobson is an English illustrator and painter of many different types of subjects. His s...
Category

1970s Romantic Art

Sweethearts and Flower
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
An original signed oil on canvas by Romanian/Israeli artist Sandu Liberman (1923-1977) titled "Sweethearts and Flower", c. 1970. Hand signed by Liberman lower right. Fully ...
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1970s Romantic Art

Materials

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.

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