The Aesthetic movement is a loosely defined movement in art and literature in later nineteenth-century Britain. Generally speaking, it represents the same tendencies that Symbolism or Decadence stood for in France, and may be considered the British branch of the same movement. It belongs to the anti-Victorian reaction and had post-Romantic roots. It took place in the late Victorian period from around 1868 to 1901, and is generally considered to have ended with the trial of Oscar Wilde. Although there is a growing aestheticist movement to be found in many of Europe's major cities, most notably Brussels, under the leadership of Matthew Elliott (disambiguation). This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... Old book bindings at the Merton College library. ... Beginning of the Napoleonic Wars (1805 - 1815). ... In 19th century European and especially French literature, decadence was the name given, first by hostile critics, and then triumphantly adopted by some writers themselves, to a number of late nineteenth century fin de siècle writers who were associated with Symbolism or the Aesthetic movement and who relished artifice... Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Accession to the Throne, June 20, 1837) gave her name to the historic era. ... 1868 (MDCCCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Oscar Fingal OFlahertie Wills Wilde (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, poet, short story writer and Freemason. ... Matthew Elliott is an Australian cricketer. ...

The British decadent writers were deeply influenced by the homoerotic Oxford don Walter Pater and his essays published in 1867–68, in which he stated that life had to be lived intensely, following an ideal of beauty. His Studies in the History of the Renaissance (1873) became a sacred text for art-centric young men of the Victorian era. Decadent writers used the slogan "Art for Art's Sake" (L'art pour l'art), coined by the philosopher Victor Cousin and promoted by Théophile Gautier in France, and asserted that there was no connection between art and morality. Oxford is a city and local government district in Oxfordshire, England, with a population of 134,248 (2001 census). ... Walter Horatio Pater (August 4, 1839 - July 30, 1894) was an English essayist and literary critic. ... 1867 (MDCCCLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1868 (MDCCCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Many see natural beauty in the rose. ... Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Ascension to the Throne, 20 June 1837) gave her name to the historic era The Victorian Era of the United Kingdom marked the height of the British industrial revolution and the apex of the British Empire. ... Art for arts sake is the usual English rendition of a French slogan, lart pour lart, which is credited to Théophile Gautier (1811–1872). ... Victor Cousin. ... Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier (August 31, 1811 - October 23, 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist and literary critic. ... It has been suggested that Moral reflex be merged into this article or section. ...

The artists and writers of the Aesthetic movement tended to hold that the Arts should provide refined sensuous pleasure, rather than convey moral or sentimental messages. As a consequence, they did not accept John Ruskin and Matthew Arnold's utilitarian conception of art as something moral or useful. Instead, they believed that Art did not have any didactic purpose; it need only be beautiful. The Aesthetes developed the cult of beauty, which they considered the basic factor in art. Life should copy Art, they asserted. The main characteristics of the movement were: suggestion rather than statement, sensuality, massive use of symbols, and synaesthetic effects—that is, correspondence between words, colours and music. Upper: Steel-plate engraving of Ruskin as a young man, made circa 1845, scanned from print made circa 1895. ... Matthew Arnold Caricature from Punch, 1881: Admit that Homer sometimes nods, That poets do write trash, Our Bard has written Balder Dead, And also Balder-dash Family tree Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic, who worked as an inspector of schools. ...

Aestheticism had its forerunners in John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley, and among the Pre-Raphaelites. In Britain the best representatives were Oscar Wilde and Algernon Charles Swinburne, both influenced by the French Symbolists. Artists associated with the Aesthetic movement include James McNeill Whistler and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The movement had an influence on interior design. "Aesthetic" interiors were characterised by the use of such things as peacock feathers and blue and white china, both of which are commonly said to have been used as decorations by Oscar Wilde during his youth. This aspect of the movement was satirised in Punch magazine and in Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta "Patience". δе|}:Keats redirects here. ... Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4, 1792 – July 8, 1822; pronounced ) was one of the major English Romantic poets and is widely considered to be among the finest lyric poets of the English language. ... The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets and critics, founded in 1848 by John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman Hunt. ... Oscar Fingal OFlahertie Wills Wilde (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, poet, short story writer and Freemason. ... Algernon Charles Swinburne (April 5, 1837 _ April 10, 1909) was a Victorian era English poet. ... Self portrait James Abbott McNeill Whistler (July 14, 1834 – July 17, 1903) was an American-born, British-based painter and etcher. ... Dante Gabriel Rossetti (May 12, 1828 - April 10, 1882) was an English poet, painter and translator. ... Peacock re-directs here; for alternate uses see Peacock (disambiguation). ... Oscar Fingal OFlahertie Wills Wilde (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, poet, short story writer and Freemason. ... Punch was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire published from 1841 to 1992 and from 1996 to 2002. ... W. S. Gilbert Sir Arthur Sullivan Librettist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) collaborated on a series of fourteen comic operas in Victorian England between 1871 and 1896. ... Operetta (literally, little opera) is a performance art-form similar to opera, though it generally deals with less serious topics. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Patience (operetta) This article refers to the operetta. ...

Compton Mackenzie's novel Sinister Street makes use of the type as a phase through which the protagonist passes under the influence of older, decadent individuals. The novels of Evelyn Waugh, who was a young participant in aesthete society at Oxford, portray the aesthete mostly from a satirical point of view, but also from that of an insider. Some names associated with this loose assemblage are Robert Byron, Evelyn Waugh, Harold Acton, Nancy Mitford, and Anthony Powell. Sir (Edward Montague) Compton Mackenzie, (1883–1972), was an Scottish novelist. ... Evelyn Waugh, as photographed in 1940 by Carl Van Vechten Arthur Evelyn St. ... Robert Byron (1905-1941) was a British travel writer, best known for his travelogue The Road to Oxiana. ... Harold Acton (July 5, 1904 - February 27, 1994) was an Anglo-Italian writer and dilettante who is probably most famous for inspiring the character of Anthony Blanche in Evelyn Waughs novel Brideshead Revisited (1945). ... Nancy Mitford, 1957 The Hon. ... Anthony Dymoke Powell, CH (December 21, 1905 - March 28, 2000) was a British novelist best known for his A Dance to the Music of Time duodecalogy published between 1951 and 1975. ...

External links

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Aestheticism

• Dandyism.net
• Aesthetes & Decadents on Victorian Web
• Books, Research & Information
• Cliff's Notes: Oscar Wilde's Aesthetics