Although exoticism is often associated with distance, it is also linked to the times, and the 19th century, curious about all civilisations, was passionate about far-off periods as much as about China or the Near East. There were successive fashions for revivals that swept through literature, decorative arts, architecture and even Carnival costumes! The Middle Ages was made fashionable by the Romantics; the 16th and 17th centuries found partisans later and Greco-Roman Antiquity has always been a source of unending fascination.
In this etching by Célestin Nanteuil written labels are incorporated into an imaginary building studded with gables and pinnacles; angelic or feminine figures and framing separate small scenes. This harmonious composition unites all its elements and the subtle gradation of inks produced magnificent contrasts of light and shadow.
Elsewhere, fantastic or monstrous creatures invade the medieval cathedrals and castles of the imaginary Middle Ages that writers were then dreaming into existence. The prints of Nanteuil are to illustration what Notre Dame de Paris is to the novel. His talent for ornamentation made him the obvious leader of all Romantic illustrators and he was sought for the works of Victor Hugo, (from 1832), Alexandre Dumas, Honoré de Balzac and Théophile Gautier.