"Romanticism was the response to the situation at the beginning of the 19th century, or rather an infinite number of individual responses to a constantly changing situation. […] For the Romantics judged works of art, literature and music not by predetermined rules, but according to the sensibility of the individual.[...] Source: A World History of Art by Hugh Honour and John Fleming. Page 641.

"Romanticism was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature, preferring the medieval rather than the classical. It was partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific rationalization of nature." Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism (derived 29-3-2016)

Charles Baudelaire (1821-67): 'Romanticism is precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor in exact truth, but in a way of feeling.'