Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is an especially pure, austere form of classicism that arose in European art from about 1750 and prevailed into the early nineteenth century. The movement emerged as a reaction against the playful splendour of Rococo and was inspired by the new archaeological discoveries of the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well as by the ideas of Enlightenment rationalism and the theoretical writings of Johann Joachim Winckelmann, who proclaimed as an ideal the 'noble simplicity and quiet grandeur' of Greek art. Neoclassicism turned to the strict line, clear composition, balance, restrained colour and heroic or moralising subjects drawn from ancient history and mythology. In painting its most eminent exponent was Jacques-Louis David, whose canvases combined classical form with the civic pathos of the French Revolution; he was followed by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. In sculpture the leading masters were Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen. Neoclassicism shaped the appearance of government buildings, museums and monuments across Europe and America, and its influence is felt in Ukrainian art and architecture of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.