Some favorites of the Decadents and the Symbolists.
Gustave Moreau. The Apparition (French: L'Apparition) (detail). 1876. Watercolor. 106 cm × 72 cm (42 in × 28 in). Gustave Moreau, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans’ novel À Rebours (translated to English as Against Nature or Against the Grain) can be described as mostly a catalogue of protagonist Jean des Esseintes’ aesthetic tastes. I’m an ignorant man with an education that left many holes, so while I was reading the book I needed to look up most of the works mentioned. Here is some of what I found:
Rodolphe Bresdin. The Good Samaritan (French: Le Bon Samaritain). 1861. Lithograph. 56.7 x 44.3 cm (22 5/16 x 17 7/16 in.). Cleveland Museum of Art via Internet Archive.From Los caprichos, the 80 prints in aquatint and etching created by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya in 1797–1798 and published as an album in 1799. Plate 43: “El sueño de la razón produce monstruos” (“The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters” or “The Dream of Reason Produces Monsters”). The full epigraph for Capricho No. 43 reads; “Fantasy abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters: united with her [reason], she [fantasy] is the mother of the arts and the origin of their marvels.” Museo del Prado.“Execution of about 350 persons, Alzey, 1529.” One of Jan Luiken’s etchings in the Martyrs Mirror (full title: The Bloody Theater or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians who baptized only upon confession of faith, and who suffered and died for the testimony of Jesus, their Saviour, from the time of Christ to the year A.D. 1660). This one is from the 1685 edition. The size is approximately 14 x 11 cm (5.5 x 4.5 in.). Mennonite Library and Archives, Bethel College.From the series of 82 prints titled Los desastres de la guerra, created between 1810 and 1820 by Spanish painter and printmaker Francisco Goya (1746–1828). Plate 5: “Y son fieras” (“And they are fierce” or “And they fight like wild beasts”). Civilians, including women, fight against soldiers with spears and rocks. Museo del Prado.
Bibliography
Huysmans, Joris-Karl. 1884. Against Nature (A Rebours). Translated by Robert Baldick. London: Penguin, 2003.