The Romantic era, although mostly secular, did not see a complete loss of religious material. Romantics rejected the old restrictions of society, which meant that most writers and artists were not very pious. However, this did not mean that religious ideas were totally absent from their poetry, art, and literature. Rather than be limited to what was considered proper, they played with religious ideas, infusing their own imagination into the traditional notions of Christianity. A prime example of this is Goethe’s Faust, which depicts God, heaven, and hell, but is certainly not considered to be a religious piece of literature. Faust, much like the Byronic hero born from the Romantic era, is idealized, yet fatally flawed. This is what makes the character of Faust different from a typical man of the Renaissance. The Renaissance regarded man as holy, creating an almost perfect image of man. The Romantic era lacks this holiness, instead idealizing the self-destructive, troubled Byronic hero.
Another example of the secular man in Romantic art is the painting Wanderer above the Sea Fog, composed by Caspar David Friedrich. The painting portrays a young man on a rocky outcrop, facing towards the foggy mountains in the distance. When compared to a work of the Renaissance, several things are notably absent. While the common man is celebrated, the common man is not portrayed as chiseled and perfect. Instead, he is rugged and alone, representing the individualism of the era. Also absent is the holiness of many Renaissance pieces. Cherubs and angels are replaced with the beauty of nature. In a way, the spirituality and religiousness of the Romantic era was not drawn from the church, but instead from nature.
-Joyce Alexander, Lilian Coie, Kevin He, Matt Wong
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