both in terms of the substance of his paintings, with their in-depth examination of reality and references to the dream realm, and in terms of his innovative technique. His art expresses his own innovative views, opposing academicism and established topics. Goya characterized himself as a student of Velazquez, Rembrandt, and nature, gaining a taste for delicately shaded color applied in layers from Velazquez, a preference for dark and enigmatic backdrop settings from Rembrandt, and an unending diversity of shapes from nature; some beautiful, others ugly. John Constable The goal of John Constable's landscape paintings was to represent nature with honesty, to convey its beauty and simplicity without becoming pretentious. He is not the personification of nature's passion, poetry, or sorrow. He thought his life and art were in ruins, so he looked for a glimpse of his own spirit in nature, which he discovered in a bleak landscape of Hadleigh Castle in Essex. Eugène Delacroix Delacroix is usually considered as the founder of the Romantic movement in French painting throughout the nineteenth century. His painting technique - full of rich, agitated brushwork and throbbing with vibrant color - expressed the movement's concern for emotion, exoticism, and the sublime, and his life and work embodied the movement's concern for passion, exoticism, and the sublime. Timeline The American Renaissance was between 1840 and 1860. This included Dark Romanticism and Transcendentalism. Since it allowed for the study of gloomy ideas, writing, and topics, Dark Romanticism had a huge effect on American literature. Dark Romanticism began as a response to the Transcendental movement of the mid-nineteenth century. This was a mental shift in thinking from rigid religious Puritan/Anglo-Saxon thought to a dark, immoral point of view. People were disinterested in optimism when they considered their sin and human nature. Authors and artists were not afraid to express their sinister side. Authors began to investigate man's wicked nature even before 1840. 1809 - Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe is probably one of the most influential writers of this time. His themes focused on human sin and the evil in man. Herman Melville - another influential writer, but he is completely different in his writing from Poe and Hawthorne. His themes focus on "the truths of ragged edges" From 1840 to the late 1870s, Dark Romanticism dominated literature and art. The primary element employed was symbolism. They would symbolize man's bad side