Neo-Classicism

Neo-Classicism. Dominant styles in European and American art and architecture in the late C18 and early C19, essentially a return to the Classicism of Antiquity as the Italian Renaissance began to be perceived as offering architectural paradigms that were untrue to the Antique. Taste was also turning away from Baroque and Rococo, and moving towards a greater appreciation of the importance of archaeology and scholarship to arrive at an architecture that was more true to the spirit of Antiquity. Bodies such as the Society of Dilettanti of London began to sponsor scholarly and accurate publications dealing with architecture and antiquities, of which The Antiquities of Athens (from 1762) was one of the most important, and a major catalyst of that branch of Neo-Classicism we call the Greek Revival. Comprehensive excavations led to a huge number of publications dealing not only with Rome and Athens, but with the important Roman sites at Herculaneum and Pompeii, leading to the so-called Etruscan style, and contributing in no small measure to the Adam and Empire styles. Appreciation of the architecture of ancient and modern Rome was enhanced by Piranesi's engraved views published in Antichità Romane (1748), Della Magnificenza ed Architettura de'Romani (1761), and other works, and also promoted a taste for the Sublime because Piranesi made his subjects more impressive than they really were by greatly exaggerating their size. The primitive and the severe began to be explored, especially the baseless Doric Order of Ancient Greek architecture, which looked strange to eyes accustomed to the refinements of Palladianism. Promoted by Winckelmann, Greek art began to be taken seriously, first in studies of the temples at Paestum and Sicily, and then in Greece itself under the aegis of the Dilettanti by Stuart, Revett, and others, leading to the Doric Revival and the use of bold primitive forms in architectural composition. Theorists such as Cordemoy, Laugier, and Lodoli argued for a return to simplicity, rational design free from clutter and unnecessary ornament, and the use of the Orders for structural rather than decorative reasons. Furthermore, geometry was to be used for expressive purposes, enabling volumes, parts of buildings, and elements to be clearly seen and understood. Charles-Nicolas Cochin (1715–90) and and Jérome-Charles Bellicard (1726–86) brought out their Observations sur les antiquités de la ville d'Herculaneum (1753, 1754, 1756, 1757, 1758) which was influential in promoting Neo-Classical taste, while writers such as Le Roy and Peyre moved French architecture towards Ancient Greece for its inspiration and away from Rome. Robert Adam and Clérisseau published Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro (1768), drawing further attention to late-Roman Antique remains. While certain aspects of Neo-Classicism involved scholarly reproductions of Antique buildings and elements, as in the Greek Revival works by Stuart, Smirke, and Wilkins, the movement as a whole was not confined to copying (though accurate quotation was an integral part of it), but favoured clarity, stereometrical purity of form, and a lack of superfluous ornament or fussiness to evoke the Antique. This tendency can best be seen in the works of architects such as Boullée, Durand, Ehrensvärd, Gilly, Latrobe, Ledoux, Millar, Monck, and Soane. The publication of accurate surveys of Ancient Egyptian buildings from 1802 by Denon and the Commission des Monuments d'Égypte from 1809 brought further elements into the vocabulary of architects seeking stark, tough, forms (see egyptian revival). Neo-Classicism reached peaks of refinement in the hands of Empire designers such as Percier and Fontaine, and in architecture in the hands of von Klenze and Schinkel: it also enjoyed a C20 revival as a reaction to Neo-Baroque and Art Nouveau styles, often in very stripped, simplified form, notably in Scandinavia, Germany, and the USA (e.g. work by Asplund, Behrens, Burnham, Tony Garnier, Kampmann, Lewerentz, Loos, McKim, Mead, & White, Muzio, Perret, Petersen, Piacentini, Plečnik, Speer, Tessenow, and many others).

Bibliography

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