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FRANCISCO GOYA, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, from Los Caprichos, ca. 1798
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Sytlistic trends included a facination with depicting exptic subjects from outside of Europe. There was also an attempt to capture emotion and irrational thought. Artists longed for the past age of spirituality free of reason that the Medieval times had offered but they also depicted contemporary events. The subjects they chose were intended to be exciting rather than didactic as the Neoclassical paintings were.
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Napolean began his wars to dominate Europe.
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An incompetent captain wrecked his ship the Medusa stranding a great number of people on a makeshift raft while he and his aristocratic companions made use of the lifeboats. The result was a great loss of life and a tragedy that inspired Gericault to paint the scene.
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J.M.W. Turner, Hannibal Crossing the Alps, 1812
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Lord Byron published his play Sardanaplus that inspired the work of art The Death of Sardanaplus.
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EUGÈNE DELACROIX, Death of Sardanapalus, 1827.
