neo-classicism

neo-classicism Movement in late 18th- and early 19th-century European art and architecture. Neo-classicism grew out of the Age of Enlightenment, whose exponents admired the order and clarity of ancient Greek and Roman art. The archaeological discoveries at Herculaneum and Pompeii, Italy, in the 1740s helped to stimulate interest in these ancient civilizations. Many of the movement's pioneers congregated in Rome, notably Johann Winckelmann, Canova, John Flaxman, Gavin Hamilton, and Bertel Thorvaldsen. The most powerful neo-classical painter was Jacques Louis David, whose work expressed great severity and grandeur. The concurrent Greek Revival involved, in architecture, imitating the simplicity of ancient Greek buildings.