Romanticism was set into motion by the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a French philosopher and writer, Romantics were inspired by emotions rather than reason and they had a desire for freedom and individuality, Such painters as Fuseli, Goya, Gericault, Delacroix and Friedrich employed dramatic subjects, severe light and dark contrasts, and violent compositions to create an emotional charge in their work, English and American painters such as Turner and Cole took these same qualities and applied them to landscapes