Twin Stars Shining

This paper describes the development process of light in the whole Europeanlandscape, analyzing emphatically the spirit role which the light plays in the works ofRomantic landscape painter Friedrich and Turner. I borrowed the concept of Abrams'comment on 19th-century Romantic literature, who described romanticism with thetwo similes——"the mirror and the lamp" which is used to describe the soul:Comparing "the mirror" to the possible reflection of the outside world, and "the lamp"to the luminophor illuminating the outside world. The former comes from the"imitation hypothesis", and the latter from the "expression theory". Landscapes paymore attention to the role of "the mirror" before romanticism, while landscapes ofRomanticisrn make a perfect combination of the dual role of both "the mirror"and"the lamp". Nature and the human spirits achieve a unified entity, so landscapesbecome a way to convey multi-level emotion spirits and inner experiences.In the subsequent discussion, I conduct a detailed analysis of the works of thetwo Romantic landscape painters Friedrich and Turner, and expound the deep spiritualmeanings of their landscapes. In this process, the light plays an important role in theformation of this spirit meaning as a key factor. Friedrich makes the ordinary naturalscenery have the mysterious religion atmosphere by enduing the nature with theunearthly light. While Turner puts his attention to the natural itself, expressing hispraise for the noble natural forces by exploring the inherent universe order in thenature. Both the way using light and the spiritual connotation of the two romanticlandscape masters have a profound impact on the later artists. Not only bothFriedrich's and Turner's ways using light are used continually by the latter artists, butalso the spirit of romanticism has not disappeared. The similarities of forms andemotions make their works into a historical continuity.