Art Romanticism Term Paper

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Art: Romanticism

Not immediately recognized for his contribution to the visual art world, William Blake is perhaps better known for his poetry. However, the Englishman received formal training in drawing and was officially apprenticed to an engraver in London in the late eighteenth century. Blake's interest in metaphysics is apparent in all his productions, especially in allegorical pieces based on the Old Testament like his "Nebuchadnezzar," (completed in 1795). Blake's color print, finished in pen and watercolor, is a typical example of the artist's chosen media; he rejected oil paints. Like all art classified as Romantic, "Nebuchadnezzar" is intensely individualistic and introspective. Blake's preoccupation with symbolism and esoterica is apparent in the subject matter as well as its execution. Drawing upon the Biblical allegory of a headstrong king who dreams (and later realizes) that his mind degenerates into that of a beast, Blake visually interprets the book of Daniel.

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"Nebuchadnezzar," an emotionally-wrought and hence Romantic work of art, is a direct reaction against the prevailing rationalist, materialistic worldview. The piece is Blake's interpretation of a dream within a religious narrative, a subjective, exotic, emotional, and visionary execution of an already allegorical subject matter.

The starkness of King Nebuchadnezzar's nudity and his centrality to the painting are striking and evocative. An all-powerful king who otherwise controlled and dominated his people, Nebuchadnezzar is witnessed here as a beast crawling on all fours. His hands and feet are claw-like, alluding to the Bible. Likewise, his hair and beard are mane-like. The Biblical story describes Nebuchadnezzar's hair as being like that of an eagle; so, too, his talons. God punished Nebuchadnezzar's ruthlessness by transforming the man into an animal. His nudity, portrayed by Blake, drives home how the king has been stripped by his civility. Nebuchadnezzar is half….....

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