Neoclassicism: characteristics, origin, context, most representative authors and artists

Neoclassicism was an artistic and literary movement that emerged in the mid-18th century and spanned the 19th century. It was based on the renewal of the philosophical and aesthetic values ​​of Classical Antiquity and the cult of reason, interpreted as models for the construction of modernity.

The neoclassic movement originated in France, where it was simply called classicism. From there it spread to the rest of Europe and America, hand in hand with the expansion of the Enlightenment or Enlightenment, the philosophical key to the neoclassical movement in all its manifestations.

Context and origin of neoclassicism

Three historical processes were key in the neoclassical movement:

1. The appearance of the Illustration or the Enlightenment, a philosophical movement that defended reason, knowledge and secularization as the purpose and means to repeal dogmatism and promote progress. In this movement was inserted The encyclopedia, by Diderot and D`Alembert, first published between 1751 and 1772.
instagram story viewer
2. The discovery of the ruins of Herculaneum (1738) and Pompeii (1748), which again aroused interest in studying Greco-Latin culture.
3. Finally, the so-called “double revolution”, that is, the industrial Revolution which was modifying the modes of production and social organization, and the French Revolution, which proclaimed equality, liberty and fraternity.

Towards the end of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century, Baroque art dominated Europe. In France, particularly, the rococo dominated at court. Inspired by the values ​​of the Enlightenment, detractors of such styles soon emerged, considering them excessive, confused and overloaded, and linked them to religious fanaticism and aristocratic corruption respectively.

In this context, neoclassicism was born, a confessional artistic movement, that is, with a program his own, which reacted against the previous artistic tradition, proclaiming an aesthetic and philosophical. What did this intended change consist of?

General characteristics of neoclassicism

Although neoclassical art apparently conveys a certain coldness, in reality it was intended to be a truly revolutionary art in its intent — at least in its early stage. Artists genuinely wanted to participate in the birth of a culture based on reason, morals, and progress. For this reason, they decided to follow a series of characteristics and values. Let's see.

Didactic and moralizing character

The purpose and end of neoclassicism was the education and moralization of society with a view to building the modern project. Artists and writers believed that through their works they helped spread the values ​​necessary to build a rational, moral, cultured and progressive society that would overcome ignorance, which they saw as the mother of intolerance and dogmatism.

Values

Among the artists there was a conviction to create an aesthetic that gave it a new meaning to the passage of the tradition to modernity, under a scale of values ​​that were considered rational and, to that extent, universal. Among them were:

• freedom,
• the idea of ​​homeland,
• heroism and
• the spirit of sacrifice, rigor and self-control.

Inspiration in the art of Classical Antiquity

Neoclassicism takes up the inquiry and investigation of Classical Antiquity and gives it a new meaning: it interprets it as a “cultured” expression and an ethical model of a universal and rational nature.

Inspiration in Classical Antiquity had already been seen in the Renaissance, but while the Renaissance flocked to it as a method to know nature, the neoclassicals interpreted it as a moral reference on which to found the "project modern". It was, then, a moral idealization of the Greco-Latin past.

Balance, proportion and symmetry

With Classical Antiquity as a model, interest in balance, proportion and symmetry, values ​​typical of Greek art of the classical period, resurfaced. In this way, neoclassical artists rejected the effect, the spectacularity and the decorative excess of Baroque and Rococo art.

Balance, proportion and symmetry were understood as a formal metaphor of moral character, that is, they tried to symbolize, through form, the code of values ​​of modern civilization. This canon was applied in the plastic arts, music, architecture and literature.

Cult of reason

Neoclassical artists and writers saw Reason as a guarantor goddess of civilizing order. Rationalism in aesthetic composition, that is, organized and methodical representation, as well as themes that highlighted temperance, virtue and self-control, were a way of exercising and spreading the cult of reason.

Universality

Paradoxically, the emerging nationalism of those years aspired to universality, which was expressed in the inclusion of all civilizations in one rationalist narrative or, at least, in the formation of a secular and republican national state with a universal vocation, which would equally welcome all citizens.

Topics

The themes of neoclassicism are linked to the political commitment of its artists, although many times they were instrumentalized by governments, which led to the standardization of content and the loss of its effectiveness revolutionary.

Neoclassical art dealt especially with themes such as Greco-Latin history (moral models), history of republicanism and the French revolution and Roman mythology (as an allegory of the virtue).

The genres of the individual and collective portrait also continued to exist. Along with this, some other issues of less interest persisted in the movement's scale of values. For example, religious painting of Christian inspiration.

You may also like: Baroque: characteristics, representatives and works.

Characteristics of neoclassicism by discipline

The question would be, however, how was all this expressed in each of the artistic disciplines? Let's see below what were the solutions that neoclassical artists and writers found in painting, sculpture, architecture, music and literature.

Paint characteristics

• Predominance of drawing over color.
• Use of clear and cold light.
• Clear and well defined contours.
• Well finished and uniform surfaces that do not allow to distinguish the brushstrokes.
• Elimination of secondary scenes.
• For the background, the use of Greco-Roman architecture or even the use of semi-darkness over the landscape predominated.
• Suppression of the decorative and the superfluous.
• Preference for orthogonal composition.
• Anatomy strictly follows the ideal of the classical canon of antiquity.
• Gesture of the characters contained: there are no signs of pain or emotions.
• The objects in the scene are usually references to archaeological finds.
• Predominance of historical painting (Greco-Roman history, French Revolution and Republican history), followed by allegorical Greco-Roman mythology. Little interest in religion.
• Regarding the technique, the majority use of oil painting (fresco was also used).

Some of the most important representatives of neoclassical painting were the following:

• Jacques-Louis David: Paris, 1748 - Brussels, 1825. Reference works: The Oath of the Horatii, The Death of Marat, The Death of Socrates,Napoleon crossing the Alps, Madame Récamier.
• Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres: Montauban, Tarn-et-Garonne, 1780 - Paris, 1867. Reference works: Napoleon on his imperial throne, Oedipus and the sphinx, The Valpinçon Bather, The Great Odalisque.
• Rafael Mengs: Aussig, Bohemia, 1728 - Rome, 1779. Reference works: Parnassus, Penitent Magdalene, Triumph of history over time.
• Francisco Bayeu: Zaragoza, 1734 - Madrid, 1795. Reference works: The walk of delights, The happy union of Spain and Parma promotes science and the arts.
• Angelica Kauffmann: Chur, 1741 - Rome, 1807. Reference works: Abandoned Ariadne, Telemachus and the Nymphs of Calypso, Allegory of Poetry and Painting.
• Mariano Salvador Maella: Valencia, 1739 - Madrid, 1819. Reference works: The battle of Aljubarrota, Shipment.
• Francisco de Goya (painter of transition to romanticism): Zaragoza, 1746 - Bordeaux, 1828. Reference works: The family of Carlos IV, Sun visor.

Characteristics of the sculpture

• Abandonment of polychrome.
• Preference for marble, copper and alabaster.
• Exaltation of ideal beauty.
• Formal balance.
• Subtlety in the representation of emotional expression.
• Infrequent dynamic scenes.
• General appearance of icy purity.

Some of the most important representatives of neoclassical sculpture were the following:

• Antonio Canova: Possagno, 1757 - Venice, 1822. Reference works: The three graces, Venus Victrix, Eros and Psyche.
• Lorenzo Bartolini: Savignano di Prato, 1777 - Florence, 1850. Reference works: Carità educatrice.
• François Rude: Dijon, 1784 - Paris, 1855. Reference works: Hébé et l'Aigle de Jupiter, Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 (La Marseillaise).
• Jean Antoine Houdon: Versailles, 1741 - Paris, 1828. Reference works: George Washington, Diana the Huntress, Napoleon Bonaparte.

Architecture characteristics

The neoclassical style was the preferred model for official civil architecture during the 18th century and part of the 19th century, although it is true that it was also expressed in religious buildings. He lived with related trends such as:

• the palladianism, English movement of Renaissance inspiration;
• the neogreek, English and North American movement inspired by Greece (it was preferred in the USA). as a benchmark for democracy);
• the 'Beaux Arts' architectural style de France or French academicism, which had a certain orientation to eclecticism.

Neoclassical architecture had a series of specific characteristics, among which we can mention the following:

• Based on the symbolic assessment of geometric shapes and lines.
• Rejection of the blending of the plants and volumes.
• Interior volumes expressed outside.
• Respect purity of plans and volumes.
• It does not interrupt lines or smooth outlines.

Some of the most important representatives of neoclassical architecture were the following:

• Ange-Jacques Gabriel: Paris, 1698 - 1782. Reference works: Place de la Concorde; Little Trianon in Versailles and Royal Opera House of Versailles.
• Jacques-Germain Soufflot: Irancy, 1713 - Paris, 1780. Reference works: Pantheon in Paris (formerly the church of Saint Genevieve).
• Étienne-Louis Boullée: Paris, 1728 - 1799. Reference works: Hôtel Alexandre (Hôtel Soult), Interiors of the Elysee Palace, Cenotaph at Newton.
• Jean-François-Thérèse Chalgrin: Paris, 1739 - 1811. Reference works: Arc de Triomphe in Paris, Hotel Saint-Florentin.
• William Thornton: British Virgin Islands 1759 -Washington, 1828. Reference work: US Capitol

Characteristics of neoclassical literature

• Conflict between honor, duty and passions.
• Sources of inspiration: Classical Antiquity.
• Concern for formal elegance.
• Prevalence of critical genres over didactic ones.

Some of the most important authors of neoclassical literature were the following:

• Jean de la Fontaine: Château-Thierry, Aisne, 1621 - Paris, 1695. Reference work: The fables.
• Daniel Defoe: London, between 1659 and 1661 approx. - 1731. Reference work: Robinson crusoe.
• Jonathan Swift: Dublin, 1667-1745. Reference work: Gulliver's Travels.
• Alexander Pope: London, 1688-1744. Reference work: Essay on man, philosophical poem.
• José Cadalso y Vázquez de Andrade (Dalmiro): Cádiz, 1741 - San Roque, 1782. Reference works: Leisure of my youth, Solaya or the Circassians Y Don Sancho Garcia.

It may interest you: Literary trends

Classical music characteristics

Unlike the plastic arts and literature, the music of the Enlightenment was not called neoclassical but simply music classical, since the absence of musical records from classical antiquity rendered any purpose of historical revisionism ineffective.

Musical classicism arises as a reaction to the contrapuntal, extravagant and confusing style of music Baroque, and is thus linked to the new ideological spirit of the moment that sought measure, balance, proportion and symmetry. Its characteristics were the following:

• Protagonism of the melodic line on the harmony.
• Consonant harmony.
• Regular and constant rhythms.
• Bright and clear style.
• Birth of the sonata and symphony forms.

Some of the most important representatives of classical music were the following:

• Christoph Willibald Gluck: Erasbach, 1714 - Vienna, 1787. Reference works: The clemency of Titus, Orpheus and Eurydice.
• Joseph Haydn: Rohrau; 1732 - Vienna, 1809. Reference works: Opera Lo speziale, L'anima del philosopher, Creation, Symphony No. 45.
• Antonio Salieri: Legnago, 1750 - Vienna, 1825. Reference works: Falstaff ossia Le tre mockery Y Armida.
• Wolfang Amadeus Mozart: Salzburg, 1756 - Vienna, 1791. Reference works: The magic Flute, Don giovanni, Symphony No. 40.
• Ludwig van Beethoven (transition to romanticism): Cologne, 1770 - Vienna, 1827. Reference works: Piano Trifle in A minor: Für Elise ("For Elisa"), Heroic Symphony, Ninth Symphony.

It may interest you: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony Y Mozart: the most emblematic works of the genius of classicism.