NeoClassicism

Neo-Classicism (18th-early 19th century)

Map of Europe and America in the Age of Enlightenment


• Neo-Classicism founded on the logic and morality of Enlightenment thinkers, like Voltaire (1694-1778)– Science advanced

civilization, logic makes for better government to benefit the people

– Beliefs based in antiquityJean-Antoine Houdon, Voltaire Seated, 1781.

Terracotta model for marble original, 47.” Musée Voltaire. Fig. 22.12


• The Neoclassical style arose from first-hand observation and reproduction of antique works.

Giovanni Paolo Panini, Ancient Rome, 1757. Oil on canvas, 67 ¾" x 90 ½." Metropolitain Museum, NY.


Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768)• German archaeologist and

philosopher emphasized the supremacy of Greek art.

• Reflections on the Painting and Sculpture of the Greeks (1755). – Influential theoretical and

historical writings contributed as strongly as the artifacts themselves to a change in taste.

Anton von Maron, Portrait of Johann Joachim Winckelmann, 1768. Oil on canvas,

53 ½” x 39.” Weimarer Stadtschioss, Germany.


• Neo-Classicism revives antiquity.

• Artists are inspired by Greek and Roman mythology, aesthetics, and style.

• Art is cerebral, not sensual.

Characteristics of Neo-Classicism:

Jacques-Louis David, The Intervention of the Sabine Women, 1799. Oil on canvas, 12’ 8 “ x 17’

¾” Musée du Louvre, Paris.


• Reaction to the opulence of the Baroque and Rococo periods

• Coincides with the 18th century’s Age of Enlightenment

• Neo-Classicism is recognizable in all media-the decorative arts, literature, painting, sculpture, theatre, and music.

• It dominates Europe and America in the second half of the 18th century.

Jacques-Louis David, The Oath of the Horatii, 1784. Oil on canvas 10’10” x 14’. Musée du

Louvre, Paris. Fig. 22.13.



• Neo-Classicism is a revival of classicism.

• Neo-Classical painters favored a finished and polished look- crisp lines, strongly delineated forms, clear drawing and modeling.

• They believed good draughtsmanship (strong drawing) was rational, thus morally superior.


Jacques-Louis David, Death of Socrates, 1787. Oil on canvas, 51” x 77 ¼.” Metropolitan

Museum of Art, NY.

Neo-Classicism (18th-early 19th century)Anton Raphael Mengs (1728–1779)• Winckelmann protégé and

premier peintre to the Dresden court, freely employed classical themes.

• Mengs, Joseph-Marie Vien, Benjamin West, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, and Angelica Kauffmann represent the first generation of Neoclassical painters. Anton Raphael Mengs, Parnassus, 1761. Ceiling

fresco. Villa Albani, Rome. Fig. 22.1

• Mengs’ Parnassus is based on Raphael’s fresco in the Papal apartments

Raphael, The Parnassus, 1511. Fresco, 264.” Papal apartments,

Vatican City.

Anton Raphael Mengs, Parnassus, 1761. Ceiling fresco. Villa Albani, Rome. Fig.

22.1

After Leochares, Apollo Belvedere, c. 120-140. Copy of bronze original of ca. 350-325 BC. White marble, 88”

high. Vatican Museum, Vatican City.

Neo-Classicism (18th-early 19th century)Characteristics of Neo-Classicism• Neo-classicism is characterized by: clarity of form; sober colors;

shallow space; strong horizontal and verticals that render subject matter timeless, instead of temporal as in the dynamic Baroque works; and, Classical subject matter—or classicizing contemporary subject matter.

• Also characteristic are historic subject matter, contemporary settings and costumes, rigidity, solidity, and monumentality in the spirit of classical revival.

• In opposition to the frivolous sensuality of Rococo painters like Jean-Honoré Fragonard and François Boucher, the Neo-classicists looked to Nicolas Poussin for their inspiration.


• Neo-Classical artists look to certain predecessors, Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) in particular, because of his clarity and sculptural treatment of the form.

• Modern artists who favor this style are called Poussinistes.

Nicolas Poussin, Holy Family on the Steps, 1648. Oil on canvas, 28”x44.” Cleveland Museum o Art.


• References not only Raphael but ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum

• Based on Raphael’s Vatican fresco

• Raphael’s planarity=bodies and objects parallel to plane and linearity=crisp contour lines

• Lacks moral subjectAnton Raphael Mengs, Parnassus, 1761. Ceiling

fresco. Villa Albani, Rome. Fig. 22.1


Angelica Kauffmann, Cornelia Presenting Her Children as Her Treausres (Mother og the Gracchi), 1785. Oil on canvas, 3’4” x 4’2.” Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. Fig. 22.3


Angelica Kauffmann (1741-1807)• Founding member of

Royal Academy of Art (1768)

• Moral painting• True history painting

with ancient historical subject Angelica Kauffmann, Cornelia Presenting Her Children

as Her Treausres (Mother of the Gracchi), 1785. Oil on canvas, 3’4” x 4’2.” Virginia Museum of Fine Arts,

Richmond. Fig. 22.3


“the same truth that guides the pen of the historian should govern the pencil [paintbrush] of the artist.”

-West

Benjamin West, The Death of General Wolfe, 1770. Oil on canvas, 59 ½” x 84.” National Gallery of Canada. Fig. 22.4


Benjamin West (1738-1820) • Popularizes contemporary

history painting• Raphael primary influence• Founding member Royal

Academy• Controversial (but

successful) painting because of contemporary subject and setting (1759 French and Indian War)

• Modernization of Lamentation scene

Benjamin West, The Death of General Wolfe, 1770. Oil on canvas, 59 ½” x 84.” National Gallery of Canada.

Fig. 22.4


Lord Burlington (1694-1753)• British architecture based

on antiquity• Neoclassical architecture

characterized by Palladian revival

• Palladian style of perfect geometry, symmetry, harmony, logic, and mathematics reflects beauty and nobility of ancient Greece and Rome

• Function less important than beauty

Lord Burlington and William Kent, Chiswick House, 1725. Chiswick, London. Fig. 22.5

Andrea Palladio, Villa Capra (La Rotonda), 1566-1571, Vicenza, Italy.


• Neo-Classical architects look to the Renaissance and ancient predecessors for inspiration and instructions

Lord Burlington and William Kent, Chiswick House, 1725. Chiswick, London. Fig. 22.5


• Gothic revival style• Marries architecture with

dramatic landscape– Landscape is natural with

rolling hills, overgrown ivy, and irregularity

• Estates often decorated or accented with ancient inspired ruins or Gothic style– Purpose was to create

nostalgic feeling, allow for emotional response

• Design is particularly medieval Horace Walpole and William Robinson, Strawberry

Hill, 1749-1777. Twickenham, England. Fig. 22.7

Horace Walpole (1717-1797)

Early RomanticismGeorge Stubbs (1724-1800)• Part of series of 21 pictures of lion

attacking a horse• Inspiration directly from Burke• Stubbs challenged to create a painting

that was horrifying, that evoked terror in viewer

• Uses animal world to highlight natural forces

• Horse-white=purity, goodness– See pain and fear in horse

• Lion-dark=evilness– Body disappears into dark surroundings

equating it with the dark and mysterious forces of nature

• Dark storm clouds announce the horse’s fate

George Stubbs, Lion Attacking a Horse, 1770. Oil on canvas, 38” x 49 1/2,.” Yale University

Art Gallery, CT. Fig. 22.8


Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805)• Genre and portrait

painter• Submission to 1761

Salon• Establishes reputation• Elements of Rococo and

Enlightenment painting• Looks to Dutch and

Flemish Baroque for inspiration

Jean-Baptiste Greuze, The Village Bride or The Marriage, The Moment When a Father Gives His Son-

in-Law a Dowry, 1761. Oil on canvas, 36” x 46 ½.” Musée du Louvre, Paris. Fig. 22. 11


Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828)• Married realism with

classicism• References Roman

portrait busts– Roman verism

• Sculptor to the “stars”• Captures a noble

realismJean-Antoine Houdon, Voltaire Seated, 1781.

Terracotta model for marble original, 47.” Musée Voltaire. Fig. 22.12

Head of an old man, mid-first century BCE.

Jean-Antoine Houdon, Voltaire Seated, 1781. Terracotta model for marble original, 47.”

Musée Voltaire. Fig. 22.12


Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825)

•Ultimate example of Neoclassical painter

•Commissioned by Louis XVI, painted in Rome, exhibited at the salon of 1784

•Paradigm of French Neoclassical painting



Schematic rendering of Jacques-Louis David, The Oath of the Horatii, 1784. Oil on canvas 10’10” x 14’. Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Nicolas Poussin, Holy Family on the Steps, 1648. Oil on canvas, 28”x44.” Cleveland

Museum o Art.



Jacques-Louis David, The Oath of the Horatii, 1784. Oil on canvas 10’10” x 14’. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Fig. 22.13.


• Gendering within the space of the painting through posture of characters– Men=strong and

erect– Women=fluid, not

in control of their emotions, falling over selves

Jacques-Louis David, The Oath of the Horatii, 1784. Oil on canvas 10’10” x 14’.

Musée du Louvre, Paris. Fig. 22.13.

Ara Pacis, (Altar of Roman Peace) scene of the imperial procession, 13-9 BCE. Marble frieze. Fig. 7.10

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/RomaAraPacis_ProcessioneNordParticolare.jpg

Jacques-Louis David, The Death of Marat, 1793. Oil on canvas, 63 ¾” x 50 3/8.” Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Belgium.


• A student of David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867), inherits his teacher’s Neo-Classical style and vows to defend the Davidian classical style from the influence of Romanticism. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres,

Oedipus and the Sphinx, 1808. Oil on canvas, 6.9” x 5.4”. The National

Gallery, London.


• Perhaps more than his predecessor, Ingres was heavily influenced by the Renaissance tradition of Italian Renaissance painter, Raphael (1483-1520).

• His Apotheosis of Homer, exhibited in the 1827 Salon, is his greatest expression of the classical ideal.

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Apotheosis of Homer, 1827. Oil on canvas, 152” x 202”.

Louvre, Paris


• Ingres’ Apotheosis is modern homage to Raphael’s School of Athens.

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Apotheosis of Homer, 1827. Oil on canvas,

152” x 202”. Louvre, Paris

Raphael, Philosophy (School of Athens), 1509–1511. Fresco, 26’ x 18’. Papal

apartment, Vatican, Rome.

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/ingres.html


• Although deeply committed to the Davidian style, Ingres did flirt with Romanticism.

• In Le Grande Odalisque, Ingres uses a brilliant, yet delicate palette and sensuous line to marry the color of Romanticism and the clarity of Neo-Classicism. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Le Grande

Odalisque, 1814. Oil on canvas, 36” x 64”. Louvre, Paris.

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/grand-odalisque.html



Spiritual

NeoClassicism