Developments in the 1830s

Abstract

In half a century, then, and particularly in the twenty years since the opening of the Continent after Waterloo, the range of response to Italy in English literature had been considerably extended, and the dominant image of Italy in contemporary writing radically changed. The next major revaluation of Italy by English writers came around the mid-century, notably in the works of Ruskin and the Brownings, rejecting Romantic sensationalism, and seeking new modes of experiencing Italy, more relevant to the needs of a rapidly changing society. The available picture of Italy, however, by no means remained static between Lytton’s Pompeii and Ruskin’s Modern Painters, and before going on to consider Ruskin’s importance to our subject we must consider three very different contributions to the developing apprehension of the South: those of Landor, Turner and George Sand.