Anatomy of an Aesthete

The Picture of Dorian Gray and the Rise of Aestheticism

Oscar Wilde's the Picture of Dorian Gray is the manifesto of Late Victorian Aestheticism.

The Late Victorian Era was characterized by numerous artistic and literary movements that were reactions to the growing industrialization and homogenization of contemporary society. As trains, telephones, and factories rushed humankind headlong to an unknown future, many of the greatest lights of the Age looked back into the Past, and to a simpler, more clearly-defined time and place; a time and place with readily-recognized rules and standards. For centuries, the Classical World of Ancient Greece and Rome had provided a model for modern Europeans. Artists, writers, philosophers, architects -- even musicians -- let themselves be guided by what they believed to be the Classical canons of behavior and taste. Until the dawn of the Industrial Age, Europe's intellectual class entertained no illusions...
[ View Full Essay]