Romanticism and the Rise of History

Book excerpt: In Romanticism and the Rise of History, Bann argues that history came of age in Europe during the period following the French Revolution through the end of the nineteenth century, becoming an object of widespread desire. As one perhaps mildly astonished scholar noted later, it was a time when "the most simple-minded farmhand" was "able to distinguish an old belfry from a new one", and, Bann might add, perceive value in the old one. To draw the reader into his exploration of the nineteenth century's "discovery of history", Bann presents twenty-five images from the period - engravings, oil paintings, sculptures, watercolors - that appear to both represent and interact with the past. Does the suit of armor standing at Walter Scott's shoulder in Sir John Watson Gordon's portrait validate the image of the author as rightful custodian of the past and its relics, or is it Scott who through his imaginative interpretation of history imbues this shell of knighthood with lasting significance?