Classicism
Classicism is the long tradition of art that takes ancient Greece and Rome as its model. Reborn in the Renaissance, it became the language of the academies and reached its most self-conscious form in seventeenth-century France under Poussin and in Neoclassicism, which arose in the mid-eighteenth century as excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum and the writings of Winckelmann refashioned taste. Classicist works favor idealized form, clear contour and line over painterly display, balanced and legible composition, noble subject matter drawn from history and myth, and restraint of color and feeling. Its critics have called it cold; its defenders, from Raphael to David to Canova, saw in it the discipline that makes beauty durable. Classicism has returned whenever artists sought order against excess.
Defining characteristics
- Idealized form drawn from Greek and Roman sculpture
- Clear contour and line favored over loose painterly brushwork
- Balanced, legible compositions ordered by geometry and perspective
- Noble subject matter from history, myth and scripture
- Restraint of color, gesture and emotion; finish over spontaneity
Key figures
- Raphael (1483-1520) — Renaissance master of balanced, ideal composition
- Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) — Painter who made classical reason the model for French art
- Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-1779) — Painter and theorist of eighteenth-century classicism
- Antonio Canova (1757-1822) — Sculptor of polished, idealized marble figures
- Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) — Neoclassical painter of severe moral drama
Example works
- Oath of the Horatii — Jacques-Louis David (1784)
- Et in Arcadia ego — Nicolas Poussin (c. 1637-1638)
- Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss — Antonio Canova (1787-1793)
Sources
- Classicism - Wikipedia encyclopedia