Classicism and Neoclassicism summary

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Neoclassical art.

Classicism and Neoclassicism, Art-historical tradition or aesthetic attitudes based on the art of ancient Greece and Rome. “Classicism” refers to the art produced in antiquity or to later art inspired by that of antiquity; “Neoclassicism” refers to art inspired by that of antiquity and thus is contained within the broader meaning of “Classicism.” Classicism is traditionally characterized by harmony, clarity, restraint, universality, and idealism. In the visual arts, Classicism has generally denoted a preference for line over colour, straight lines over curves, and the general over the particular. The Italian Renaissance was the first period of thorough Classicism after antiquity. Neoclassicism became the dominant aesthetic movement in Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as practiced by Antonio Canova and Jacques-Louis David. It bred a reaction in favour of subjective feeling, longing for the sublime, and a taste for the bizarre that came to be termed Romanticism. Recurring alternations between Classical and non-Classical ideals have often characterized Western aesthetics. See also Classical architecture.

Chippendale, Thomas: drawing of a combined desk and bookcase

Thomas Chippendale Summary

Thomas Chippendale was one of the leading cabinetmakers of 18th-century England and one of the most perplexing figures in the history of furniture. His name is synonymous with the Anglicized Rococo style. Nothing is known of Chippendale’s early life until his marriage to Catherine Redshaw in London

Josiah Wedgwood Summary

Josiah Wedgwood was an English pottery designer and manufacturer, outstanding in his scientific approach to pottery making and known for his exhaustive researches into materials, logical deployment of labour, and sense of business organization. The youngest child of the potter Thomas Wedgwood,

Three Graces, marble sculpture by Antonio Canova, 1812–16.

Antonio Canova, marchese d’Ischia Summary

Antonio Canova, marchese d’Ischia was an Italian sculptor, one of the greatest exponents of Neoclassicism. Among his works are the tombs of popes Clement XIV (1783–87) and Clement XIII (1787–92) and statues of Napoleon and of his sister Princess Borghese reclining as Venus Victrix. He was created a

Jean-Honoré Fragonard Summary

Jean-Honoré Fragonard was a French Rococo painter whose most familiar works, such as The Swing (1767), are characterized by delicate hedonism. Fragonard was the son of a haberdasher’s assistant. The family moved to Paris about 1738, and in 1747 the boy was apprenticed to a lawyer, who, noticing his