LITMIR.BIZ

      Parallel to that, a craze for images developed and lithography played a central role. Illustrations started to appear everywhere in books. Whilst the monumental publication of the Voyages pittoresques et romantiques dans l’ancienne France was going on, enriched by lithographs, some of the most beautiful of which were carried out by Bonington and Isabey, books of all kinds were adorned with frontispieces, images, lithographs, etchings and steel engravings. With the help of incredibly skilful craftsmen, wood allowed illustrations of perfect typographic quality to be inserted in the text. The Magasin pittoresque relied heavily on images in its effort at encyclopaedic popularisation.

      Deep changes were also visible in furniture, interior design, clothing and even hairdressing: tasteful or not, art was taken into consideration in all areas. Collectors gathered marvels from the past and threw new light upon them. The choice of a jacket or haircut or the growth of a beard showed aesthetic beliefs and were perceived as manifestos. Without knowing it, elegant men and ladies going to the opera disguised as transvestites, slovenly-dressed young people complaining about the fuss ordered by Chicard, all took up the style established by the Duchess of Berry and Alexandre Dumas. Unexpected costumes, unreliable archaeological extravaganzas, plastic surprises, medleys of colour and flashiness, all were a visual feast added to music or dance.

      Was the whole movement a hundred per cent Romantic? Undoubtedly analysis reveals that some aspects were not a matter for Romanticism but parodies, imitations and compromises would not have happened if some active and vivid ferment had not been at work, modelling the period, and people of the time, whether scandalised or overjoyed, saw Romanticism everywhere.

      Indeed, Romanticism had swept across the whole of society. Yet, at the same time that one could see signs of it everywhere, it was already deeply eroded and going into decline.

      Just after the first battles, Romanticism faced some opposition in the public which it was not going to overcome. I am not referring here to the surprise that Romantic works caused, for every new form of art requires some time for the public to adapt, become educated and eventually understand it. It is also obvious that the eccentric side of early Romanticism would only raise momentary curiosity. No, the essence of Romanticism itself was repugnant to the spirit in general, and the French spirit in particular.

      With traditions of clarity, order, logic and analysis and the pre-eminence of rational thinking, everything in France was against an aesthetic movement which praised feeling and passion and relied on the soul’s intimate forces instead of asking for well thought out adhesion.

      Eugène Delacroix, The Women of Algiers, 1834.

      Oil on canvas, 180 × 229 cm.

      Musée du Louvre, Paris.

      Francesco Podesti, Henry II, King of France, Mortally Wounded in a Joust, Blessing the Marriage of his Sister Marguerite de Valois with Emmanuel-Philibert de Savoie, 1844.

      Oil on canvas, 178 × 280 cm. Castello ducale, Agliè.

      Romantic success was never total and the more characteristic the works, the more the polemic reactions they caused. Year after year the general atmosphere was less and less in the Romantics’ favour. Besides, material wealth softened the mal du siècle. When time came for minds to be taken over by new passions, social and humanitarian tendencies as well as political claims called for action, and focused everybody’s attention on the realities of the time, preparing for new artistic ideals.

      The defection of artists themselves was a serious sign of the movement running out of steam. Louis Boulanger, for whom Hugo cherished great hopes and whose zeal had led him to truly extravagant behaviour, finally turned to dull and spineless painting. Overwhelmed by the weight of early glory, and despite a few successful comebacks, Eugène Devéria disappeared too. Ary Scheffer turned his back on the colourfulness of Gaston of Foix and preferred pale philosophical abstraction.

      Others looked only for success and, in order to achieve it, they weakened their effects, added mannerism and, in the end, produced watered-down Romanticism. Some tried to revive the graces of the eighteenth century that they had talked down in the past. Achille Devéria and Célestin Nanteuil came down with a bump and produced undemanding lithographs.

      Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, Charles IV and his Family, c. 1800.

      Oil on canvas, 280 × 336 cm.

      Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

      The crowd seemed to prefer skilful men who produced mundane or dramatic images using a plain language devoid of technical originality. Avatars, weaknesses of disoriented artists and an uneducated public all had a negative impact but then an even more damaging phenomenon occurred. From 1840 on, the suppressed classical tendencies found a new vigour and claimed revenge; public opinion called for a reaction and young people turned away from Romanticism. Victor Hugo’s play The Burgraves was a memorable failure, and Ingres suddenly appeared like the hero of the hour. He was just back from Italy, where he had managed the Ecole de Rome and had had an incredible influence on his pupils. He had just painted the

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