![Zoffani, Johann - Charles Towneley in his Sculpture Gallery - 1782](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Zoffani%2C_Johann_-_Charles_Towneley_in_his_Sculpture_Gallery_-_1782.jpg)
Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western
cultural movement in the
decorative
Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, o ...
and
visual arts
The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...
,
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
,
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
,
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
, and
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
that drew inspiration from the art and culture of
classical antiquity
Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
. Neoclassicism was born in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
largely thanks to the writings of
Johann Joachim Winckelmann, at the time of the rediscovery of
Pompeii
Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...
and
Herculaneum
Herculaneum (; Neapolitan and it, Ercolano) was an ancient town, located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
Like the nea ...
, but its popularity spread all over Europe as a generation of European art students finished their
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...
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
The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...
, and continued into the early 19th century, laterally competing with
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
. In architecture, the style continued throughout the 19th, 20th and up to the 21st century.
European Neoclassicism in the
visual art
The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts ...
s began c. 1760 in opposition to the then-dominant
Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
style. Rococo architecture emphasizes grace,
ornamentation
An ornament is something used for decoration.
Ornament may also refer to:
Decoration
*Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts
*Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve on ...
and asymmetry; Neoclassical architecture is based on the principles of simplicity and symmetry, which were seen as virtues of the arts of
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
and
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
, and were more immediately drawn from 16th-century
Renaissance Classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aestheti ...
. Each "neo"-classicism selects some models among the range of possible classics that are available to it, and ignores others. The Neoclassical writers and talkers, patrons and collectors, artists and sculptors of 1765–1830 paid homage to an ''idea'' of the generation of
Phidias
Phidias or Pheidias (; grc, Φειδίας, ''Pheidias''; 480 – 430 BC) was a Greek sculptor, painter, and architect. His Statue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Phidias also designed the stat ...
, but the sculpture examples they actually embraced were more likely to be Roman copies of
Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
sculptures. They ignored both Archaic Greek art and the works of
Late Antiquity
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
. The "Rococo" art of ancient
Palmyra came as a revelation, through engravings in Wood's ''The Ruins of Palmyra''. Even Greece was all-but-unvisited, a rough backwater of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, dangerous to explore, so Neoclassicists' appreciation of Greek architecture was mediated through drawings and
engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...
s, which subtly smoothed and regularized, "corrected" and "restored" the monuments of Greece, not always consciously.
The
Empire style, a second phase of Neoclassicism in architecture and the
decorative arts
]
The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose object is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. It includes most of the arts making objects for the interiors of buildings, and interior design, but not usual ...
, had its cultural centre in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
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.
History
Neoclassicism is a revival of the many styles and spirit of classic antiquity inspired directly from the classical period,
which coincided and reflected the developments in
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
and other areas of the Age of Enlightenment, and was initially a reaction against the excesses of the preceding
Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
style. While the movement is often described as the opposed counterpart of
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
, this is a great over-simplification that tends not to be sustainable when specific artists or works are considered. The case of the supposed main champion of late Neoclassicism,
Ingres
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( , ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...
, demonstrates this especially well. The revival can be traced to the establishment of formal
archaeology
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 ...
.
![Johann Joachim Winckelmann (Anton von Maron 1768)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Johann_Joachim_Winckelmann_%28Anton_von_Maron_1768%29.jpg)
The writings of
Johann Joachim Winckelmann were important in shaping this movement in both architecture and the visual arts. His books ''Thoughts on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and Sculpture'' (1750) and ''Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums'' ("History of Ancient Art", 1764) were the first to distinguish sharply between Ancient Greek and Roman art, and define periods within Greek art, tracing a trajectory from growth to maturity and then imitation or decadence that continues to have influence to the present day. Winckelmann believed that art should aim at "noble simplicity and calm grandeur", and praised the idealism of Greek art, in which he said we find "not only nature at its most beautiful but also something beyond nature, namely certain ideal forms of its beauty, which, as an ancient interpreter of
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
teaches us, come from images created by the mind alone". The theory was very far from new in Western art, but his emphasis on close copying of Greek models was: "The only way for us to become great or if this be possible, inimitable, is to imitate the ancients".
With the advent of the
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...
, a fad of collecting
antiquities began that laid the foundations of many great collections spreading a Neoclassical revival throughout Europe. "Neoclassicism" in each art implies a particular canon of a "classical" model.
In English, the term "Neoclassicism" is used primarily of the visual arts; the similar movement in
English literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
, which began considerably earlier, is called
Augustan literature. This, which had been dominant for several decades, was beginning to decline by the time Neoclassicism in the visual arts became fashionable. Though terms differ, the situation in French literature was similar. In music, the period saw the rise of
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
, and "Neoclassicism" is used of
20th-century developments. However, the operas of
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he g ...
represented a specifically Neoclassical approach, spelt out in his preface to the published score of ''
Alceste'' (1769), which aimed to reform opera by removing
ornamentation
An ornament is something used for decoration.
Ornament may also refer to:
Decoration
*Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts
*Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve on ...
, increasing the role of the chorus in line with
Greek tragedy
Greek tragedy is a form of theatre from Ancient Greece and Greek inhabited Anatolia. It reached its most significant form in Athens in the 5th century BC, the works of which are sometimes called Attic tragedy.
Greek tragedy is widely believed t ...
, and using simpler unadorned melodic lines.
![Anton Raphael Mengs - Das Urteil des Paris (ca](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Anton_Raphael_Mengs_-_Das_Urteil_des_Paris_%28ca._1757%29.jpg)
The term "Neoclassical" was not invented until the mid-19th century, and at the time the style was described by such terms as "the true style", "reformed" and "revival"; what was regarded as being revived varying considerably. Ancient models were certainly very much involved, but the style could also be regarded as a revival of the Renaissance, and especially in France as a return to the more austere and noble
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
of the age of
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
, for which a considerable
nostalgia
Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a learned formation of a Greek language, Greek compound, consisting of (''nóstos''), meaning "homecoming", ...
had developed as France's dominant military and political position started a serious decline.
Ingres
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( , ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...
's coronation portrait of Napoleon even borrowed from Late Antique
consular diptychs and their
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippin ...
revival, to the disapproval of critics.
Neoclassicism was strongest in
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
,
sculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
and the
decorative arts
]
The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose object is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. It includes most of the arts making objects for the interiors of buildings, and interior design, but not usual ...
, where classical models in the same medium were relatively numerous and accessible; examples from ancient painting that demonstrated the qualities that Winckelmann's writing found in sculpture were and are lacking. Winckelmann was involved in the dissemination of knowledge of the first large Roman paintings to be discovered, at
Pompeii
Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...
and
Herculaneum
Herculaneum (; Neapolitan and it, Ercolano) was an ancient town, located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
Like the nea ...
and, like most contemporaries except for
Gavin Hamilton (artist), Gavin Hamilton, was unimpressed by them, citing
Pliny the Younger
Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo (61 – c. 113), better known as Pliny the Younger (), was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate ...
's comments on the decline of painting in his period.
As for painting, Greek painting was utterly lost: Neoclassicist painters imaginatively revived it, partly through
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 ...
friezes,
mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
s and pottery painting, and partly through the examples of painting and decoration of the
High Renaissance of
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...
's generation, frescos in Nero's ''
Domus Aurea
The Domus Aurea (Latin, "Golden House") was a vast landscaped complex built by the Emperor Nero largely on the Oppian Hill in the heart of ancient Rome after the great fire in 64 AD had destroyed a large part of the city.Roth (1993)
It repla ...
'',
Pompeii
Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...
and
Herculaneum
Herculaneum (; Neapolitan and it, Ercolano) was an ancient town, located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
Like the nea ...
, and through renewed admiration of
Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for a ...
. Much "Neoclassical" painting is more classicizing in subject matter than in anything else. A fierce, but often very badly informed, dispute raged for decades over the relative merits of Greek and Roman art, with Winckelmann and his fellow Hellenists generally being on the winning side.
Painting and printmaking
![Jacques-Louis David, Le Serment des Horaces](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Jacques-Louis_David%2C_Le_Serment_des_Horaces.jpg)
It is hard to recapture the radical and exciting nature of early Neoclassical painting for contemporary audiences; it now strikes even those writers favourably inclined to it as "insipid" and "almost entirely uninteresting to us"—some of
Kenneth Clark's comments on
Anton Raphael Mengs' ambitious ''Parnassus'' at the
Villa Albani, by the artist whom his friend Winckelmann described as "the greatest artist of his own, and perhaps of later times". The drawings, subsequently turned into
prints
In molecular biology, the PRINTS database is a collection of so-called "fingerprints": it provides both a detailed annotation resource for protein families, and a diagnostic tool for newly determined sequences. A fingerprint is a group of conserve ...
, of
John Flaxman
John Flaxman (6 July 1755 – 7 December 1826) was a British sculptor and draughtsman, and a leading figure in British and European Neoclassicism. Early in his career, he worked as a modeller for Josiah Wedgwood's pottery. He spent several yea ...
used very simple line drawing (thought to be the purest classical medium) and figures mostly in profile to depict ''
The Odyssey'' and other subjects, and once "fired the artistic youth of Europe" but are now "neglected", while the
history painting
History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and Bible ...
s of
Angelica Kauffman
Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann ( ; 30 October 1741 – 5 November 1807), usually known in English as Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered primarily as a history painter, K ...
, mainly a portraitist, are described as having "an unctuous softness and tediousness" by
Fritz Novotny
Fritz Novotny (10 February 1903 in Vienna – 16 April 1983 in Vienna), was an Austrian art historian. He is considered a member of the Vienna School of Art History.
Biography
Novotny studied art history at the University of Vienna under J ...
. Rococo frivolity and Baroque movement had been stripped away but many artists struggled to put anything in their place, and in the absence of ancient examples for history painting, other than the
Greek vases used by Flaxman,
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...
tended to be used as a substitute model, as Winckelmann recommended.
The work of other artists, who could not easily be described as insipid, combined aspects of Romanticism with a generally Neoclassical style, and form part of the history of both movements. The German-Danish painter
Asmus Jacob Carstens
Asmus Jacob Carstens (or "Jakob", May 10, 1754May 25, 1798) was a Danish-German painter, one of the most committed artists of German Neoclassicism. His career was erratic, partly because of his difficult personality, and the majority of his la ...
finished very few of the large mythological works that he planned, leaving mostly drawings and colour studies which often succeed in approaching Winckelmann's prescription of "noble simplicity and calm grandeur". Unlike Carstens' unrealized schemes, the
etchings of
Giovanni Battista Piranesi were numerous and profitable, and taken back by those making the
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...
to all parts of Europe. His main subject matter was the buildings and ruins of Rome, and he was more stimulated by the ancient than the modern. The somewhat disquieting atmosphere of many of his ''Vedute'' (views) becomes dominant in his series of 16 prints of ''Carceri d'Invenzione'' ("Imaginary Prisons") whose "oppressive cyclopean architecture" conveys "dreams of fear and frustration". The Swiss-born
Johann Heinrich Füssli spent most of his career in England, and while his fundamental style was based on Neoclassical principles, his subjects and treatment more often reflected the "Gothic" strain of
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
, and sought to evoke drama and excitement.
Neoclassicism in painting gained a new sense of direction with the sensational success of
Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...
's ''
Oath of the Horatii'' at the
Paris Salon of 1785. Despite its evocation of republican virtues, this was a commission by the royal government, which David insisted on painting in Rome. David managed to combine an idealist style with drama and forcefulness. The central perspective is perpendicular to the picture plane, made more emphatic by the dim arcade behind, against which the heroic figures are disposed as in a
frieze, with a hint of the artificial lighting and staging of
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
, and the classical colouring of
Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for a ...
. David rapidly became the leader of French art, and after the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
became a politician with control of much government patronage in art. He managed to retain his influence in the
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
ic period, turning to frankly propagandistic works, but had to leave France for exile in Brussels at the
Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to:
France under the House of Bourbon:
* Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815)
Spain under the Spanish Bourbons:
* ...
.
David's many students included
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, who saw himself as a classicist throughout his long career, despite a mature style that has an equivocal relationship with the main current of Neoclassicism, and many later diversions into
Orientalism
In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...
and the
Troubadour style
Taking its name from medieval troubadours, the Troubadour Style (french: Style troubadour) is a rather derisive term, in English usually applied to French historical painting of the early 19th century with idealised depictions of the Middle Ages a ...
that are hard to distinguish from those of his unabashedly Romantic contemporaries, except by the primacy his works always give to drawing. He exhibited at the Salon for over 60 years, from 1802 into the beginnings of
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...
, but his style, once formed, changed little.
Giovanni Paolo Panini - Fantasy View with the Pantheon and other Monuments of Ancient Rome - 61.62 - Museum of Fine Arts.jpg, ''Fantasy View with the Pantheon and other Monuments of Ancient Rome''; by Giovanni Paolo Panini; 1737; oil on canvas; 98.9 x 137.49 cm; Museum of Fine Arts (Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
, USA)
The ancient Capitol ascended by approximately one hundred steps . . . (Campidoglio antico a cui si ascendeva per circa cento gradini . . .) MET DP827987.jpg, ''The ancient Capitol ascended by approximately one hundred steps . . .''; by Giovanni Battista Piranesi; 1750; etching; size of the entire sheet: 33.5 × 49.4 cm; 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 ...
(New York City)
Wright of Derby, The Orrery.jpg, ''A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery
''A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery'', or the full title, ''A Philosopher giving that Lecture on the Orrery in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun'', is a 1766 painting by Joseph Wright of Derby depicting a lecturer giving a demonstrati ...
''; by Joseph Wright of Derby
Joseph Wright (3 September 1734 – 29 August 1797), styled Joseph Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution".
Wr ...
; 1766; oil on canvas; 1.47 x 2.03 m; Derby Museum and Art Gallery
Derby Museum and Art Gallery is a museum and art gallery in Derby, England. It was established in 1879, along with Derby Central Library, in a new building designed by Richard Knill Freeman and given to Derby by Michael Thomas Bass. The collect ...
(Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
)
Attributs de la peinture, de la sculpture et de l'architecture - Anne Vallayer-Coster.jpg, ''The Attributes of the Arts''; by Anne Vallayer-Coster
Anne Vallayer-Coster (21 December 1744 – 28 February 1818) was a major 18th-century French painter best known for still lifes. She achieved fame and recognition very early in her career, being admitted to the Académie Royale de Peinture ...
; 1769; oil on canvas; 90 x 121 cm; Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
Kauffmann, Angelica - Ariadne von Theseus verlassen - prior to 1782.jpg, ''Ariadne Abandoned''; by Angelica Kauffmann
Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann ( ; 30 October 1741 – 5 November 1807), usually known in English as Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered primarily as a history painter, K ...
; before 1782; oil on canvas; 88 x 70.5 cm; Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
)
Self-Portrait with a Harp MET DP164843.jpg, ''Self-Portrait with a Harp''; by Rose-Adélaïde Ducreux
Rose-Adélaïde Ducreux (1761 – July 26, 1802) was a French painter and musician, born in Paris. She was the eldest daughter of Joseph Ducreux, with whom she also studied. She showed her works at the Louvre Salons in 1791, 1793, 1795, 1798, and ...
; 1791; oil on canvas; 193 x 128.9 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Vigee-Lebrun–Julie-Lebrun-as-Flora.jpg, ''Julie Lebrun as Flora
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''.
E ...
''; by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun; 1799; oil on canvas; 129.5 x 97.8 cm; Museum of Fine Arts ( St. Petersburg, Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, USA)
Villers Young Woman Drawing.jpg, '' Portrait of Charlotte du Val d'Ognes''; by Marie-Denise Villers
Marie-Denise Villers (''née'' Lemoine; 1774 – 19 August 1821) was a French Painting, painter who specialized in portraits.
Life
Marie-Denise Lemoine was born in Paris to Charles Lemoine and Marie-Anne Rouselle. Two of her three sisters, Marie ...
; 1801; oil on canvas; 161.3 x 128.6 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Ingres, Napoleon on his Imperial throne.jpg, Napoleon I on His Imperial Throne; by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres; 1806; oil on canvas; 2.62 x 1.62 m; Army Museum (Paris)
Gheorghe Tattarescu - 11 februarie 1866 Romania Moderna.jpg, ''Romania Unchanied''; by Gheorghe Tattarescu; 1866; oil on canvas; 31 x 24 cm; private collection
Sculpture
If Neoclassical painting suffered from a lack of ancient models, Neoclassical sculpture tended to suffer from an excess of them. Although examples of actual Greek sculpture of the "
Classical Period" beginning in about 500 BC were then very few; the most highly regarded works were mostly Roman copies. The leading Neoclassical sculptors enjoyed huge reputations in their own day, but are now less regarded, with the exception of
Jean-Antoine Houdon, whose work was mainly portraits, very often as busts, which do not sacrifice a strong impression of the sitter's personality to idealism. His style became more classical as his long career continued, and represents a rather smooth progression from Rococo charm to classical dignity. Unlike some Neoclassical sculptors he did not insist on his sitters wearing Roman dress, or being unclothed. He portrayed most of the notable figures of the Enlightenment, and travelled to America to produce a
statue of George Washington, as well as busts of
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
,
Ben Franklin and other founders of the new republic.
Antonio Canova
Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the cl ...
and the Dane
Bertel Thorvaldsen
Bertel Thorvaldsen (; 19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844) was a Danes, Danish and Icelanders, Icelandic Sculpture, sculptor medallist, medalist of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–1838) in Italy. Thorvaldsen was born in ...
were both based in Rome, and as well as portraits produced many ambitious life-size figures and groups; both represented the strongly idealizing tendency in Neoclassical sculpture. Canova has a lightness and grace, where Thorvaldsen is more severe; the difference is exemplified in their respective groups of the ''Three Graces''. All these, and Flaxman, were still active in the 1820s, and Romanticism was slow to impact sculpture, where versions of Neoclassicism remained the dominant style for most of the 19th century.
An early Neoclassicist in sculpture was the Swede
Johan Tobias Sergel.
John Flaxman
John Flaxman (6 July 1755 – 7 December 1826) was a British sculptor and draughtsman, and a leading figure in British and European Neoclassicism. Early in his career, he worked as a modeller for Josiah Wedgwood's pottery. He spent several yea ...
was also, or mainly, a sculptor, mostly producing severely classical reliefs that are comparable in style to his prints; he also designed and modelled Neoclassical ceramics for
Josiah Wedgwood for several years.
Johann Gottfried Schadow
Johann Gottfried Schadow (20 May 1764 – 27 January 1850) was a German Prussian sculptor.
His most iconic work is the chariot on top of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, executed in 1793 when he was still only 29.
Biography
Schadow was born i ...
and his son
Rudolph, one of the few Neoclassical sculptors to die young, were the leading German artists, with
Franz Anton von Zauner
Franz Anton von Zauner (5 July 1746/48, Kaunerberg – 3 March 1822, Vienna) was an Austrian sculptor who worked in the Neoclassical style.
Life
Although his parents were poor, they supported his desire to become an artist and a local sculptor ...
in Austria. The late Baroque Austrian sculptor
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt turned to Neoclassicism in mid-career, shortly before he appears to have suffered some kind of mental crisis, after which he retired to the country and devoted himself to the highly distinctive "character heads" of bald figures pulling extreme facial expressions. Like Piranesi's ''Carceri'', these enjoyed a great revival of interest during the age of
psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
in the early 20th century. The Dutch Neoclassical sculptor
Mathieu Kessels
Mathieu Kessels (20 May 1784 – 4 March 1836) was a Dutch Neoclassical sculptor who mainly worked in Rome.
Biography
Mathieu Kessels (also known as Matthias or Matthijs) was born the son of a carpenter in Maastricht. One of his brothers became ...
studied with Thorvaldsen and worked almost exclusively in Rome.
Since prior to the 1830s the United States did not have a sculpture tradition of its own, save in the areas of tombstones, weathervanes and ship figureheads, the European Neoclassical manner was adopted there, and it was to hold sway for decades and is exemplified in the sculptures of
Horatio Greenough
Horatio Greenough (September 6, 1805 – December 18, 1852) was an American sculptor best known for his United States government commissions '' The Rescue'' (1837–50), ''George Washington'' (1840), and ''The Discovery of America'' (1840–4 ...
,
Harriet Hosmer
Harriet Goodhue Hosmer (October 9, 1830 – February 21, 1908) was a neoclassical sculptor, considered the most distinguished female sculptor in America during the 19th century. She is known as the first female professional sculptor. Among other ...
,
Hiram Powers
Hiram Powers (July 29, 1805 – June 27, 1873) was an American neoclassical sculptor. He was one of the first 19th-century American artists to gain an international reputation, largely based on his famous marble sculpture ''The Greek Slave''.
...
,
Randolph Rogers and
William Henry Rinehart.
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt - Charakterkopf 03.jpg, ''The Hanged Man'' (no. 25 in a character head series); by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt; after 1770; alabaster; height: 38 cm; Österreichische Galerie Belvedere
The Österreichische Galerie Belvedere is a museum housed in the Belvedere palace, in Vienna, Austria.
The Belvedere palaces were the summer residence of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663–1736). The ensemble was built in the early eighteenth centu ...
(Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
)
Mercury Pajou Louvre RF1624.jpg, ''Mercury'' or ''The Trade''; by Augustin Pajou
Augustin Pajou (19 September 1730 – 8 May 1809) was a French sculptor, born in Paris. At eighteen he won the Prix de Rome, and at thirty exhibited his ''Pluton tenant Cerbère enchaîné'' (now in the Louvre).
Selected works
Pajou's portrait ...
; 1780; marble; height: 196 cm; Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
SculpturesMuséeFabre27b Houdon Hiver.jpg, ''The Winter''; by Jean-Antoine Houdon; 1783; marble; height: 145 cm; Musée Fabre
The Musée Fabre is a museum in the southern French city of Montpellier, capital of the Hérault ''département''.
The museum was founded by François-Xavier Fabre, a Montpellier painter, in 1825. Beginning in 2003, the museum underwent a 61.2 m ...
(Montpellier
Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...
, France)
John Flaxman (1755-1826) - Cephalus and Aurora (1789-90) front, Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, Cheshire, June 2013 (9103113142).png, ''Cephalus and Aurora''; by John Flaxman
John Flaxman (6 July 1755 – 7 December 1826) was a British sculptor and draughtsman, and a leading figure in British and European Neoclassicism. Early in his career, he worked as a modeller for Josiah Wedgwood's pottery. He spent several yea ...
; 1789-1790; probably marble; unknown dimensions; Lady Lever Art Gallery
The Lady Lever Art Gallery is a museum founded and built by the industrialist and philanthropist William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme and opened in 1922. The Lady Lever Art Gallery is set in the garden village of Port Sunlight, on the Wirral ...
(Merseyside
Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...
, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
)
Paolina Borghese (Canova).jpg, ''Venus Victrix
Venus (), , is a Roman goddess, whose functions encompass love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory. In Roman mythology, she was the ancestor of the Roman people through her son, Aeneas, who survived the fall of Troy and fle ...
''; by Antonio Canova
Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the cl ...
; 1804–1808; marble; length: 200 cm; Galleria Borghese
The Galleria Borghese () is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. At the outset, the gallery building was integrated with its gardens, but nowadays the Villa Borghese gardens are considered a separate tourist ...
(Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
)
Architecture and the decorative arts
![Etrurisches Zimmer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Etrurisches_Zimmer.jpg)
Neoclassical art was traditional and new, historical and modern, conservative and progressive all at the same time.
Neoclassicism first gained influence in England and France, through a generation of French art students trained in Rome and influenced by the writings of Winckelmann, and it was quickly adopted by progressive circles in other countries such as Sweden, Poland and Russia. At first, classicizing decor was grafted onto familiar European forms, as in the interiors for
Catherine II
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anha ...
's lover,
Count Orlov
Orlov (russian: Орлóв) is the name of a Russian noble family which produced several distinguished statesmen, scientists, diplomats, and soldiers. The family first gained distinction in the 18th century through the achievements of five ...
, designed by an Italian architect with a team of Italian ''
stuccadori'': only the isolated oval medallions like cameos and the
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 ...
overdoors hint of Neoclassicism; the furnishings are fully Italian Rococo.
A second Neoclassic wave, more severe, more studied (through the medium of
engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...
s) and more consciously archaeological, is associated with the height of the
Napoleonic Empire. In France, the first phase of Neoclassicism was expressed in the "Louis XVI style", and the second in the styles called "Directoire" or
Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
. The Rococo style remained popular in Italy until the Napoleonic regimes brought the new archaeological classicism, which was embraced as a political statement by young, progressive, urban Italians with republican leanings.
In the decorative arts, Neoclassicism is exemplified in Empire furniture made in Paris, London, New York, Berlin; in
Biedermeier
The ''Biedermeier'' period was an era in Central Europe between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle class grew in number and the arts appealed to common sensibilities. It began with the Congress of Vienna at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in ...
furniture made in Austria; in
Karl Friedrich Schinkel's museums in Berlin, Sir
John Soane's Bank of England in London and the newly built "
capitol" in Washington, D.C.; and in
Wedgwood
Wedgwood is an English fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. It was rapid ...
's
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 and "black basaltes"
vases. The style was international; Scots architect
Charles Cameron created palatial Italianate interiors for the German-born
Catherine II the Great, in Russian St. Petersburg.
Indoors, Neoclassicism made a discovery of the genuine classic interior, inspired by the rediscoveries at
Pompeii
Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...
and
Herculaneum
Herculaneum (; Neapolitan and it, Ercolano) was an ancient town, located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
Like the nea ...
. These had begun in the late 1740s, but only achieved a wide audience in the 1760s,
[Gontar] with the first luxurious volumes of tightly controlled distribution of ''
Le Antichità di Ercolano'' (''The Antiquities of Herculaneum''). The antiquities of Herculaneum showed that even the most classicizing interiors of the
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
, or the most "Roman" rooms of
William Kent
William Kent (c. 1685 – 12 April 1748) was an English architect, landscape architect, painter and furniture designer of the early 18th century. He began his career as a painter, and became Principal Painter in Ordinary or court painter, but ...
were based on
basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...
and
temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
exterior architecture turned outside in, hence their often bombastic appearance to modern eyes:
pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedimen ...
ed window frames turned into
gilded
Gilding is a decorative technique for applying a very thin coating of gold over solid surfaces such as metal (most common), wood, porcelain, or stone. A gilded object is also described as "gilt". Where metal is gilded, the metal below was tradi ...
mirrors, fireplaces topped with temple fronts. The new interiors sought to recreate an authentically Roman and genuinely interior vocabulary.
Techniques employed in the style included flatter, lighter motifs, sculpted in low
frieze-like relief or painted in monotones ''
en camaïeu'' ("like cameos"), isolated medallions or vases or busts or ''
bucrania
Bucranium (plural ''bucrania''; Latin, from Greek ''βουκράνιον'', referring to the skull of an ox) was a form of carved decoration commonly used in Classical architecture. The name is generally considered to originate with the practic ...
'' or other motifs, suspended on swags of laurel or ribbon, with slender arabesques against backgrounds, perhaps, of "Pompeiian red" or pale tints, or stone colors. The style in France was initially a Parisian style, the ''
Goût grec
The French term ''goût grec'' (; "Greek taste") is often applied to the earliest expression of the Neoclassical style in France and refers specifically to the decorative arts and architecture of the mid-1750s to the late 1760s. The style was more ...
'' ("Greek style"), not a court style; when
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
acceded to the throne in 1774,
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...
, his fashion-loving Queen, brought the "Louis XVI" style to court. However, there was no real attempt to employ the basic forms of Roman furniture until around the turn of the century, and furniture-makers were more likely to borrow from ancient architecture, just as silversmiths were more likely to take from ancient pottery and stone-carving than metalwork: "Designers and craftsmen ... seem to have taken an almost perverse pleasure in transferring motifs from one medium to another".
![Château de Malmaison - Appartement de Joséphine 003](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Malmaison_-_Appartement_de_Jos%C3%A9phine_003.jpg)
From about 1800 a fresh influx of Greek architectural examples, seen through the medium of etchings and engravings, gave a new impetus to Neoclassicism, the
Greek Revival
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...
. At the same time the
Empire style was a more grandiose wave of Neoclassicism in architecture and the decorative arts. Mainly based on Imperial Roman styles, it originated in, and took its name from, the rule of
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
in the
First French Empire
The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Eu ...
, where it was intended to idealize Napoleon's leadership and the French state. The style corresponds to the more bourgeois
Biedermeier
The ''Biedermeier'' period was an era in Central Europe between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle class grew in number and the arts appealed to common sensibilities. It began with the Congress of Vienna at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in ...
style in the German-speaking lands,
Federal style
Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...
in the United States,
the
Regency style
Regency architecture encompasses classical buildings built in the United Kingdom during the Regency era
The Regency era of British history officially spanned the years 1811 to 1820, though the term is commonly applied to the longer perio ...
in Britain, and the ''Napoleon style'' in Sweden. According to the art historian
Hugh Honour
Hugh Honour FRSL (26 September 1927 – 19 May 2016) was a British art historian, known for his writing partnership with John Fleming (art historian), John Fleming. Their ''A World History of Art'' (a.k.a. ''The Visual Arts: A History''), is now ...
"so far from being, as is sometimes supposed, the culmination of the Neoclassical movement, the Empire marks its rapid decline and transformation back once more into a mere antique revival, drained of all the high-minded ideas and force of conviction that had inspired its masterpieces". An earlier phase of the style was called the
Adam style
The Adam style (or Adamesque and "Style of the Brothers Adam") is an 18th-century neoclassical style of interior design and architecture, as practised by Scottish architect William Adam and his sons, of whom Robert (1728–1792) and James (173 ...
in Great Britain and "Louis Seize", or Louis XVI, in France.
Neoclassicism continued to be a major force in
academic art
Academic art, or academicism or academism, is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of art. Specifically, academic art is the art and artists influenced by the standards of the French Académie d ...
through the 19th century and beyond—a constant antithesis to
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
or
Gothic revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
s —, although from the late 19th century on it had often been considered anti-modern, or even reactionary, in influential critical circles. The centres of several European cities, notably
St. Petersburg and
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
, came to look much like museums of Neoclassical architecture.
Gothic revival architecture (often linked with the Romantic cultural movement), a style originating in the 18th century which grew in popularity throughout the 19th century, contrasted Neoclassicism. Whilst Neoclassicism was characterized by Greek and Roman-influenced styles, geometric lines and order, Gothic revival architecture placed an emphasis on medieval-looking buildings, often made to have a rustic, "romantic" appearance.
France
Louis XVI style (1760-1789)
It marks the transition from
Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
to Classicism. Unlike the
Classicism of Louis XIV, which transformed ornaments into symbols, Louis XVI style represents them as realistic and natural as possible, ie laurel branches really are laurel branches, roses the same, and so on. One of the main decorative principles is symmetry. In interiors, the colours used are very bright, including white, light grey, bright blue, pink, yellow, very light lilac, and gold. Excesses of ornamentation are avoided. The return to antiquity is synonymous with above all with a return to the straight lines: strict verticals and horizontals were the order of the day. Serpentine ones were no longer tolerated, save for the occasional half circle or oval. Interior decor also honored this taste for rigor, with the result that flat surfaces and right angles returned to fashion. Ornament was used to mediate this severity, but it never interfered with basic lines and always was disposed symmetrically around a central axis. Even so, ''ébénistes'' often canted fore-angles to avoid excessive rigidity.
The decorative motifs of Louis XVI style were inspired by
antiquity
Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to:
Historical objects or periods Artifacts
*Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures
Eras
Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...
, the
Louis XIV style
The Louis XIV style or ''Louis Quatorze'' ( , ), also called French classicism, was the style of architecture and decorative arts intended to glorify King Louis XIV and his reign. It featured majesty, harmony and regularity. It became the officia ...
, and nature. Characteristic elements of the style: a torch crossed with a sheath with arrows, imbricated disks,
guilloché, double bow-knots, smoking braziers, linear repetitions of small motifs (
rosettes, beads, oves),
trophy
A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achievement, and serves as a recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are often awarded for sporting events, from youth sports to professional level athletics. In many sports medals (or, in ...
or floral medallions hanging from a knotted ribbon,
acanthus leaves, gadrooning, interlace,
meanders
A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex bank w ...
,
cornucopias,
mascarons, Ancient urns, tripods, perfume burners, dolphins, ram and lion heads,
chimeras, and
gryphons. Greco-Roman architectural motifs are also very used:
flutings,
pilaster
In classical architecture
Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...
s (fluted and unfluted), fluted balusters (twisted and straight),
column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...
s (
engaged
An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...
and unengaged, sometimes replaced by
caryathids),
volute corbel
In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...
s,
triglyph
Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze in classical architecture, so called because of the angular channels in them. The rectangular recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric frieze are ...
s with
guttae (in
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 ...
and
trompe-l'œil).
École Militaire Paris Pavillon central depuis la cour d'honneur.jpg, Central pavilion of the École Militaire (Paris), 1752, by Ange-Jacques Gabriel
Pantheon 1, Paris May 11, 2013.jpg, Panthéon (Paris), 1758–1790, by Jacques-Germain Soufflot (1713-1780) and Jean-Baptiste Rondelet (1743-1829)
L'Hôtel de la Marine (Paris) (51346237676).jpg, Hôtel de la Marine (Paris), 1761-1770, by Ange-Jacques Gabriel
Commode de la comtesse du Barry (Louvre, OA 11293).jpg, Commode of Madame du Barry; by Martin Carlin (attribution); 1772; oak base veneered with pearwood, rosewood and amaranth, soft-paste Sèvres porcelain, bronze gilt, white marble; 87 x 119 cm; Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
Hôtel du Châtelet JP2011 façade cour.jpg, Hôtel du Châtelet (Paris), 1776
Bordeaux Grand Théâtre R03.jpg, Stairway of the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, Grand Theater of Bordeaux (Bordeaux, France), 1777-1780, by Victor Louis
Jean-henri riesener, angoliera, 1785 ca.jpg, Parisian corner cabinet; by Jean Henri Riesener; 1780–1790; oak, mahogany, marble, and ormolu mounts; 94.3 × 81.3 × 55.9 cm; Art Institute of Chicago (US)
Grand vase à fond beau bleu (Louvre, OA 6627) 2 (cropped and fixed angles).jpg, Large vase; 1783; hard porcelain and ormolu, gilt bronze; height: 2 m, diameter: 0.90 m; Louvre
Cabinet dore Marie-Antoinette Versailles.jpg, The Cabinet Doré of Marie-Antoinette at the Palace of Versailles (Versailles, France), 1783, by the Rousseau brothers
Secrétaire à cylindre de Marie-Antoinette (Louvre, OA 5226).jpg, Roll-top desk of Marie-Antoinette; by Jean-Henri Riesener; 1784; oak and pine frame, sycamore, amaranth and rosewood veneer, bronze gilt; 103.6 x 113.4 cm; Louvre
Table à écrire à pupitre de Marie-Antoinette (Louvre, OA 5509).jpg, Writing table of Marie-Antoinette; by Adam Weisweiler; 1784; oak, ebony and sycamore veneer, Japanese lacquer, steel, bronze gilt; 73.7 x 81. 2 cm; Louvre
Ewer MET DT236853.jpg, Ewer; 1784–1785; silver; height: 32.9 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Folding stool (pliant) (one of a pair) MET DP113122.jpg, Folding stool (pliant); 1786; carved and painted beechwood, covered in pink silk; 46.4 × 68.6 × 51.4 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Pair of vases MET DP168509.jpg, Pair of vases; 1789; hard-paste porcelain, gilt bronze, marble; height (each): 23 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Armchair (fauteuil) from Louis XVI's Salon des Jeux at Saint Cloud MET DP113960.jpg, Armchair (fauteuil) from Louis XVI's Salon des Jeux at Saint Cloud; 1788; carved and gilded walnut, gold brocaded silk (not original); overall: 100 × 74.9 × 65.1 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Directoire style (1789-1804)
Paris 10e Hôtel Gouthière 60675 (fixed angles).jpg, Panel win an arabesque in the Hôtel Gouthière, Paris, unknown architect, unknown date
P1240239 Paris VI rue Jacob n46 rwk 2.jpg, Rue Jacob no. 46, Paris, unknown architect, unknown date
Corniquet - horloge à heures duodécimales et décimales.jpg, Astronomical clock; by Philippe-Jacques Corniquet; 1794; gilt bronze and enamel face; unknown dimensions; Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Paris)
Fan MET DP-314-001.jpg, Fan; by Charles Percier, Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine and Antoine Denis Chaudet; 1797-1799; paper, wood, and bone; 23.5 x 43.8 cm; 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 ...
(New York City)
Salon de madame Récamier - Bergère (Louvre, OA 11385).jpg, Armchair of the salon of Madame Récamier; attributed to Jacob Frères; 1798; various types of wood; 84.5 x 62.2 x 62 cm; Musée des Arts Décoratifs
Empire style (1804-1815)
It representative for the new French society that has exited from the French Revolution, revolution which set the tone in all life fields, including art. The Jacquard machine is invented during this period (which revolutionises the entire sewing system, manual until then). One of the dominant colours is red, decorated with ormolu, gilt bronze. Bright colours are also used, including white, Cream (colour), cream, violet, brown, bleu, dark red, with little ornaments of gilt bronze. Interior architecture includes wood panels decorated with gilt
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 (on a white background or a coloured one). Motifs are placed geometrically. The walls are covered in stuccos, wallpaper pr fabrics. Fireplace mantels are made of white marble, having caryatids at their corners, or other elements: obelisks, sphinxes, winged lions, and so on. Bronze objects were placed on their tops, including French Empire mantel clock, mantel clocks. The doors consist of simple rectangular panels, decorated with a Pompeian-inspired central figure. Empire fabrics are damasks with a bleu or brown background, satins with a green, pink or purple background, velvets of the same colors, brooches broached with gold or silver, and cotton fabrics. All of these were used in interiors for curtains, for covering certain furniture, for cushions or upholstery (leather is also used for upholstery).
All Empire ornament is governed by a rigorous spirit of symmetry reminiscent of the
Louis XIV style
The Louis XIV style or ''Louis Quatorze'' ( , ), also called French classicism, was the style of architecture and decorative arts intended to glorify King Louis XIV and his reign. It featured majesty, harmony and regularity. It became the officia ...
. Generally, the motifs on a piece's right and left sides correspond to one another in every detail; when they don't, the individual motifs themselves are entirely symmetrical in composition: antique heads with identical tresses falling onto each shoulder, frontal figures of Victory with symmetrically arrayed tunics, identical rosettes or swans flanking a lock plate, etc. Like Louis XIV,
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
had a set of emblems unmistakably associated with his rule, most notably the eagle, the bee, stars, and the initials I (for ''Imperator'') and N (for ''Napoleon''), which were usually inscribed within an imperial laurel crown. Motifs used include: figures of Nike (mythology), Victory bearing palm branches, Greek dancers, nude and draped women, figures of antique chariots, winged putto, putti,
mascarons of Apollo, Hermes and the Gorgon, swans, lions, the heads of oxen, horses and wild beasts, butterflies, claws, winged
chimeras, sphinxes, Bucranium, bucrania, sea horses, oak wreaths knotted by thin trailing ribbons, climbing grape vines, poppy rinceaux, rosette (design), rosettes, palm branches, and laurel. There's a lot of Greco-Roman ones: stiff and flat
acanthus leaves, palmettes,
cornucopias, beads, amphoras, tripods, imbricated disks, caduceuses of Mercury (mythology), Mercury, vases, helmets, burning torches, winged trumpet players, and ancient musical instruments (tubas, rattles and especially lyres). Despite their antique derivation, the fluting (architecture), fluting and
triglyph
Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze in classical architecture, so called because of the angular channels in them. The rectangular recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric frieze are ...
s so prevalent under Louis XVI are abandoned. Egyptian Revival decorative arts, Egyptian Revival motifs are especially common at the beginning of the period: Scarab (artifact), scarabs, lotus capital (architecture), capitals, winged disks, obelisks, pyramids, figures wearing nemeses, caryatids ''en gaine'' supported by bare feet and with women Egyptian headdresses.
Coffeepot MET DP103166.jpg, Coffeepot; 1797–1809; silver gilt; height: 33.3 cm; 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 ...
(New York City)
Château de Malmaison, France (48029730202).jpg, Empress Joséphine's Bedroom in Château de Malmaison (Rueil-Malmaison, France), 1800-1802, by Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine
Washstand (athénienne or lavabo) MET DP106594.jpg, Washstand (athénienne or lavabo); 1800–1814; legs, base and shelf of yew wood, ormolu, gilt-bronze mounts, iron plate beneath shelf; height: 92.4 cm, width: 49.5 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Palais Bourbon, Paris 7e, NW View 140402 1.jpg, Portico of the Palais Bourbon (Paris), 1806-1808, by Bernard Poyet
Madeleine Paris.jpg, La Madeleine, Paris, La Madeleine (Paris), 1807-1842, by Pierre-Alexandre Vignon
Pair of green vases, painted by Jean Georget, mounts by Pierre-Philippe Thomire, 1 of 2, Sèvres porcelain, 1809, soft-paste porcelain - Wadsworth Atheneum - Hartford, CT - DSC05493.jpg, Vase; 1809; hard-paste porcelain and gilded bronze handles; height: 74.9 cm, diameter: 35.6 cm; Wadsworth Atheneum (Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford, Connecticut, US)
Coin cabinet MET DP103176.jpg, Egyptian Revival coin cabinet; by François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter; 1809–1819; mahogany (probably Swietenia mahagoni), with applied and inlaid silver; 90.2 x 50.2 x 37.5 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Clock Thomire Louvre OA9511.jpg, Clock with Mars (mythology), Mars and Venus (mythology), Venus; circa 1810; gilded bronze and patina; height: 90 cm; Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
Austria-03324 - Cradle of Napoleon's Son (32936041295).jpg, King of Rome's Cradle; by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, Henri Victor Roguier, Jean-Baptiste-Claude Odiot and Pierre-Philippe Thomire; 1811; wood, silver gilt, mother-of-pearl, sheets of copper covered with velvet, silk and tulle, decorated with silver and gold thread; height: 216 cm; Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
)
Carpet MET DP360538.jpg, Carpet; 1814–1830; 309.9 × 246.4 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Italy
From the second half of the 18th century through the 19th century, Italy went through a great deal of socio-economic changes, several foreign invasions and the turbulent Risorgimento, which resulted in the Italian unification in 1861. Thus, Italian art went through a series of minor and major changes in style.
The Italian Neoclassicism was the earliest manifestation of the general period known as Neoclassicism and lasted more than the other national variants of neoclassicism. It developed in opposition to the Baroque style around c.1750 and lasted until c.1850. Neoclassicism began around the period of the rediscovery of Pompeii and spread all over Europe as a generation of art students returned to their countries from the Grand Tour in Italy with rediscovered Greco-Roman ideals. It first centred in Rome where artists such as Antonio Canova and Jacques-Louis David were active in the second half of the 18th century, before moving to Paris. Painters of Vedute, like Canaletto and Giovanni Paolo Panini, also enjoyed a huge success during the Grand Tour. Neoclassical architecture was inspired by the Renaissance works of Palladio and saw in Luigi Vanvitelli and Filippo Juvarra the main interpreters of the style.
Classicist literature had a great impact on the Risorgimento movement: the main figures of the period include Vittorio Alfieri, Giuseppe Parini, Vincenzo Monti and Ugo Foscolo, Giacomo Leopardi and Alessandro Manzoni (nephew of Cesare Beccaria), who were also influenced by the French Enlightenment and German Romanticism. The virtuoso violinist Paganini and the operas of Rossini, Donnizetti, Bellini and, later, Verdi dominated the scene in Italian classical and romantic music.
The art of Francesco Hayez and especially that of the Macchiaioli represented a break with the classical school, which came to an end as Italy unified (see Italian modern and contemporary art). Neoclassicism was the last Italian-born style, after the Renaissance and Baroque, to spread to all Western Art.
File:Palazzo Grassi Canal Grande Venezia.jpg, alt=, Palazzo Grassi (on the Grand canal in Venice), 1748-1772, Giorgio Massari
File:Milano - Teatro la Scala.JPG, alt=, La Scala Opera House (Milan), completed in 1778, by Giuseppe Piermarini
File:8859 - Milano - P.za Belgiojoso - Palazzo Belgiojoso - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto - 14-Apr-2007.jpg, alt=, Palazzo Belgioioso (Milan), 1781, by Giuseppe Piermarini
File:Milano Villa Reale.jpg, alt=, Villa Belgiojoso Bonaparte (Milan), 1790-1796, by Leopoldo Pollack
File:Napoli -Piazza del Plebiscito- 2010-by-RaBoe-56.jpg, alt=, Piazza del Plebiscito (Naples), 1809-1846
File:Roma Piazza del Popolo due.jpg, alt=, Piazza del Popolo (Rome), redesigned between 1811 and 1822, by Giuseppe Valadier
Education of the Infant Bacchus MET DP150925.jpg, Education of the Infant Bacchus; by Niccolò Amastini; first half 19th century; onyx with gold frame; overall (in setting): 6.5 x 4.8 cm; 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 ...
(New York City).
The UK
The Adam style was created by two brothers, Robert Adam, Adam and James Adam (architect), James, who published in 1777 a volume of etchings with interior ornamentation. In the interior decoration made after Robert Adam's drawings, the walls, ceilings, doors, and any other surface, are divided into big panels: rectangular, round, square, with stuccos and Greco-Roman motifs at the edges. Ornaments used include festoons, pearls, egg-and-dart bands, Medallion (architecture), medallions, and any other motifs used during the Classical antiquity (especially the Etruscan architecture, Etruscan ones). Decorative fittings such as urn-shaped stone vases, gilded silverware, lamps, and stauettes all have the same source of inspiration, classical antiquity. The Adam style emphasizes refined rectangular mirrors, framed like paintings (in frames with stylised leafs), or with a
pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedimen ...
above them, supporting an urn or a medallion. Another design of Adam mirrors is shaped like a Venetian window, with a big central mirror between two other thinner and longer ones. Another type of mirrors are the oval ones, usually decorated with festoons. The furniture in this style has a similar structure to Louis XVI furniture.
Besides the Adam style, when it comes to decorative arts, England is also known for the ceramic manufacturer
Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795), who established a pottery called Etruria. Wedgwood ware is made of a material called jasperware, a hard and fine-grained type of stoneware. Wedgwood vases are usually decorated with reliefs in two colours, in most cases the figures being white and the background blue.
Kedleston Hall 20080730-06.jpg, Kedleston Hall (Kedleston, Derbyshire, England), 1760-1770, by Robert Adam
Osterley House The Dinning Room (22773780472).jpg, Eating Room (Osterley Park, London), 1761, by Robert Adam
Syon House (33741948060).jpg, Syon House (Middlesex, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
), 1762, by Robert Adam
Osterley House, entrance hall.jpg, The Hall (Osterley Park), 1767, by Robert Adam
Carpet MET DP299026.jpg, Carpet; by Robert Adam; 1770–1780; knotted wool; 505.5 x 473.1 cm; 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 ...
(New York City)
Jasperware plaque by Wedgwood (c. 1776), Harris Museum.JPG, ''Apotheosis of Virgil''; by John Flaxman
John Flaxman (6 July 1755 – 7 December 1826) was a British sculptor and draughtsman, and a leading figure in British and European Neoclassicism. Early in his career, he worked as a modeller for Josiah Wedgwood's pottery. He spent several yea ...
; 1776; jasperware; diameter: 41 cm; Harris Museum (Preston, Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire, UK)
Somerset House (42160916102).jpg, Somerset House (London), 1776-1801, by William Chambers (architect), William Chambers
File:Pair of urns and pedestals MET DP-14204-180.jpg, Urn on pedestal; circa 1780 with latter additions; by Robert Adam; inlaid mahogany; height: 49.8 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Side table MET DP-14204-045.jpg, Side table with many acanthus leafs and two Bucranium, bucrania; by Robert Adam; 1780 with later addition; mahogany; overall: 88.6 × 141.3 × 57.1 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Wedgwood Factory (British) - Covered Urn - 1951.301.2 - Cleveland Museum of Art.jpg, Covered Wedgwood urn; 1800; jasper ware with relief decoration; overall: 19.7 cm; Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, Ohio, USA)
The United States
On the Americas, American continent, architecture and interior decoration have been highly influenced by the styles developed in Europe. The French taste has highly marked its presence in the southern states (after the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
some emigrants have moved here, and in Canada a big part of the population has French origins). The practical spirit and the material situation of the Americans at that time gave the interiors a typic atmosphere. All the American furniture, carpets, tableware, ceramic, and silverware, with all the European influences, and sometimes Islamic art, Islamic, Turkish art, Turkish or Asian art, Asian, were made in conformity with the American norms, taste, and functional requirements. There have existed in the US a period of the Queen Anne style architecture#American Queen Anne, Queen Anne style, and an Thomas Chippendale, Chippendale one. A style of its own, the Federal style, has developed completely in the 18th and early 19th centuries, which has flourished being influenced by Britannic taste. Under the impulse of Neoclassicism, architecture, interiors, and furniture have been created. The style, although it has numerous characteristics which differ from state to state, is unitary. The structures of architecture, interiors, and furniture are Classicist, and incorporate
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
and
Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
influences. The shapes used include rectangles, ovals, and crescents. Stucco or wooden panels on walls and ceilings reproduce Classicist motifs. Furniture tend to be decorated with floral marquetry and bronze or brass inlays (sometimes
gilded
Gilding is a decorative technique for applying a very thin coating of gold over solid surfaces such as metal (most common), wood, porcelain, or stone. A gilded object is also described as "gilt". Where metal is gilded, the metal below was tradi ...
).
File:Maple Secretary LACMA 60.46.3a-b.jpg, Maple secretary; circa 1790; maple and brass; height: 242.57 cm; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (US)
Candlestand LACMA M.2006.51.13 (1 of 2).jpg, Candlestand; 1790-1800; mahogany, birch, and various inlays; 107 x 49.21 x 48.9 cm; Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Writing Desk LACMA M.2006.51.24a-b.jpg, Writing desk; 1790-1810; satinwood, mahogany, tulip poplar, and pine; 153.67 x 90.17 x 51.44 cm; Los Angeles County Museum of Art
White House north and south sides.jpg, White House (Washington, D.C.), 1792-1829, by James Hoban
US Capitol west side.JPG, United States Capitol, Capitol Building (Washington, D.C.), 1793-1863, by William Thornton and Thomas Ustick Walter
Federal Hill mansion (1795) at My Old Kentucky Home State Park, Bardstown KY.jpg, Federal Hill Mansion (My Old Kentucky Home State Park, Bardstown, Kentucky), 1795
Armchair LACMA 54.141.2.jpg, Armchair; possibly by Ephraim Haines; 1805-1815; mahogany and cane; height: 84.77 cm, width: 52.07 cm; Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Four-Column Pedestal Card Table with Pineapple Finial LACMA M.2006.51.29.jpg, Four-column pedestal card table with pineapple finial; 1815-1820; mahogany, tulip poplar, and pine woods; 74.93 x 92.71 x 46.67 cm; Los Angeles County Museum of Art
University of Virginia Rotunda 2006.jpg, The Rotunda (University of Virginia), The Rotunda (University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia), by Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
, 1822-1826
SC State House at evening.jpg, South Carolina State House (Columbia, South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina), 1855, by John Rudolph Niernsee
Gardens
In England, Augustan literature had a direct parallel with the Augustan style of landscape design. The links are clearly seen in the work of Alexander Pope. The best surviving examples of Neoclassical English gardens are Chiswick House, Stowe House and Stourhead.
Neoclassicism and fashion
In fashion, Neoclassicism influenced the much greater simplicity of women's dresses, and the long-lasting fashion for white, from well before the French Revolution, but it was not until after it that thorough-going attempts to imitate ancient styles became fashionable in France, at least for women. Classical costumes had long been worn by fashionable ladies posing as some figure from Greek or Roman myth in a portrait (in particular there was a rash of such portraits of the young model Emma, Lady Hamilton from the 1780s), but such costumes were only worn for the portrait sitting and masquerade balls until the Revolutionary period, and perhaps, like other exotic styles, as undress at home. But the styles worn in portraits by Juliette Récamier, Joséphine de Beauharnais, Thérésa Tallien and other Parisian trend-setters were for going-out in public as well. Seeing Mme Tallien at the opera, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, Talleyrand quipped that: "''Il n'est pas possible de s'exposer plus somptueusement!''" ("One could not be more sumptuously undressed"). In 1788, just before the Revolution, the court portraitist Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun had held a Greek supper where the ladies wore plain white Grecian tunics. Shorter classical hairstyles, where possible with curls, were less controversial and very widely adopted, and hair was now uncovered even outdoors; except for evening dress, bonnet (headgear), bonnets or other coverings had typically been worn even indoors before. Thin Greek-style ribbons or fillets were used to tie or decorate the hair instead.
Very light and loose dresses, usually white and often with shockingly bare arms, rose sheer from the ankle to just below the bodice, where there was a strongly emphasized thin hem or tie round the body, often in a different colour. The shape is now often known as the Empire silhouette although it predates the
First French Empire
The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Eu ...
of Napoleon, but his first Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais was influential in spreading it around Europe. A long rectangular shawl or wrap, very often plain red but with a decorated border in portraits, helped in colder weather, and was apparently laid around the midriff when seated—for which sprawling semi-recumbent postures were favoured. By the start of the 19th century, such styles had spread widely across Europe.
![Antoine Valedau, by Adèle Romany](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Antoine_Valedau%2C_by_Ad%C3%A8le_Romany.jpg)
Neoclassical fashion for men was far more problematic, and never really took off other than for hair, where it played an important role in the shorter styles that finally despatched the use of wigs, and then white hair-powder, for younger men. The trouser had been the symbol of the barbarian to the Greeks and Romans, but outside the painter's or, especially, the sculptor's studio, few men were prepared to abandon it. Indeed, the period saw the triumph of the pure trouser, or trousers, pantaloon, over the ''culotte'' or knee-breeches of the Ancien Régime. Even when David designed a new French "national costume" at the request of the government during the height of the Revolutionary enthusiasm for changing everything in 1792, it included fairly tight leggings under a coat that stopped above the knee. A high proportion of well-to-do young men spent much of the key period in military service because of the French Revolutionary Wars, and military uniform, which began to emphasize jackets that were short at the front, giving a full view of tight-fitting trousers, was often worn when not on duty, and influenced civilian male styles.
The trouser-problem had been recognised by artists as a barrier to creating contemporary
history painting
History painting is a genre in painting defined by its subject matter rather than any artistic style or specific period. History paintings depict a moment in a narrative story, most often (but not exclusively) Greek and Roman mythology and Bible ...
s; like other elements of contemporary dress they were seen as irredeemably ugly and unheroic by many artists and critics. Various stratagems were used to avoid depicting them in modern scenes. In ''James Dawkins (antiquarian), James Dawkins and Robert Wood (antiquarian), Robert Wood Discovering the Ruins of
Palmyra'' (1758) by
Gavin Hamilton (artist), Gavin Hamilton, the two gentleman antiquaries are shown in toga-like Arab robes. In ''Watson and the Shark'' (1778) by John Singleton Copley, the main figure could plausibly be shown nude, and the composition is such that of the eight other men shown, only one shows a single breeches, breeched leg prominently. However the Americans Copley and Benjamin West led the artists who successfully showed that trousers could be used in heroic scenes, with works like West's ''The Death of General Wolfe'' (1770) and Copley's ''The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781'' (1783), although the trouser was still being carefully avoided in ''The Raft of the Medusa'', completed in 1819.
![5th Duke of Bedford](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/5th_Duke_of_Bedford.png)
Classically inspired male hair styles included the Bedford Crop, arguably the precursor of most plain modern male styles, which was invented by the radical politician Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford as a protest against a Duty on Hair Powder Act 1795, tax on hair powder; he encouraged his friends to adopt it by betting them they would not. Another influential style (or group of styles) was named by the French "à la Titus" after Titus Junius Brutus (not in fact the Roman Emperor Titus as often assumed), with hair short and layered but somewhat piled up on the crown, often with restrained quiffs or locks hanging down; variants are familiar from the hair of both
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
and George IV of the United Kingdom. The style was supposed to have been introduced by the actor François-Joseph Talma, who upstaged his wigged co-actors when appearing in productions of works such as Voltaire's ''Brutus (tragedy), Brutus'' (about Lucius Junius Brutus, who orders the execution of his son Titus). In 1799 a Parisian fashion magazine reported that even bald men were adopting Titus wigs, and the style was also worn by women, the ''Journal de Paris'' reporting in 1802 that "more than half of elegant women were wearing their hair or wig ''à la Titus''.
File:Hamilton Palmyra.JPG, ''James Dawkins (1722-1757), James Dawkins and Robert Wood Discovering the Ruins of Palmyra'', by Gavin Hamilton (artist), Gavin Hamilton (1758)
File:Jacques-Louis David Henriette de Verninac 1799.jpg, ''Madame Raymond de Verninac'' by Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...
, with clothes and chair in Directoire style. "Year 7": that is, 1798–1799
File:Elizabeth Alexeevna with mirror by J.L.Mosnier (1802, Tretyakov gallery).jpg, Elizabeth Alexeievna (Louise of Baden), Elizabeth Alexeievna, Empress of Russia, in 1802
Later Neoclassicism
![National-Gallery-of-Art-West-Building-John-Russell-Pope-National-Mall-Washington-DC-04-2014](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/National-Gallery-of-Art-West-Building-John-Russell-Pope-National-Mall-Washington-DC-04-2014.jpg)
In American architecture, Neoclassicism was one expression of the American Renaissance movement, ''ca.'' 1890–1917; its last manifestation was in Beaux-Arts architecture, and its final large public projects were the Lincoln Memorial (highly criticized at the time), the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (also heavily criticized by the architectural community as being backward thinking and old fashioned in its design), and the American Museum of Natural History's Roosevelt Memorial. These were considered stylistic anachronisms when they were finished. In the British Raj, Sir Edwin Lutyens' monumental city planning for New Delhi marks the sunset of Neoclassicism. World War II was to shatter most longing for (and imitation of) a mythical time.
Conservative modernist architects such as Auguste Perret in France kept the rhythms and spacing of columnar architecture even in factory buildings. Where a colonnade would have been decried as "reactionary", a building's
pilaster
In classical architecture
Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...
-like fluting (architecture), fluted panels under a repeating
frieze looked "progressive". Pablo Picasso experimented with classicizing motifs in the years immediately following World War I, and the Art Deco style that came to the fore following the 1925 Paris ''Exposition des Arts Décoratifs'', often drew on Neoclassical motifs without expressing them overtly: severe, blocky commodes by Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, É.-J. Ruhlmann or Louis Süe, Süe & André Mare, Mare; crisp, extremely low-relief friezes of damsels and gazelles in every medium; fashionable dresses that were draped or cut on the bias to recreate Grecian lines; the art dance of Isadora Duncan; the Streamline Moderne styling of U.S. post offices and county court buildings built as late as 1950; and the Dime (United States coin), Roosevelt dime.
There was an entire 20th-century movement in the Arts which was also called Neoclassicism. It encompassed at least music, philosophy and literature. It was between the end of World War I and the end of World War II. (For information on the musical aspects, see 20th-century classical music#Neoclassicism, 20th-century classical music and Neoclassicism (music), Neoclassicism in music. For information on the philosophical aspects, see Great Books.)
This literary Neoclassical movement rejected the extreme romanticism of (for example) Dada, in favour of restraint, religion (specifically Christianity) and a reactionary political program. Although the foundations for this movement in
English literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
were laid by T. E. Hulme, the most famous Neoclassicists were T. S. Eliot and Wyndham Lewis. In Russia, the movement crystallized as early as 1910 under the name of Acmeism, with Anna Akhmatova and Osip Mandelshtam as the leading representatives.
In music
Neoclassicism (music), Neoclassicism in music is a 20th-century movement; in this case it is the classical music, Classical and baroque music, Baroque musical styles of the 17th and 18th centuries, with their fondness for Greek and Roman themes, that were being revived, not the music of the ancient world itself. (The early 20th century had not yet distinguished the Baroque period in music, on which Neoclassical composers mainly drew, from what we now call the Classical period.) The movement was a reaction in the first part of the 20th century to the disintegrating chromaticism of late-Romanticism and Impressionism, emerging in parallel with musical Modernism, which sought to abandon key tonality altogether. It manifested a desire for cleanness and simplicity of style, which allowed for quite dissonant paraphrasing of classical procedures, but sought to blow away the cobwebs of Romanticism and the twilit glimmerings of Impressionism in music, Impressionism in favour of bold rhythms, assertive harmony and clean-cut sectional forms, coinciding with the vogue for reconstructed "classical" dancing and costume in ballet and physical education.
The 17th-18th century dance suite had had a minor revival before World War I but the Neoclassicists were not altogether happy with unmodified diatonicism, and tended to emphasise the bright dissonance of suspensions and ornaments, the angular qualities of 17th-century modal harmony and the energetic lines of countrapuntal part-writing. Respighi, Ottorino, Respighi's ''Ancient Airs and Dances'' (1917) led the way for the sort of sound to which the Neoclassicists aspired. Although the practice of borrowing musical styles from the past has not been uncommon throughout musical history, art musics have gone through periods where musicians used modern techniques coupled with older forms or harmonies to create new kinds of works. Notable compositional characteristics are: referencing diatonic tonality, conventional forms (dance suites, concerti grossi, sonata forms, etc.), the idea of absolute music untramelled by descriptive or emotive associations, the use of light musical textures, and a conciseness of musical expression. In classical music, this was most notably perceived between the 1920s and the 1950s. Igor Stravinsky is the best-known composer using this style; he effectively began the musical revolution with his Bach-like Octet (Stravinsky), Octet for Wind Instruments (1923). A particular individual work that represents this style well is Sergei Prokofiev, Prokofiev's Classical Symphony No. 1 in D, which is reminiscent of the symphonic style of Joseph Haydn, Haydn or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart. Neoclassical ballet as innovated by George Balanchine de-cluttered the Russian Imperial style in terms of costume, steps and narrative, while also introducing technical innovations.
Architecture in Russia and the Soviet Union
In 1905–1914 Russian architecture passed through a brief but influential period of Russian neoclassical revival, Neoclassical revival; the trend began with recreation of Empire style of Alexander I of Russia, alexandrine period and quickly expanded into a variety of neo-Renaissance, palladian architecture, Palladian and modernized, yet recognizably classical schools. They were led by architects born in the 1870s, who reached creative peak before World War I, like Ivan Fomin, Vladimir Shchuko and Ivan Zholtovsky. When economy recovered in the 1920s, these architects and their followers continued working in primarily modernism (architecture), modernist environment; some (Zholtovsky) strictly followed the classical canon, others (Fomin, Schuko, Ilya Golosov) developed their own modernized styles.
![Arkhangelskoe Estate Aug2012 buildings 03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Arkhangelskoe_Estate_Aug2012_buildings_03.jpg)
With the crackdown on architects independence and official denial of modernism (1932), demonstrated by the international contest for the Palace of Soviets, Neoclassicism was instantly promoted as one of the choices in Stalinist architecture, although not the only choice. It coexisted with moderately modernist architecture of Boris Iofan, bordering with contemporary Art Deco (Schuko); again, the purest examples of the style were produced by Zholtovsky school that remained an isolated phenomena. The political intervention was a disaster for Constructivist architecture, constructivist leaders yet was sincerely welcomed by architects of the classical schools.
Neoclassicism was an easy choice for the USSR since it did not rely on modern construction technologies (steel frame or reinforced concrete) and could be reproduced in traditional masonry. Thus the designs of Zholtovsky, Fomin and other old masters were easily replicated in remote towns under strict material rationing. Improvement of construction technology after World War II permitted Stalinist architects to venture into skyscraper construction, although stylistically these skyscrapers (including "exported" architecture of Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw and the Shanghai International Convention Centre) share little with the classical models. Neoclassicism and neo-Renaissance persisted in less demanding residential and office projects until 1955, when Nikita Khrushchev put an end to expensive Stalinist architecture.
Architecture in the 21st century
![Schermerhorn](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Schermerhorn.jpg)
After a lull during the period of modern architectural dominance (roughly post-World War II until the mid-1980s), Neoclassicism has seen something of a resurgence.
As of the first decade of the 21st century, contemporary Neoclassical architecture is usually classed under the umbrella term of New Classical Architecture. Sometimes it is also referred to as Neo-Historicism or Traditionalism. Also, a number of pieces of postmodern architecture draw inspiration from and include explicit references to Neoclassicism, Antigone District and the National Theatre of Catalonia in Barcelona among them. Postmodern architecture occasionally includes historical elements, like columns, capitals or the tympanum.
For sincere traditional-style architecture that sticks to regional architecture, materials and craftsmanship, the term Vernacular architecture, Traditional Architecture (or vernacular) is mostly used. The Driehaus Architecture Prize is awarded to major contributors in the field of 21st century traditional or classical architecture, and comes with a prize money twice as high as that of the modernist Pritzker Prize.
Driehaus Prize for New Classical Architecture at Notre Dame SoA
– ''Together, the $200,000 Driehaus Prize and the $50,000 Reed Award represent the most significant recognition for classicism in the contemporary built environment.''; retained March 7, 2014
In the United States, various contemporary public buildings are built in Neoclassical style, with the 2006 Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville being an example.
In Britain, a number of architects are active in the Neoclassical style. Examples of their work include two university libraries: Quinlan Terry's Maitland Robinson Library at Downing College and Robert Adam Architects' Sackler Library.
See also
*1795–1820 in Western fashion
*American Empire (style)
*Antiquization
*Nazi architecture
*Neoclassical architecture
*Neoclassicism in France
*Neo-Grec, the late Greek-Revival style
*Skopje 2014
Notes
References
*Kenneth Clark, Clark, Kenneth, ''The Romantic Rebellion: Romantic versus Classic Art'', 1976, Omega. .
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Further reading
* Brown, Kevin (2017). ''Artist and Patrons: Court Art and Revolution in Brussels at the end of the Ancien Regime''
Dutch Crossing, Taylor and Francis
* Eriksen, Svend. ''Early Neoclassicism in France'' (1974)
* Friedlaender, Walter (1952). ''David to Delacroix'' (originally published in German; reprinted 1980)
* Gromort, Georges, with introductory essay by Richard Sammons (2001)
''The Elements of Classical Architecture'' (Classical America Series in Art and Architecture)
* Harrison, Charles; Paul Wood and Jason Gaiger (eds) (2000; repr. 2003). ''Art in Theory 1648–1815: An Anthology of Changing Ideas''
* Hartop, Christopher, with foreword by Tim Knox (2010). ''The Classical Ideal: English Silver, 1760–1840'', exh. cat. Cambridge: John Adamson (publisher), John Adamson
* Irwin, David (1966). ''English Neoclassical Art: Studies in Inspiration and Taste''
* Johnson, James William. “What Was Neo-Classicism?” ''Journal of British Studies'', vol. 9, no. 1, 1969, pp. 49–70
online
* Rosenblum, Robert (1967). ''Transformations in Late Eighteenth-Century Art''
External links
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Neo-classical drawings in the Flemish Art Collection
19th Century Sculpture Derived From Greek Hellenistic Influence:
Jacob Ungerer
The Neoclassicising of Pompeii
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