Architecture of the Enlightenment: Neoclassicism

Introduction to the Enlightenment

An 18th-century intellectual movement centered on reason, science, education, and progress, opposing superstition, absolute monarchy, and unquestioned religious authority.

• Emphasis on individual rights and civic responsibility

Joseph Wright of Derby: A Lecture at the Orrery & An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump

Paintings that visualize Enlightenment ideals through scientific demonstrations, replacing divine light with human knowledge.

• Dramatic chiaroscuro centered on artificial light

• Science as modern “religion”

• Emotional responses to knowledge (wonder, fear, curiosity)

• Ordinary people engaged in learning

Thinkers of the Enlightenment

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Views:

• Advocated for equality

• Valued emotion, nature, and moral sincerity

Denis Diderot

Views:

• Art should educate and improve society

Political Revolutions: France & America

Art documenting revolutionary events, turning history into visual evidence of political change. Ex. Jean-Pierre Houël / Lallemand – The Storming of the Bastille

Characteristics:

• Focus on collective action

• Collapse of absolutist symbols

• Emphasis on civic struggle

• Art as historical documentation

Roots of Neoclassicism

Johann Joachim Winckelmann

• Founder of modern art history; promoted Ancient Greece as the ideal model for art.

Views:

• The only way for us to become great, or even inimitable if possible, is to imitate the Greeks.

• Colour should have a minor part in the consideration of beauty, because it is not colour but the structure that constitutes its essence.

Neoclassical Painting Style

Anton Raphael Mengs – Parnassus

A manifesto of Neoclassicism.

• Balanced, symmetrical composition

• Idealized classical figures

• Calm, restrained emotion

• Clear outlines and structure

• Intellectual over sensual appeal

Pompeii & Herculaneum

Archaeological discoveries that provided direct access to ancient Roman life, deeply influencing Neoclassical art.

The Grand Tour

Pompeo Batoni – Grand Tour Portraits

Description:
Travel experience for elite Europeans; Italy as cultural classroom.

Key Characteristics:

• Classical ruins as backdrops symbolizing history and time

• Education through travel

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Artist-archaeologist who documented and reimagined ancient Rome with dramatic intensity.

• Monumental ruins

• Dramatic scale and perspective

• Blend of archaeology and imagination

The Sublime

A concept first introduced by the philosopher Edmund Burke in the eighteenth century to describe art that is truly extraordinary, invoking a powerful mix of awe, wonder and terror

• Awe, terror, vastness

• Emotional intensity

• Influences ruins, landscapes, and architecture

Neoclassical Sculpture

• Jean-Antoine Houdon – Voltaire / Voltaire Seated

  • Intellectual realism

  • Enlightenment hero as philosopher

  • Calm dignity and realism

• Thomas Banks – The Death of Germanicus

  • Classical heroism

  • Controlled emotion

• Antonio Canova, Cupid and Psycho, Paolina Borghese as Venus Victorious

  • Idealized beauty

  • Classical mythology

Neoclassical Painting

Angelica Kauffman – Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi

• Moral motherhood

• Simplicity over luxury

Johan Zoffany – The Academicians of the Royal Academy

• Art institutions

• Enlightenment professionalism

• Group portrait as intellectual identity

Joshua Reynolds – Lady Sarah Bunbury

• Idealized portraiture

• Classical elegance

• Moral refinement

Jacques-Louis David

• Madame Récamier

• The Oath of the Horatii

• The Death of Marat

Key Characteristics:

• Moral seriousness

• Political engagement

• Clear composition and sharp outlines

• Classical sacrifice and civic duty