The German writer, E. T. A. Hoffmann, declared “infinite longing” to be the essence of romanticism in art. In their choice of subject matter, the romantics showed an affinity for nature, especially its wild and mysterious aspects, and for exotic, melancholic, and melodramatic subjects likely to evoke awe or passion.
And life imitates art. Check out these notoriously tempestuous love affairs.
Zeus and Hera – This mythological husband and wife were also brother and sister. According to Greek mythology, Hera was the goddess of marriage and the protector of married women, and Zeus was the god of the sky and the ruler of the Olympian gods.
Cleopatra and Julius Caesar and Mark Antony – The relationships between these three were complicated! The somewhat simplified story is that Cleopatra and Caesar were lovers, and at one point during their relationship Caesar proclaimed Cleopatra queen of Egypt. Later, after Caesar’s death, Antony fell in love with Cleopatra. They were married while Antony was still married to the sister of Caesar’s heir.
Guinevere and Lancelot – Although she was married to the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere fell in love with Lancelot, one of Arthur’s finest knights. Their love affair is considered a major cause of the downfall of Arthur’s court at Camelot.
Edward VIII and Mrs. Wallis Warfield Simpson – Less than a year after he was proclaimed King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, Edward abdicated the throne in order to marry the divorced American Mrs. Simpson. He became the duke of Windsor and his brother, the duke of York, became King George VI.
Don Juan – Poor Don Juan. According to Mozart’s 1787 opera Don Giovanni and Strauss’s 1889 symphonic poem Don Juan, this legendary Latin lover was destroyed by his obsessive search for the ideal woman.
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton – Between the two of them, Liz and Richard weathered 13 marriages. They were married to each other twice; they also divorced each other twice.
Romantic painting is characterized by a highly imaginative and subjective approach, emotional intensity, and a dreamlike or visionary quality. Romantic art strives to express, by suggestion, states of feeling too intense, mystical, or elusive to be clearly defined.
Sounds a lot like love to me!