Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was born in Rome, largely due to the writings of Johann Joachim Winckelmann during the rediscovery of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Its popularity expanded throughout Europe as a generation of European art students finished their Grand Tour and returned from Italy to their home countries with newly rediscovered Greco-Roman ideals. The main Neoclassical movement coincided with the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment, and continued into the early 19th century, eventually competing with Romanticism. In architecture, the style endured throughout the 19th, 20th, and into the 21st century.
European Neoclassicism in the visual arts began c. 1760 in opposition to the then-dominant Rococo style. Rococo architecture emphasizes grace, ornamentation and asymmetry; Neoclassical architecture is based on the principles of simplicity and symmetry, which were seen as virtues of the arts of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece, and drawn directly from 16th-century Renaissance Classicism. Each “neo”-classicism movement selects some models among the range of possible classics that are available to it, and ignores others. Between 1765 and 1830, Neoclassical proponents—writers, speakers, patrons, collectors, artists and sculptors—paid homage to an idea of the artistic generation associated with Phidias, but sculpture examples they actually embraced were more likely to be Roman copies of Hellenistic sculptures. They ignored both Archaic Greek art and the works of late antiquity. The discovery of ancient Palmyra’s “Rococo” art through engravings in Robert Wood’s The Ruins of Palmyra came as a revelation. With Greece largely unexplored and considered a dangerous territory of the Ottoman Empire, Neoclassicists’ appreciation of Greek architecture was predominantly mediated through drawings and engravings which were subtly smoothed and regularized, “corrected” and “restored” monuments of Greece, not always consciously.
The Empire style, a second phase of Neoclassicism in architecture and the decorative arts, had its cultural centre in Paris in the Napoleonic era. Especially in architecture, but also in other fields, Neoclassicism remained a force long after the early 19th century, with periodic waves of revivalism into the 20th and even the 21st centuries, especially in the United States and Russia.
Neoclassicism was an art and cultural movement that emerged in the mid-18th century, characterized by a revival of classical art and architecture inspired by ancient Greece and Rome. It emphasized order, harmony, and restraint, serving as a reaction against the excesses of the Rococo style and embodying the Enlightenment ideals of reason and rationality. Key artists include Jacques-Louis David and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, and prominent examples can be found in paintings and neoclassical architecture, such as the Pantheon in Paris.
Characteristics and influences
- Classical inspiration: Neoclassicism drew heavily on the aesthetics and subject matter of ancient Greece and Rome, such as mythology and heroic historical events.
- Enlightenment ideals: The movement was a product of the Age of Reason, reflecting a belief in rationality, clear thinking, and self-sacrifice.
- Reaction against Rococo: Neoclassicism emerged as a deliberate alternative to the ornate and frivolous style of Rococo, favoring simplicity and clarity instead.
- Aesthetics: Key aesthetic principles included a sense of unity, harmony, and proportion, with a preference for clean, crisp lines and a subdued color palette.
- Subject matter: Paintings often featured heroism, duty, and sacrifice, while architecture utilized forms like columns, pediments, and straight lines. [1, 2]
Key figures
- Painters: Jacques-Louis David and his pupil Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres were central figures in Neoclassical painting. Other artists include Antonio Raphael Mengs, Joseph-Marie Vien, and Angelica Kauffman.
- Architects: Prominent architects included Jacques-Germain Soufflot and Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, while in America, architects like Benjamin Henry Latrobe and Thomas Jefferson adopted the style. [2, 4, 5]
Historical context and legacy
- Timeline: The movement gained prominence in France from approximately 1760 to 1830, succeeding Rococo and preceding Romanticism. It was deeply intertwined with political events, particularly the French Revolution, and continued through the Napoleonic era.
- Spread: Neoclassicism was not confined to France but spread across Europe and the Americas, influencing a variety of cultural fields.
- Supersession: As the 19th century progressed, Romanticism began to overshadow Neoclassicism, though Neoclassical tenets of form and craftsmanship have reappeared in later artistic movements. [1, 4, 5, 6]
AI responses may include mistakes.
[1] https://nelson-atkins.org/fpc/neo-classicism-romanticism/
[2] https://smarthistory.org/neoclassicism-an-introduction/
[3] https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/glossary-terms/neoclassicism
[4] https://www.thecollector.com/12-things-to-know-of-the-neoclassicism-movement/