Today we started our discussion of Neoclassicism. We didn’t confine our discussion to any particular region, instead, we tracked the ideological and cultural development of Neoclassical ideals across Europe, bouncing from Rome to England and France.
We spent a lot of time talking about architecture today, which makes sense given that Grecoroman designs first made their way into the artistic dialogue of the Brits through their Grand Tours of Italy where they were exposed to humongous Roman monuments. This artistic development, of course, blossomed alongside and was greatly informed by Enlightenment ideals of empiricism, rationality, and divine symmetries. I wonder, to what extent, the Industrial Revolution also played a role in the development of Neoclassicism, particularly in Britain.
Across Europe, particularly through institutions like the Royal Academies of France and Britain, history painting became a means to materialize and tastefully represent the moral and ethical beliefs of antiquity. Ideas like bravery, sacrifice, and devotion permeated both contemporary histories (a la The Death of General Wolfe) and traditional histories (David’s The Oath of the Horatii) in a very austere and almost tangible manner.