This collection of essays and literature begins with a focus on the life and work of the 19th-century French painters Gericault, Ingres and Delacroix. By examining their achievements and differences, stylistically, psychologically and in terms of their philosophical approaches, the author brings herself to an analysis of the complex clashes between the Romantic and the Classical movements themselves. Subjects ranging from Rousseau's Social Contract to Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook, from The Book of Job to Corot are explored and the loves and lives of women such as Rosa Bonheur and Louise Colet, who arrived at a certain greatness but have been less remembered.