This original study sets out to investigate and analyze the reactions of English artists in the four decades following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The period was a critical one: despite the brilliant achievements of Turner, Constable, and Lawrence, there was a growing uneasiness about the "sensuous" direction taken by the British School as a whole. After years of isolation due to the wars with France, British artists became aware of striking new developments in continental art, culminating in the 1840s when German monumental painting was held up as a model for the competitions for the decoration of the new Houses of Parliament.

The first part of the book considers the principal areas of artistic contact between the two countries, the radical new developments in the field of aesthetics, and the new range of themes found in German Romanticism. The latter half looks at specific stylistic connections, the impact of German book illustration and design, the influence of the Munich school on history painting, and the rivalry between English and German artists in the field or religious art.

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The early 19th century was a period in German art in which painting played a significant part in the cultural resurgence commonly known as the Romantic Movement. This Movement and some of its chief exponents are examined against a background of German literature, philosophy and music.

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