"Romanticism (late
18th to the mid-19th century) emphasized the individual, the subjective,
the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional,
the visionary, and the transcendental . . . Among the characteristic attitudes
. . . a deepened appreciation of the beauties of nature; a general exaltation
of emotion over reason and of the senses over intellect . . . a heightened
examination of human personality and its moods and mental potentialities;
a preoccupation with the genius, the hero, and the exceptional figure in
general, and a focus on his/her passions and inner struggles . . . " (WebMuseum)
In other words, an individual expression
of beauty very much idealized