The 19th Century was a period of change in Louisiana. It began during the Romantic era, in which people imagined and sought after idealized forms. Many romantics were inspired, not by the mechanical thinking and reason of the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th Centuries, but by emotion and nature. This idealization led to grandiose, almost mythical depiction of subjects. This was at a time of rising “-isms”, like nationalism, imperialism, communism, socialism, etc., born out of the Enlightened revolutions like those in France, Haiti, and Latin America. These inspired more Romantic revolutions in France (twice more), Austrian Bohemia (modern Czechia), Greece, Jugoslavija, and the Southern Netherlands (modern Belgium). It also drove Italian and German unification, as well as Confederate secession and American unity. However, after the revolutionary fervor subsided, the West would experience relative peace until 1914. This was a period of prosperity and industrial growth (for some), and poverty for most, as well as rapidly increasing technological advancements. People settled down and went back to their lives. Art of all kinds began to look at everyday life as opposed to grand ideas.
