Neo-Attic or Atticizing is a sculptural style, beginning in Hellenistic sculpture and vase-painting of the 2nd century BC and climaxing in

Roman art The art of Ancient Rome, and the territories of its Republic and later Empire, includes architecture, painting, sculpture and mosaic work. Luxury objects in metal-work, gem engraving, ivory carvings, and glass are sometimes considered to be mi ...

of the 2nd century AD, copying, adapting or closely following the style shown in reliefs and statues of the Classical (5th–4th centuries BC) and Archaic (6th century BC) periods. It was first produced by a number of Neo-Attic workshops at

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, which began to specialize in it, producing works for purchase by Roman connoisseurs, and was taken up in Rome, probably by Greek artisans. The Neo-Attic mode, a reaction against the baroque extravagances of Hellenistic art, was an early manifestation of

Neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was 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 ...

, which demonstrates how self-conscious the later Hellenistic art world had become. Neo-Attic style emphasises grace and charm, serenity and animation,

Gisela Richter Gisela Marie Augusta Richter (14 or 15 August 1882 – 24 December 1972) was a classical archaeologist and art historian. She was a prominent figure and an authority in her field. Early life Gisela Richter was born in London, England, the daught ...

praised the serenity and animation of a neo-Attic marble vase, ca. first century BC-first century AD, purchased for the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

(Richter, "A Neo-Attic Marble Vase" ''The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin'' 19.1 (January 1924:10-13), calling the phase "a period of good taste rather than creative ability" (p. 11). correctness of taste in adapting a reduced canon of prototypical figures and forms, in crisp, tamed and refined execution. This style designation was introduced by the German classical

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

and

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

Friedrich Hauser Friedrich Hauser ( Stuttgart 1859–Baden-Baden, 1917) was a German classical archaeologist and art historian. His most famous single publication is ''Die Neuattischen Reliefs'' (Stuttgart: Verlag von Konrad Wittwer, 1889) in which he identif ...

(1859-1917), in ''Die Neuattischen Reliefs'' (Stuttgart: Verlag von Konrad Wittwer, 1889). The corpus that Hauser called "Neo-Attic" consists of

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

s molded on decorative vessels and plaques, employing a figural and drapery style that looked for its canon of "classic" models to late fifth and early fourth-century Athens and Attica.

Notes

{{reflist Hellenistic art Art of ancient Attica