“The most important aspects of classical art,” observed German historian and archaeologist Johann J. Winckelmann, “is its noble simplicity and calm grandeur.” As an archaeologist, Winckelmann became inspired by the ancient artifacts being recovered at the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. In the late 1700s, the popular stylization in European art was baroque and rococo styles. To critics, these styles were vain and overly ostentatious to be truly considered art. Rococo art, for example, symbolized European aristocracy with its attention on great scale and themes of worldly pleasures. Likewise, baroque art became an institutionalized art because it often portrayed the grandeur and power of the Catholic Church, which supported the style. The new age of painters became disenchanted with this status quo. Occurring concurrent with societal and political shifts in Europe, neoclassical style was born.
Neoclassicism was a unique combination between the old and the new. Neoclassicism spread into various forms of visual art – from painting to sculpture to architecture. What they all had in common was that they sought inspiration from the Rome and Greek civilizations of centuries past, while not merely copying the style listlessly. Why were thinkers such as Winckelmann gravitating towards Roman and Greek societies? As stated, it was partly a backlash of what they believed to be popular art that was not even art. The baroque and rococo styles had hazy-color and complicated shapes, but it lacked timeless canon and universal appeal. The depictions in these styles were ephemeral and conceited, much unlike the styles represented in Greek and Roman art. Once Greek and Roman architecture were uncovered, their resonance with European society signified how its permanence, universality, and archetypical significance needed to be adopted into contemporary art. For neoclassicists, less was more. Thematic bend of paintings began to trump its style.
Neoclassical artists became active in the 1750s onwards, exemplified by works such as Joseph Marie Vien’s 1967 Psyche looking at sleeping Cupid or Anton Raphael Mengs The Ascension of Christ. Though imagery in neoclassical works often alluded to Roman and Greek mythology, neoclassicism was used in Church and Palace ceilings which owe more to the baroque style than anything Greek.
Simultaneously, a profound cultural shift was occurring in the 1780s with the French Revolution. With its battle cry of Liberté, égalité, and fraternité, neoclassicists began to see parallels between their desired direction for art and the political ideals coming to fruition. The new leaders of France sought to restore purity into its society in much the same way painters sought to restore moral principles of classical Rome and Greek into art.
It was during the Revolution – an attempt to remold society – that the neoclassical movement enjoyed its greatest success. Works by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres and Jacques-Louis David became inextricably intertwined with the movement to the point that critics jokingly characterize them as being ‘Propaganda Ministers’ for the Revolution. David’s 1784 Oath of the Horatii reflects a decorum and narrative set in classical Rome society. Depicting three brothers moments before heading into battle, the painting conveys a message of unity, brotherhood, sacrifice, and masculinity – all cornerstones of the French Revolution and, more importantly, values of classical Roman societies. Neoclassicism relied on attention to detail, characters of classical history and mythology, and ideal themes in an attempt to represent ancient civilizations.