NEOCLASSICISM

Started: 1750
Ended: 1850

New classics of the highest rank! This was the rallying cry of populations immersed in the 18th century
Age of Enlightenment who wanted their artwork and architecture to mirror, and carry the same set of
standards, as the idealized works of the Greeks and Romans. In conjunction with the exciting
archaeological rediscoveries of Pompeii and Herculaneum in Rome, Neoclassicism arose as artists
and architects infused their work with past Greco-Roman ideals. A return to the study of science,
history, mathematics, and anatomical correctness abounded, replacing the Rococo vanity culture and
court-painting climate that preceded.

HISTORY

The revival of artistic canons from Classical Antiquity was not an overnight event. It built
on Renaissance art itself, as well as the more sober styles of Baroque architecture, the mood of
Enlightenment, the dissatisfaction with the Rococo, and a new respect for the earlier classical history
painting of Nicolas Poussin (1593-1665), as well as the classical settings of Claude Lorrain's (1600-82)
landscapes. Furthermore, it matured in different countries at different times. Neoclassical architecture
actually originated around 1640, and continues to this day. Paradoxically, the abundance of ancient
classical buildings in Rome meant that the city at the heart of the neoclassicism movement experienced
little neoclassical architecture.

In addition, despite appearances, there is no clear dividing line between Neoclassicism

and Romanticism. This is because a revival of interest in Classical Antiquity can easily morph into a
nostalgic desire for the past.

KEY ASPECTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Neoclassical works (paintings and sculptures) were serious, unemotional, and sternly heroic.
Neoclassical painters depicted subjects from Classical literature and history, as used in earlier Greek
art and Republican Roman art, using sombre colours with occasional brilliant highlights, to convey
moral narratives of self-denial and self-sacrifice fully in keeping with the supposed ethical superiority
of Antiquity. Neoclassical sculpture dealt with the same subjects, and was more restrained than the
more theatrical Baroque sculpture, less whimsical than the indulgent Rococo. Neoclassical architecture
was more ordered and less grandiose than Baroque, although the dividing line between the two can
sometines be blurred. It bore a close external resemblance to the Greek Orders of architecture, with
one obvious exception - there were no domes in ancient Greece. Most roofs were flat.