Neoclassicism

Oath of the Horatii, Jacques-Louis David (1784)

George Washington, Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1788

Poussinistes

Followers of Poussin

Enlightenment

Revolution in the scientific world that spurred an age of emphasis on logic, reason, and science. People moved away from tradition and religion Philosophers like Voltaire and Rousseau were major figures who spread democratic ideals and the ideas of a government willed by the people and the government as a social contract.

Industrial Revolution

Important contextual piece where factories and machination grew, leading to growing urban centers and poor living/working conditions

Napoleon Bonaparte

French leader who appeared to have democratic ideals, but was disappointing. He set about conquering areas of Europe.

Escapism

Spurred by increasing confusion due to the introduction of science and reasoning rather than religion, poor conditions imposed by the Industrial Revolution, and political turmoil aided by Enlightenment ideas (secession in Spain, beheading in England, assassination and revolution in France) people began to wish to escape to another time and place—in this case, the Classical Past.

Herculaneum and Pompeii

Volcanoes being excavated at the time, which renewed fascination with classical antiquity.

Ecole des Beaux Arts

official art academy in France that set the standard for art and encouraged and enforced a return to classicism

Salon

exhibition space associated with the Ecole des Arts that allowed entry to show work if you were adherent to classical standards

Grand Tour

trip popularly made by students upon graduation, where they went to the classical places they had spent years learning about and viewed the art, culture, etc., and then brought bits of it home

Voltaire

philosophe of the Enlightenment who spread ideas about the government as a social contract and willed by the people

Winckelmann

author who influenced the return to classicism by defining classical art as the peak and model of art