Romanticism and the various european revivals

 

This is a typical gothic flic inspired by a romantic script (which makes for the best gothic novels)

The origin of Renaissance architecture is generally accredited to Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446).  He wished to bring greater "order" to architecture, resulting in strong symmetry and careful proportion. The movement grew from scientific observations of nature, particularly human anatomy. 

During the mid-18th century rise of Romanticism, an increased interest and awareness of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance among influential connoisseurs created a more appreciative approach to selected medieval arts, beginning with church architecture, the tomb monuments of royal and noble personages, stained glass, and late Gothic illuminated manuscripts. 

Other Gothic arts, such as tapestries and metalwork, continued to be disregarded as barbaric and crude; however, sentimental and nationalist associations with historical figures were as strong in this early revival as purely aesthetic concerns.

Gothic Revival

Basilica of St. Clotild, France (19th century)

Canadian Palament from the Ottowa River

The study @ Abbotsford was created for Sir Walter Scott (19th century)

Renaissance Revival 

Like all architectural styles, the Neo-Renaissance did not appear overnight fully formed but evolved slowly. One of the first signs of its emergence was the Würzburg Women's Prison, erected in 1809 and designed by Peter Speeth. It included a heavily rusticated ground floor, alleviated by one semicircular arch, with a curious Egyptian style miniature portico above, high above this were a sequence of six tall arched windows and above these just beneath the slightly projecting roof were the small windows of the upper floor. (WIKI) 

Vladimir Palace, St. Petersburg Russia (19th century)

Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, England (19th century)

It's confusing for the neophyte. Why?

Gothic influences on both period and revived Renaissance architecture are readily apparent, first as many buildings occurred during the period of transition from the Gothic to the Renaissance style and also as Renaissance−era design took the form of the addition of Renaissance ornamentation to Gothic−era buildings; thus, creating accretion of details from disparate sources. 

Architects who designed in the Renaissance Revival style usually avoided any references to Gothic Revival architecture, drawing instead on various other classically based styles.

The wikipedia of 18th century

Encyclopaedia, or Descriptive Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts and Trades - one of the most important works by French enlightener, writer, philosopher and encyclopaedist Denis Diderot (1713-1784). It was published during 1751-1780 (in 7 vol., with 11 vol. of illustrations and 4 vol. of supplements), and was the crowning glory of the efforts of the French intellectual minds and printers of that time.

The encyclopedia and the mechanical arts claim the following: 

1. The materials and the places where they are found, the manner in which they are prepared, their good and bad qualities, the different kinds available, the required processing before and during their utilization.
2. The main products that are made with them and how this is done.
3. We have supplied the names, descriptions, and diagrams of tools and machines, with their parts when taken apart and assembled; the section of certain molds and other instruments if it is appropriate to know about the interior design, their contours, etc.
4. We have explained and represented the workmanship and the principal operations in one or several plates where sometimes only the hands of the craftsman can be seen and sometimes the entire craftsman in action, working at the most important task in his art or trade.
5. We have collected and defined in the most accurate way possible the terms that are peculiar to a given art or trade.

 This was the Wikipedia of the 18th century!

What typeface did they use? The printer was the very talented Pierre Simon Fournier, a punch cutter who was instrumental in the creation of the Roman du Roi, i.e., the typeface of Louis XIV.

Here's an interesting discussion.

Romantic poetry's influence

a haunting painting by romantic german painter caspar david. what to look for here?

solitude

fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
in vacant or in pensive mood,
they flash upon that inward eye
which is the bliss of solitude.-- Wordsworth

death,

we seek everywhere the limitless and find only limits.
life is the beginning of death. life exists for the sake of death. death is simultaneously ending and beginning, division and closer bonding. through death, reduction is completed.-- Novalis

nature,

I see them all so excellently fair,
I see, not feel, how beautiful they are!
O Lady! we receive but what we give,
and in our life alone does Nature lives.-- Coleridge

designing the romantic image (love and hate)

what is this wonderful caspar friedrich painting saying?

you're at the cusp but you'll pay the price: solitude (you're the better for it: romantics redesigned narcissism)

henry wallis the death of chatterton 

life is fleeting, death is near. only art saves the soul!

 theodore guéricault, raft of the medusa, 1816

life is a perilous journey! make the best of it.

thomas moran, the gran canyon (1862)

long live nature! (romantics designed ecology)

eugene delacroix, liberty leading the people (1830)

we can change the world through revolution (romantics designed nationalism).

john everett millais, ophelia (1851)

die young, never old. romantics designed AMOR FATI!

the sleep of reason produces monsters, francisco goya (1798)

human's reason is a bad, bad advisor (go deeper, into your intuitions and dreams).

nadar, portrait of baudelaire

romantics designed the genius: the diabolical french poet (he will die of syphilis).

nadar, mikhail bakunin

the genius anarchist (he will rot in the slammer).

nadar, sarah bernhardt

the genius actress (she will lived possessed by her characters). 

Evolution of types (from Bembo up to 19th century)

 

 

This category includes the first Roman types, initially created between the late 15th and mid-18th centuries. 

1. the axis of curved strokes is usually inclined to the left in these designs so that weight stress is at approximately 8:00 and 2:00 o’clock. 

2. the contrast in character stroke weight is not dramatic, and hairlines tend to be on the heavy side. serifs are almost always bracketed in old-style designs, and head serifs are often angled. 

3. some versions, like the earlier Venetian old-style designs, are distinguished by the diagonal cross stroke of the lowercase "e."

Transitional printer and typographer John Baskerville established this style in the mid-18th century. 

1. these types represent the transition between old style and neoclassical designs, and incorporate some characteristics of each. Baskerville’s work with calendered paper* and improved printing methods (both developed by him) allowed much finer character strokes to be reproduced and subtler character shapes to be maintained. 

2. the strokes typically have a vertical stress. weight contrast is more pronounced than in old style designs. serifs are still bracketed and head serifs are oblique.

A propos of serif, here you are:

Now we have,

Neoclassical typefaces are created in the late 18th century or by their descendants. They epitomize the work of Giambattista Bodoni. 

When first released, the Bodoni was called "classical" yet printers soon realized these were actually (not updated versions of classic type styles), but altogether new designs! as a result, their classification name was changed to modern.” since the mid-20th century, they have also been classified as neoclassical or didone. 

1. the contrast between thick and thin strokes is abrupt and dramatic. 

2. the axis of curved strokes is vertical, with little or no bracketing. 

3. in many cases, stroke terminals are “ball” shapes rather than an evocation of a broad pen effect. These tend to be highly mannered designs with clearly constructed letters.

the so-called slab serif typeface became popular in the 19th century for advertising displays. they have very heavy serifs with minimal or no bracketing. generally, changes in stroke weight are imperceptible. to many readers, slab serif-type styles look like sans serif designs with the simple addition of heavy (stroke weight) serifs.

the Clarendon family belongs in the mid-19th century. they are designed as bold faces to accompany text composition. 

1. the stroke contrast is slight, and serifs are short to medium length. 

2. the character stroke weight is more evident than neoclassical, 

3. serifs tend to be longer (less foily than neoclassical).

_______

* it refers to the process of smoothing the paper's surface by pressing it between hard pressure cylinders or rollers—the calendars—at the end of the papermaking process. it's is usually the last step of the process before the paper is cut to standard sizes.

William Blake (the graphic designer)

What you see above belongs in the illuminated manuscript tradition. problem is that Blake does this in the modern era when moveable printing rules. 

 

Why is he doing it? Because he's a romantic! Blake is influenced by the engravings (he studied) of the works of Michelangelo and Raphael.

In his painting, as in his poetry, Blake seemed (to most of his contemporaries) to be completely out of the mainstream.  

He became deeply impressed with the work of contemporary figurative painters such as John Mortimer and Henry Fuseli, who, like Blake, preferred to depict dramatically posed nude figures with strong linear contours. In fact, fuseli's extravagant pictorial fantasies freed Blake to distort his figures and seek to express his inner vision.

Fuseli's The Nightmare, 1781

 For example, Blake's take on Dante's Divine Comedy has a Buonarotti's feel to it.

Blake is trying a Greek style, which later would be so popular for pre-raphaelites and French artists of the 19th-century beaux-arts school, like Puvis de Chavannes, who was very famous during his life. 

Émile Zola described his work as "an art made of reason, passion, and will." 

Incidentally, Chavannes influenced Picasso. 

Baskerville's remarkable English print

John Baskerville was a wealthy Birmingham lacquer manufacturer and japanner ("japan" is a sort of hard, black varnish), letter-carver and writing master, recut Caslon's letter in a somewhat wider, rounder, and lighter form.
 

The type itself was not remarkably different from Caslon's, although it was based on the living pen forms of the time. 

 

The way of setting the text, however, was dramatically different:

1- Baskerville used very open spacing between the lines and extremely wide margins.
 

2- The type was printed with unusual care on high-quality hot-pressed Whatman paper developed by Baskerville himself, with inks that were also his own products.
 

3- Baskerville used no decoration at all, and this trend affected the course of typography both in England and in continental Europe (the quality of his printing was remarkable).

See the transition from the 12 o clock from Humanist to Transitional, Baskerville achieves a rationalist axis. 

 

This is the neoclassical touch: A TURN TO REASON.

The consensus is that he is not an inventor but a perfecter. The history of marks needs both. 

"the Caslon" (when type emulates handwriting)

 Also known as William Caslon I (1692-1766). 

A famous designer of typefaces. In 1716 he started business in London as an engraver of gun locks and barrels, and as a bookbinder's tool cutter. His work influenced John Baskerville and are thus the progenitors of the typeface classifications Transitional (which includes Baskerville, Bulmer, and Fairfield), and Modern (which includes Bodoni, Didot, and Walbaum). 

This first printed version of the United States Declaration of Independence has Caslon typefaces

The Caslon types fell out of favor in the century after his death but were revived in the 1840s. Several revivals of the Caslon types are widely used today.  

Characteristics:

1- Short ascenders and descenders, bracketed serifs, moderately high contrast, robust texture, and moderate modulation of stroke.
2- A has a concave hollow at the apex, the G is without a spur.
3- Caslon's italics have a rhythmic calligraphic stroke. A, V, and W have an acute slant.
4- italics p, Q, v, w, and z all have a suggestion of a swash.   

It has superior legibility, beautiful curves, and lines with varied weight and tension. Caslon lends itself well to books or official documents requiring large amounts of reading. In large size, Caslon lends a touch of class as a headline.

jefferson's "rough" draft of the declaration of independence (how to look at this document?)

what do we have here?

1. a pivotal political document for the 18th century (it justifies the revolution)

2. an indictment against the british king

3. a treatise on government

4. jefferson (the best writer of the forefathers) had 17 days to write it. he completed it in three days.