Activity #11

The painting The Voyage of Life: Manhood by Thomas Cole was developed during a period in Art history called the Romantic Period. Romanticism was a secular and intellectual movement in the history of ideas that originated in late 18th century Western Europe. It followed the Enlightenment period and was in part inspired by a revolt against aristocratic social and political norms of the previous period, as well as a reaction against the rationalization of nature by the Enlightenment: Romanticism is an aspect of what has been called the Counter-Enlightenment. It stressed strong emotion (which now might include trepidation, awe, and horror as aesthetic experiences), legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority (which permitted freedom within or from classical notions of form in art), and overturned some previous social conventions. An influence upon the Romantic movement by the ideologies and events of the French Revolution is thought to have characterized the movement. Thomas Cole is regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School, an American art movement that flourished in the mid-19th century and was concerned with the realistic and detailed portrayal of nature. These two movements had an impact of the style of the artist’s work and where his ideas came from.


The Vintagers is a painting done by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It is a French painting and as well as Thomas Cole’s painting, it too was created during the Romantic Period. Romanticism stressed the awe of "nature" in art and language and the experience of sublimity through a connection with nature. An influence upon the Romantic movement by the ideologies and events of the French Revolution is thought to have characterized the movement. Romanticism was a secular and intellectual movement in the history of ideas that originated in late 18th century Western Europe. However, different from The Voyage, since this is a French painting it was also influenced by another movement; Realism. Realism in art is the depiction of subjects as they appear, without embellishment or interpretation. It was a mid-19th century cultural movement with its roots in France.