{Neoclassical and Romantic Art [continued (12)]}{Neoclassical Painting}[12th May 1991]

[Redbook10:8][19910512:1718l]{Neoclassical and Romantic Art [continued (12)]}{Neoclassical Painting}[12th May 1991]

19910512.1718

[continued]

‘Horrific elements. Gestures and emotions in neoclassical works are usually restrained. In Bacchanalian scenes the gaeity is held in check, never bursting into exuberance. In a tragic scene, Andromache does not shed a tear as she mourns the death of Hector. The principal exception to this restraint is in the treatment of fantasy and terror. The Swiss-born English artist Henry Fuseli, who chose subjects from many aspects of Classical & post-classical history & literature, showed a continual predilection for elements of fantasy & horror characteristic of the English poet and illustrator William Blake and his circle.

‘The element of the supernatural was carried further by artists who did not draw a rigid line between classical and non-classical subject matter… The most widely known illustration of Dante's Divina Commedia were Flaxman's,* which included a particularly horrific image of the lower Hell called Dis. These illustrations were praised by the German Goethe for being both “spirited” & “calm”.**

***

*[See [Redbook10:6][19910512:1718f] {Neoclassical and Romantic Art [continued (6)]}[12th May 1991,] above]

**

(Is this what the

Gothic Arch symbolizes?)

[Hmm….]

***– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 25:] 360

[continued]

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