Longinus, who was primarily interested in languages, did speak momentarily about the aesthetic Sublime in both wildlife and man-made artifacts in his opinion, vast scale and diversity may generate a sense of the Sublime. Longinus contended here that the presenter should seek to create emotion and move his audience rather than just convince them.
It all started with Nicolas Boileau’s translation of On The Sublime (1674) by the ancient Greek Longinus. However, it was only in the Romantic era that the Sublime as an artistic notion gained traction throughout Europe. The depictions of Christ lifeless and suffering by Andrea Mantegna and Masaccio, as well as Raphael’s sketches and analyses of skeletons, inform us of the certainty of mortality and the unknowable – essential elements of the Sublime. It is during the Italian Renaissance that the initial concept started to arise. 3.6 Vir Heroicus Sublimis (1951) by Barnett Newman.3.5 Black Square (1913) by Kazimir Malevich.3.4 The Chasm of the Colorado (1874) by Thomas Moran.3.3 The Slave Ship (1840) by J.M.W Turner.3.2 Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (1831) by John Constable.3.1 The Raft of the Medusa (1819) by Théodore Géricault.2 The Various Movements that Embraced Sublime Landscapes.1 An Introduction to Sublime Art History.