From scenes of untamed seas to exalted mountains, this book looks at Swiss artists' contributions to Romanticism.
At the end of the 18th century, Romanticism spread throughout Europe and artist began creating works that emphasized senses, emotions, and a fascination with the unfathomable in contrast to the purely rational and sober pieces found in Neoclassicism. Swiss artists such as Henry Fuseli, Alexandre Calame, and Georg Ludwig Vogel became fascinated with their native landscape, painting sublime Alpine peaks and eternal glacial ice, as well as harrowing shipwrecks. This book looks at over 150 works of Swiss Romantic art from the late 18th century to the end of the 19th century and reveals the considerable contributions made by Swiss artists to the development of landscape painting. The paintings range from literary and mythological scenes to mountain, ocean, and forest landscapes. The book also includes essays, which consider the Swiss artists in relation to the Romantics from neighboring countries such as Caspar David Friedrich from Germany, Eugène Delacroix from France, and J. M. W. Turner from England. This generously illustrated book is a vivid showcase of the skills and contributions Swiss Romantics made on the development of art over the course of a century.
