During the era of Theodore Gericault, man moved toward the industrialization of production and the achievement of the revolutionary ideal of self-determination in the arts. Both heightened sensibility and intensified emotional expression and became characteristics of what would be described as the new ôromanticism,ö to the Romantic Movement (Wood, 1989, p. 214). This tendency, expressed in painting and other arts, would result in the creation of art forms containing images of impassioned or poignant feeling; these characteristics are found in the work of one of the Romantic eraÆs most skilled painters, Theodore Gericault.
GericaultÆs works like The Raft of the Medusa, were filled with passion and feeling, turning flat, one-dimensional forms into expressions of extreme passion. GericaultÆs works broke with tradition, representing a combination of romanticism and realism. He was able to paint his intense personal visions through the transformation of everyday objects. Wood (1989) maintains that Gericault offered both new subject matter and a new style of painting, a style that was surcharged by emotionalism and viability. For example, in The Raft of the Medusa, Gericault used a classical subject reference drawn from ancient mythology to encapsulate a then-contemporary theme to describe a real-world event. Gericault was interested in painting contemporary and topical events not only as a depiction of that event, but also as an exploration of the passionate emotions and truths that underlay its surface.
Wood, M. (1989). Art of the Western World. New York: Summit Books.
Gothic Architecture eventually began to supplant Romanesque architecture during the twelfth century in France. The Gothic period, including three phases, produced some of the greatest architecture in history, including famous Cathedrals like Chartres, which transformed the function and utility of architecture to aggrandize the power of the
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