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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism_in_science

Romanticism, also known as the "Age of Reflexion," describes the
intellectual movement from 1800-1840 that originated in Western Europe
as a counter-movement to the Enlightenment of the late 18th century.
Romanticism incorporated many fields of study, including art, music,
poetry and drama, painting, prose, theology, and philosophy, yet it
also had a major impact in sciences of the 19th century.[1]

European scientists, disillusioned with the mechanical natural
philosophy of the Enlightenment as well as the Newtonian model of
physics, supported the belief that observing nature meant
understanding the self and that the answers that nature could give us
should not be obtained by force. They warned that Enlightenment
encouraged the abuse of the sciences and sought to advance a new way
of increasing scientific knowledge, one they felt would be even more
beneficial to not only mankind but to nature as well.[2]

Romanticism set forth different themes: it was anti-reductionist (the
whole was more valuable than the parts alone), championed
epistemological optimism (man was connected to nature), and encouraged
creativity, experience, and genius.[3] It also emphasized the
scientist's role in scientific discovery as understanding that
acquiring knowledge of nature meant understanding man as well;
therefore, these scientists had a profound respect for nature.[4]

The decline of Romanticism occurred because a new movement,
Positivism, began to take hold of the ideals of the intellectuals
around 1840 that lasted until about 1880. Like the intellectuals who
were disenchanted with the Enlightenment and preferred a new approach
to science, people lost interest in Romanticism and wanted to study
science using a stricter process.