#RomanticLandscapes
LightNews LightNews
zeeshansam.bsky.social
In the silence of these golden plains,
Your love runs wild through desert veins.
No rain, no bloom—just endless skies,
Yet in your gaze, my oasis lies.

#BlueSky #BlueSkyArtShow #photography #thewildimages #eastcoastkin #DesertRomance #RomanticLandscapes #GoldenHearts
July 12, 2025 at 9:44 AM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (9.2/n)
#AWSchlegel #RomanticLandscapes
When painting, depending on whether it fixes the mind in quiet contemplation of a defined object or excites the mind to remote fantasies and entangles it in an indescribable longing, approaches either sculpture or music, then one can call landscape painting its musical part. August Wilhelm Schlegel, Vorlesungen über schöne Literatur und Kunst Erster Theil Kunstlehre (1801-1802)
July 28, 2025 at 8:57 PM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Likely a dangerous gown, really only for water spirits: - she then disappears in the Danube with it.
#RomanticLandscapes
en.wikisource.org/wiki/Undine_...
Illustration by Arthur Rackham from 'Undine', Baron de la Motte Fouqué, translated by William Leonard Courtney (1911) [The desperate Undine disappearing in the waves of the Danube - somwhere between Castle Ringstetten near the Danube sources and Vienna : ] 'And so Undine vanished over the side of the vessel. Whether she plunged into the stream or was drawn into it they knew not; it might have been either or perhaps somewhat of both. But full soon she was lost to sight in the Danube; only a few little waves seemed to whisper and sob round the boat, as though they murmured: "Alas! alas! Be faithful!" '
August 19, 2026 at 11:21 AM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (10/n)
#Clare #RomanticLandscapes

John Clare, from July (2nd version) in
_The Shepherd's Calendar_
The very landscape reels with life While mid the busy stir and strife Of industry the shepherd still Enjoys his summer dreams at will Bent oer his hook or listless laid Beneath the pastures willow shade Whose foliage shines so cool and grey Amid the sultry hues of day As if the mornings misty veil Yet lingered in their shadows pale Or lolling in a musing mood On mounds where saxon castles stood Upon whose deeply buried walls The ivyed oaks dark shadow falls Oft picking up with wondering gaze Some little thing of other days Saved from the wreck of time - as beads Or broken pots among the weeds Of curious shapes - and many a stone Of roman pavements thickly sown Oft hoping as he searches round That buried riches may be found Tho search as often as he will His hopes are dissapointed still
July 27, 2025 at 4:29 PM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (16.1/n)
#ColliEuganei #Foscolo #RomanticLandscapes

Contemporary translations of the _Ultime Lettere di Jacopo Ortis_ remind that authors of the romantic movement knew the literature across borders of language and politics in Europe.
Schon waren wir nahe bei Arqua, und indem wir den Rasenabhang hinunterstiegen, verloren sich in Nebeln die Dörfer, die man vorher in den unten liegenden Thaͤlern zerstreut sah. Endlich befanden wie uns in einer Allee, auf der einen Seite mit Pappeln besetzt, die und zitternd ihre gelblichten Blätter auf das Haupt streuten; und gegenüber beschatteten uns hohe Eichen, deren schweigendes Duͤster mit dem heitern Pappelgruͤn im Kontrast stand. Hier und da waren die beiden einander gegenuͤber stehenden Baumreihen durch wilde Weinranken verbunden, die im Niederhaͤngen eben so viele sanfte, von der Morgenluft leis bewegte Festons bildeten. Ugo Foscolo, Letzte Briefe des Jacopo Ortis Aus dem Italienischen übersetzt durch Friedrich Lautsch Leipzig, F.A. Brockhaus, 1829 Source: https://archive.org/details/letztebriefedes00foscgoog/page/12/mode/2up Photography of the landscape of the Euganean Hills with the characteristic volcanic cone of the Monte Rusta in the center. Author: Threecharlie Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Colli_Euganei,_vista_dal_Monte_Gemola_02.jpg?uselang=de
August 13, 2025 at 4:01 PM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (21/n)
#Waterloo #Southey #RomanticLandscapes

Almost immediately after the end of the Napoleonic wars, the battlefield of Waterloo became a subject for romantic poets. Here Robert Southey in 1816, from _The poet's pilgrimage to Waterloo_.
Here might the hideous face of war be seen, Stript of all pomp, adornment, and disguies; It was a dismal spectacle, I ween, Such as might well to the beholders' eyes Bring sudden tears, and make the pious mind Grieve for the crimes and follies of mankind. Robert Southey, from _The poet's pilgrimage to Waterloo_ 1816 II, Brussels, X Painting by J.M.W.Turner showing the aftermaths of the battle of Waterloo. It is evening or night after the battle, near the farmhouse of Hougoumont. A mass of wounded or dead can be discerned form some lights of a torch in front of a dark building. Sky and flat fields in the distant background are dark, brown & black, somewhere pale greenish. In the upper left of center white light like from a rocket or falling star. In the foreground, a group of three or four women, one appears to carry a child in her arms and another holding up the torch that lits the scene. There are two others, one turns away, possibly in horror from the human desaster, another bents forward towards a wounded or dead soldier. Around this group, colors are strongest: a fallen drum shining with some silver, some ensigns, and pieces of uniforms with red, white & blue specks. The painting, oil on canvas, is dated 1818. It is in the collection of the Tate Gallery, London. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Mallord_William_Turner_(1775-1851)_-_The_Field_of_Waterloo_-_NG500_-_Tate.jpg
September 7, 2025 at 11:30 AM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (22/n)
#North #MWollstonecraft #RomanticLandscapes

The North held a particular attraction with ideas of heroic past and landscapes, entirely different than the classical South. Mary Wollstonecraft's description of her extraordinary travel in Scandinavia is an early source.
I left Christiania yesterday. The weather was not very fine, and having been a little delayed on the road, I found that it was too late to go round, a couple of miles, to see the cascade near Fredericstadt, which I had determined to visit. Besides, as Fredericstadt is a fortress, it was necessary to arrive there before they shut the gate. The road along the river is very romantic, though the views are not grand; and the riches of Norway, its timber, floats silently down the stream, often impeded in its course by islands and little cataracts, the offspring, as it were, of the great one I had frequently heard described. Mary Wollstonecraft, from Letter XV in 'Letters written during a short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.' 1796 A colored aquatint print 'Frederickshald' by John William Edy (1760-1820) from 'Boydell's picturesque scenery of Norway', London, 1820. Plate no. 73 The forteress Frederiksted situated on a steep rock in the center of the image, overlooking the harbour a town. Bright zigzag of fortification and various buildings, depicted in an simplified almost abstract manner. To the left, a few larger buildings like country houses on wooded slopes with various hues of green, and red rocks in the foreground open the panoramic view. To the right, a few sail ships in the background, where the sound stretches between steep mountains. The text of the description from the original book can be found here - Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frederickshald_(JW_Edy_plate_73).jpg
September 13, 2025 at 5:27 PM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (20/n)
#Rhine #Beckford #RomanticLandscapes

Travellers & writers from the British Isles detect the Rhine landscapes before the romantic movement. Here William Beckford describes in a letter from his travel along the Rhine in 1782.
July 11th.—Let those who delight in picturesque country repair to the borders of the Rhine, and follow the road which we took from Bonn to Coblentz. In some places it is suspended like a cornice above the waters; in others, it winds behind lofty steeps and broken acclivities, shaded by woods and clothed with an endless variety of plants and flowers. Several green paths lead amongst this vegetation to the summits of the rocks, which often serve as the foundation of abbeys and castles, whose lofty roofs and spires, rising above the cliffs, impress passengers with ideas of their grandeur, that might probably vanish upon a nearer approach. William Beckford, Letter VIII from _Dreams, Waking Thoughts, and Incidents_ 1783 A 17th century landscape painting showing the river Rhine which fills the lower right between steep banks and a mountain range. Its blue-green waters reflec a bright day with blue sky and dramatic clouds. The waterway is bustling with prams and boats between flat sandbanks and islands. On the left banks a sort of riverharbour filled with many vessels. Above the river, the forground depicted in the left lower triangle of the picture, shows some buildings, a church, behind it a castle or fortification and towers and various populated roads and paths between green trees. Above the right bank, disappearing in a haze, further spires of buildings and castles or ruins sit on steep, rocky cliffs. Although more than hundred years before Beckford's travel, the picture reminds his description of the Rhine valley south of Bonn towards Koblenz, painters preforming a view that appears in literary description only much later. "View on the Rhine" - Oil Painting by Herman Saftleven (1609 - 1685) dated 1656 Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saftleven,_Herman_-_View_on_the_Rhine_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
September 4, 2025 at 10:38 AM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (4.6/n)
#Falun #RomanticLandscapes

A historic illustration of the mine in Falun
A printed plate, illustrating the historic copper mine of Falun in Sweden from "Travels in Sweden, during the autumn of 1812. Illustrated by maps and plates" by Thomas Thomson,M.D., Professor of Chemistry in the University of Glasgow London, 1813 This picture, a printed plate in black and yellowish white - shows, as the title reads a "Perpendicular Section of the MINE AT FALUN". One recognizes, the huge collapsed shaft and various vertical shafts and corridors in much detail, resembling the aspect of a giant inverted ant-hill. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Falun_Copper_Mine_in_art#/media/File:268_of_'Travels_in_Sweden,_during_the_autumn_of_1812._Illustrated_by_maps_and_plates'_(11002588025).jpg
July 1, 2025 at 2:16 PM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscape (10.9/n)
#Clare #RomanticLandscapes

John Clare, from ‘February . A Thaw’
_Shepherd‘s Calendar_
The snow is gone from cottage tops The thatch moss glows in brighter green And eves in quick succession drops Where grinning icles once hath been Pit patting wi a pleasant noise In tubs set by the cottage door And ducks and geese wi happy joys Douse in the yard pond brimming over The sun peeps thro the window pane Which children mark wi laughing eye And in the wet street steal again To tell each other spring is nigh And as young hope the past recalls In playing groups will often draw Building beside the sunny walls Their spring-play-huts of sticks or straw John Clare, from 'February . A Thaw' Shepherd‘s Calendar https://archive.org/details/shepherdscalenda0000clar/page/22/mode/1up
February 21, 2026 at 12:17 PM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscape (10.8/n)
#Clare #RomanticLandscapes

John Clare, from ‘January . A Winters Day’
_Shepherd‘s Calendar_
The more hen too wi fear opprest Starts from her reedy shelterd nest Bustling to get from foes away And scarcly flies more fast then they Skaiting along wi curving springs Wi arms spread out like herons wings They race away for pleasures sake A hunters speed along the lake And oft neath trees where ice is thin Meet narrow scapes from breaking in John Clare, from ‘January . A Winters Day’ Shepherd‘s Calendar https://archive.org/details/shepherdscalenda0000clar/page/5/mode/1up
January 11, 2026 at 11:48 AM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (26.2/n)
#Moscow #Stendhal #RomanticLandscapes

Stendhal as eye witness has a characteristically egotistic view on the Fire of Moscow 1812 - from his diary:
Nous sortîmes de la ville, éclairée par le plus bel incendie du monde, qui formait une pyramide immense qui avait, comme les prières des fidèles, sa base sur la terre et son sommet au ciel. La lune paraissait au-dessus de cette atmosphère de flamme et de fumée. C‘était un spectacle imposant, mais il aurait fallu être seul ou entouré de gens d‘ esprit pour en jouir. Ce qui a gâté pour moi la campagne de Russie, c‘est de l‘avoir faite avec des gens qui auraient rapetissé le Colisée et la mer de Naples. Stendhal, Journal 1812 in Oeuvres complètes de Stendhal. Journal. T. 4, 1811-1812 Editors: Henry Debraye et Louis Royer Publisher : E. Champion (Paris) 1932-1934 Contributor : Royer, Louis (1888-1938). Éditeur scientifique Set notice : http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb40949638c https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k34121580/f238.item [We left the city, illuminated by the most beautiful fire in the world, which formed an immense pyramid that had, like the prayers of the faithful, its base on the earth and its pinnacle in the sky. The moon appeared above this atmosphere of blaze and smoke. It was an imposing sight, but one would have had to be alone or in society with people of spirit to enjoy it. The Russian campaign was spoiled for me because it had to be fought with people who would have debased the Colosseum and the gulf of Naples.] Painting of the Fire of Mosow 1812 by Johann Christian Oldendorp, dated 1817 The Kremlin and various spires of Moscow surrounded by flames under an immense sky in orange & black. The blaze of the fire is mirrored in the Moskwa river, too. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gem%C3%A4lde_-_Brand_von_Moskau_-_Oldendorp.jpg https://objekt.db.dhm.de/objekt/K1000375
November 28, 2025 at 11:32 AM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (10.1/n)
#Clare #RomanticLandscapes

John Clare, from August in
_The Shepherd's Calendar_
Harvest approaches with bustling day The wheat tans brown and barley bleaches grey In yellow garb the oat land intervenes And tawney glooms the valley thronged with beans Silent the village grows, wood wandering dreams Seem not so lovely as its quiet seems Doors are shut up as on a winters day And not a child about them lies at play The dust that winnows neath the breezes feet Is all that stirs about the silent street Fancy might think that desert spreading fear Had whisperd terrors into quiets ear Or plundering armys past the place had come And drove the lost inhabitants from home The fields now claim them where a motley crew Of old and young their daily tasks pursue The barleys beard is grey and wheat is brown And wakens toil betimes to leave the town The reapers leave their beds before the sun And gleaners follow when home toils are done To pick the littered ear the reaper leaves And glean in open fields among the sheaves
August 14, 2025 at 5:40 AM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (11.1/n)
#Rome #Eichendorff #RomanticLandscapes
Unterwegs erfuhr ich, daß ich nur noch ein paar Meilen von Rom wäre. Da erschrack ich ordentlich vor Freude. Denn von dem prächtigen Rom hatte ich schon zu Hause als Kind viele wunderbare Geschichten gehört, und wenn ich dann an Sonntags-Nachmittagen vor der Mühle im Grase lag und alles ringsum so stille war, da dachte ich mir Rom wie die ziehenden Wolken über mir, mit wundersamen Bergen und Abgründen am blauen Meer, und goldnen Thoren und hohen glänzenden Thürmen, von denen Engel in goldenen Gewändern sangen. – Die Nacht war schon wieder lange hereingebrochen, und der Mond schien prächtig, als ich endlich auf einem Hügel aus dem Walde heraustrat, und auf einmal die Stadt in der Ferne vor mir sah. – Das Meer leuchtete von weiten, der Himmel blitzte und funkelte unübersehbar mit unzähligen Sternen, darunter lag die heilige Stadt, von der man nur einen langen Nebelstreif erkennen konnte, wie ein eingeschlafner Löwe auf der stillen Erde, und Berge standen daneben, wie dunkle Riesen, die ihn bewachten. Joseph von Eichendorff, Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts Kapitel 7 Hadrian's mausoleum, now called Castel Sant'Angelo - a photograph by night. The illuminated circular castel shines in tinges of gold, honey, and light brown, filling the center of the picture, in front of a pitch black sky. At the lower part of the landscape picture, the top of a crennellated medieval wall runs almost horizontally from side to side, displaying muddier colours, between siena and gray-brown, the shadows emphasizing the rows of crenellations. The top of the castel is crowned by the monumental figure of an angel - possibly an oxidized bronze statue - almost white with a hint of very bright turquois, as brightest spot in the picture. Author: Schlurcher Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Engelsburg-Rome2.JPG
August 26, 2025 at 10:52 AM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (20.8/n)
#Rhine #Coleridge #Cologne #RomanticLandscapes

S.T. Coleridge's satirical piece of post-romantic disillusionment, the olfactory perception of a narrow medieval town as parallel & ironic impression tied to its picturesque charms:
COLOGNE In Köhln, a town of monks and bones, And pavements fanged with murderous stones, And rags, and hags, and hideous wenches, I counted two and seventy stenches, All well defined, and several stinks ! Ye Nymphs that reign o'er sewers and sinks, The river Rhine, it is well known, Doth wash your city of Cologne ; But tell me, Nymphs ! what power divine Shall henceforth wash the river Rhine ? 1828. Source: https://archive.org/details/poemscolmet00coleuoft/page/419/mode/1up
January 19, 2026 at 3:56 PM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (4.4/n)
#ETAHoffmann #RomanticLandscapes

This landscape in E.T.A.Hoffmann's tale 'Die Bergwerke zu Falun' is a curious mixture, romantic & realistic. His source was 'Reise durch Skandinavien ..' by Joh. Fr. Ludw. Hausmann.

[https://mdz-nbn-resolving.de/details:bsb11449199]
Eine größere Tagesöffnung oder Pinge, wie die der Faluner Kupfergrube, wird man selten antreffen. Ihr Anblick macht einen schauerlichen Eindruck. Sie ist das größte und schrecklichste Bild einer durch Unordnung und Verschwendung herbeigeführten Zerrüttung. Bei einer Länge von etwa 1200 und einer Breite von 600 Fuß, läßt sie in eine Tiefe, von mehr denn 180 Fuß schauen. Die schwarzbraunen Seitenwände gehen anfangs größten Theils senkrecht nieder; dann verflächen sie sich aber gegen die mittlere Tiefe durch ungeheuere Schutt und Trümmerhalden. In diesen und an den Seitenwänden blickt hin und wieder die Zimmerung alter Schächte hervor, wovon bedeutende Stücke sich noch vollständig erhalten haben und von dem früheren großen Holzverbrauch zeugen, indem sie aus starken, dicht auf einander gelegten und an den Enden in einander gefugten Stämmen, nach Art des gewöhnlichen Blochhäuserbaues aufgeführt sind. Diese entsetzliche Pinge (Stöten) entstand im siebzehnten Jahrhundert, durch mehrere auf einander folgende Einbrüche benachbarter Gruben, die unvorsichtig ausgeweitet worden, und deren Bergvesten man nicht hinlänglich geschont hatte. Die jetzige Gestalt erhielt sie durch den stärksten Einsturz, der im Jahre 1687 erfolgte. Das, was die Tagesöffnung davon zeigt, ist nur ein Teil der dadurch bewirkten schrecklichen Zerrüttung, die an manchen Stellen bis zu einer Teufe von 110 bis 130 Klafter niedergeht. Johann Friedrich Ludwig Haumann 'Reise durch Skandinavien in den Jahren 1806 und 1807' Göttingen: Röwer 1818 Vol. 5, pp.96-97 [https://mdz-nbn-resolving.de/details:bsb11449199]
July 1, 2025 at 1:52 PM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (26.3/n)
#Moscow #LouiseFusil #RomanticLandscapes

The french actress Louise Fusil witnesses the Fire of Moscow 1812. She had worked for several years in Russia before, surviving the fire and the Beresina crossing, she will return with the rests of the Grande Armée to France.
Je revins chez mes amis à la lueur des maisons incendiées. Le vent soufflant avec violence, le feu gagnait avec une effrayante rapidité : il semblait que tout fût d’accord pour brûler cette malheureuse ville. L’automne est superbe en Russie, et nous n’étions qu’un 15 septembre. La soirée était belle ; nous parcourûmes toutes les rues voisines du palais du prince Troubetskoï pour voir les progrès de l’incendie. Ce spectacle était beau et terrible à la fois. Nous fûmes quatre nuits sans avoir besoin de lumière, car il faisait plus clair qu’en plein midi. De temps en temps on entendait une légère explosion, à peu près semblable à un coup de fusil, et l’on voyait alors sortir une fumée très noire. Au bout de quelques minutes elle devenait rougeâtre, ensuite couleur de feu, et bientôt succédait un gouffre de flammes. Quelques heures après les maisons étaient consumées. Louise Fusil (1771?-1848) 'Souvenirs d'une actrice' Tome 2 / par Mme Louise Fusil Dumont, Paris 1841-1846 http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb30471451r Source: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k62793f/f283.item Aquatint print, entitled "Incendie de Moscou" from early 19th century by Louis-François Couché (called Couché fils) Panoramic view of the burning Moscow with flames and smoke rising much higher than the highest spires of churches. In the foreground, a group of french solidiers. Source: https://www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/musee-carnavalet/oeuvres/incendie-de-moscou#infos-principales
January 20, 2026 at 3:39 PM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (4.7/n)
#Falun #RomanticLandscapes

A later printed plate from Meyer's 'Enzyklopädie' 1841, showing the copper mine in Falun. Apparently, this is a view from one slope of the collapsed mine towards the opposite sidewall with the entrance to the subterranean world.
A black and white printed plate from Meyer's encyclopedy 1841 in German, entitled 'Fahlun-Minen' showing the giant entrance to the mines, a flooded floor of the collapsed old shaft area with some huts, above the entrance are mining installation with operating headgear: a tiny human shape and a bucket are hanging on the cables in front of nearly perpendicular rocky walls. [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meyers_Universum_Band_08_45.jpg]
July 1, 2025 at 2:53 PM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (26.4/n)
#Moscow #LouiseFusil #RomanticLandscapes
Nous voulûmes prendre le chemin ordinaire du boulevart, mais il nous fut impossible de passer ; le feu était partout. Nous remontâmes la Twerscoye ; là il était encore plus intense, et le grand théâtre où nous allâmes ensuite, n’était plus qu’un gouffre de flammes, La provision de bois d’une année y était adossée, et le théâtre qui était en bois, alimentait ce terrible incendie. Nous tournâmes à droite, ce côté nous paraissait moins enflammé. Lorsque nous fûmes à la moitié de la rue, le vent poussa la flamme avec une telle force, qu’elle rejoignit l’autre côté, et forma un dôme de feu. Cela peu paraître une exagération, mais c’est pourtant l’exacte vérité. Nous ne pouvions aller ni en avant, ni de côté, et nous n’avions d’autre parti à prendre que de revenir par le chemin que nous avions déjà pris. Mais de minute en minute le feu gagnait et les flammèches tombaient jusque dans notre calèche, le cocher, posé de côté sur un siège, tenait les rênes avec un mouvement convulsif et sa figure tournée vers nous, peignait un grand effroi. Nous lui criâmes : « Nazad ! » (retourne). Louise Fusil (1771?-1848) 'Souvenirs d'une actrice' Tome 2 / par Mme Louise Fusil Dumont, Paris 1841-1846 http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb30471451r Source: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k62793f/f286.item Contemporary print, Nürnberg bei Fr.Campe, the burning City of Moscow seen from the outskirts with an encampment of the Grande Armee in the foreground. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Incendie_de_Moscou_-_estampe_-_btv1b84136878.jpg
January 20, 2026 at 3:52 PM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (13)
#Tieck #RomanticLandscapes

from 'Franz Sternbalds Wanderungen'.
The hero is painter in Dürer's times, the story a coming-of-age of an artist with problems of painting as central theme. Once, abstract painting creating colored light is discussed as a way of visual art.
Es war noch am Morgen, als er in dem Wäldchen stand, das vor dem Dorfe lag. Hier war sein Spielplatz gewesen, hier war er oft in der stillen Einsamkeit des Abends voll Nachdenken gewandelt, wenn die Schatten immer dichter zusammen-wuchsen und das Roth der sinkenden Sonne tief unten durch die Baumstämme äugelte und mit zuckenden Strahlen um ihn spielte. Hier hatte sich zuerst sein Trieb entzündet, und er betrat den Wald mit einer Empfindung wie man in einen heiligen Tempel tritt. Er hatte vor allen einen Lieblingsbaum gehabt, von dem er sich immer kaum hatte trennen können; diesen suchte er jetzt mit großer Emsigkeit auf. Es war eine dicke Eiche mit vielen weit ausgebreiteten Zweigen, die Kühlung und Schatten gaben. Er fand den Baum und den Rasen am Fuße desselben noch eben so weich und frisch, als ehemals. Ludwig Tieck, Franz Sternbalds Wanderungen, Bd.1, Berlin 1798 https://www.deutschestextarchiv.de/book/show/tieck_sternbald01_1798 Piet Mondrian, The Red Tree, 1908 The painting shows a leafless tree in front of a blue background with some idea of a low horizon. Trunk and bark are sketched by strong orange-red and black stripes. The painting belongs to Mondrian's fauvist period and is still realistic, but very simplified and wild. The exposition of the space-filling tree aims at a three-dimensional representation and achieves some volume, along with a notion of foreground and background.
August 5, 2025 at 10:46 AM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (38.1)
#Nocturne #Italy #PBShelley #RomanticLandscapes

Shelley in a letter from #Bagni_di_Lucca, July 10 1818, reports a horse ride in the mountains, fireflies and their faint lights helping owls to find their way home at night.
We have ridden, Mary and I, once only, to a place called Prato Fiorito, on the top of the mountains : the road, winding through forests, and over torrents, and on the verge of green ravines, affords scenery magnificently fine. I cannot describe it to you, but bid you, though vainly, come and see. I take great delight in watching the changes of the atmosphere here, and the growth of the thunder showers with which the moon is often overshadowed, and which break and fade away towards evening into flocks of delicate clouds. Our fire-flies are fading away fast ; but there is the planet Jupiter, who rises majestically over the rift in the forest-covered mountains to the south, and the pale summer lightning which is spread out every night, at intervals, over the sky. No doubt Providence has contrived these things, that, when the fire-flies go out, the low-flying owl may see her way home. Percy Bysshe Shelley in a Letter to John and Maria Gisborne from Bagni di Lucca, July 10, 1818. Source: https://archive.org/details/lettersofpercyby0000shel/page/603/mode/1up Veduta di Bagni di Lucca, ottobre 1813 watercolour on paper Bibliothèque Paul-Marmottan, Ville de Boulogne-Billancourt, Académie des Beaux-Arts, France
May 3, 2026 at 8:19 PM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (26)
#Moscow #Nicander #RomanticLandscapes

The Fire of Moscow 1812 after the Grande Armee had taken the city was a major catastrophe of the romantic era. Remarkably, the swedish poet K.A. Nicander focuses on Napoleon as a tragic hero.
I en riddarsal på Kremlin, Rureks tornbeprydda slott, Satt Napoleon och tänkte på de tider, som förgått: Skref ett bref till Alexander, der han böd sin hand till fred, Vid det sken, som Moskwabranden genom fönstren spred. Utanför ett haf af flammor vältrade kring nejden fram, På hvars stormupprörda vågor Fasan som en drake samm. Re'n tvåhundra tempel darra, med en eldstod i sin topp: Himlen sjelf, med sina stjernor, tyckes smälta opp. Närmre, närmre hvälfves branden, nalkas Kremlin mer och mer, Och Napoleon det märker; faran blott han icke ser. Taflans prakt hans öga fjettrar. Hvem kan veta, hvad han tror, Hvilken verld af djupa tankar i hans inre bor? Karl August Nicander from 'Moskwa' Source: Samlade Dikter. 2 K. A. Nicander Stockholm : Bonnier(1840) https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb10038789?page=191 [In the knight's hall at the Kremlin, Rurek's tower-adorned castle, Napoleon sat and thought recent past: He wrote a letter to Alexander, offering his hand in peace. In the light cast by Moscow’s fire through the windows. Outside, a sea of flames rolled through the city With stormy waves spreading terror as a raging dragon. Two hundred temples trembled in flames up to their tops: The sky itself, with its stars, seemed to be melting. Closer and closer the fire encroaching Kremlin ever and ever more, Napoleon apprehending it, only he did not see the danger. Its radiance captures his eye. Who can know what he thought, What world of deep thought dwelled in him?] Painting by A. Smirnov (Смирнов А.Ф.) Fire of Moscow in 15-18 September, 1812, after Napoleon takes the city dated 1813 Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fire_of_Moscow_1812.jpg
November 25, 2025 at 4:51 PM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (27)
#Space #Byron #Cain #RomanticLandscapes

In Byron's mystery play _Cain_ an unseen landscape, the infinite, primordial, or even metaphysical space, is the scene for this religious drama: Lucifer shows Cain the Earth from very far away -
ACT II. Scene I.—The Abyss of Space. Cain. I tread on air, and sink not—yet I fear To sink. Lucifer. Have faith in me, and thou shalt be Borne on the air, of which I am the Prince. Cain. Can I do so without impiety? … Cain. Oh God! or Demon! or whate'er thou art, Is yon our earth? Lucifer. Dost thou not recognise The dust which formed your father? Cain. ‍Can it be? Yon small blue circle, swinging in far ether, With an inferior circlet purpler it still, Which looks like that which lit our earthly night? Is this our Paradise? Where are its walls, And they who guard them? Earth seen from Saturn by the Cassini spacecroft of NASA - Source:https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/48/2024/11/earth-seen-from-saturn-cassini.jpg?webp=1&w=1200
December 15, 2025 at 3:27 PM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (19.2/n)
#LodoreFalls #Southey #RomanticLandscapes
The Cataract strong Then plunges along, Striking and raging As if a war waging Its caverns and rocks among : Rising and leaping Sinking and creeping, Swelling and sweeping, Showering and springing, Flying and flinging, Writhing and ringing, Eddying and whisking, Spouting and frisking, Turning and twisting, Around and around With endless rebound ! Smithing and fighting, A sight to delight in ; Confounding, astounding, Dizzying and deafening the ear with its sound. A sketch of Lodore Cataract - Watercolor and pencel by Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Fall of Lodore 1797 from _Tweed and Lakes Sketchbook_ The carefully executed sketch of the whitish water between speckled rocks in gray, brown, reddish ochre, still acquires an abstract quality of shapes and hues, as only the center of the page is filled with the description of the cataract, surrounded in the foreground by a few outlines in pencil, delineating the rocks nearest to the viewer, while the rest of the format remains blank as yellowish paper. Source: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-fall-of-lodore-r1150192
August 24, 2025 at 4:52 PM
ulrich-k-roessler.bsky.social
Romantic Landscapes (33)
#Gorges #Forests #FriedrichKind #RomanticLandscapes

The #WolfsGlen in the _Freischütz_ by #CMvWeber is an exemplary terrible place where uncanny actions take place.
The librettist Friedrich Kind garnishes the gorge with two thunderstorms, owl, raven, bats, & a dead tree.
Textbook of _Der Freischütz_ by Friedrich Kind - manuscript prepared for C.M.v.Weber: Vierter Auftritt.
 No. 10. Finale. Furchtbare Waldschlucht, größtentheils mit Schwarzholz bewachsen, von hohen Gebirgen rings umgeben. Von einem derselben stürzt ein Waßerfall. Der Vollmond scheint bleich. Zwei Gewitter von entgegengesetzter Richtung sind im Anzuge. Weiter vorwärts ein vom Blitz zerschmetterter, ganz verdorrter Baum, inwen - dig faul, so daß er zu glimmen scheint. Auf der andern Seite auf einem knorrigen Aste eine große Eule mit feurig rädernden Augen. Auf andern Bäumen Raben und anderes Waldgevögel. Fledermäuse schwirren umher.
 Source: https://edition.freischuetz-digital.de/?uri=xmldb:exist:///db/apps/contents/librettoSources/freidi-librettoSource_KA-tx4.xml [ No. 10 Finale 4th Act A terrible woodland glen largely planted with pines, and surrounded by high mountains. A waterfall rushes down from one of them. The full moon shines wanly. Two thunderstorms are approaching from two different directions. Nearer to us a tree struck by lightening and withened, decayed inside so that it seems to glow. On a gnarled branch at the other side sits a huge owl with fiery, circling eyes. Crows and other woodbirds on other trees.] 19th century print with stage design for the Wolf's Glen scene, as prepared for the performance in Weimar 1822 by Carl Wilhelm Holdermann, figures by Carl August Schwerdgeburth. Aquatinta: Karl Wilhelm Lieber. Black and white graphic print. Night scene of the wooded glen with rocks, some of them seem to own distorted faces, dead wood like demons, all eerily lit from various sides by the unseen full moon, lightnings, and the fire at the bottom of the gorge, where Max & Kaspar cast the bullets. Owl, waterfall, various ghostlike appearances: skeleton and hunter on horseback, stags & boars. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Design_for_Act2_(Wolf%27s_Glen)_of_%27Der_Freisch%C3%BCtz%27_1822_Weimar_-_NGO4p1115.jpg
February 4, 2026 at 12:25 PM