Seeking Revelation: German Romantic Prints and Drawings

During the German Romantic movement, active from about 1770 to 1850, many artists hoped to gain a deeper understanding of universal questions. They experienced the French Revolution, France’s invasion of Germany during the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), and a shift from the Enlightenment’s emphasis on reason to more interest in emotion and feeling. Decades of changing borders and values led artists to reconsider their national identity and sense of self, as well as their relationship to nature and the divine.