Art and Architecture of the Enlightenment: Neoclassicism PT.2

Angelica Kauffmann – Cornelia Pointing to Her Treasures

This painting illustrates a moral anecdote from Roman history. Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, presents her children as her true “treasures,” rejecting material wealth.

• Classical subject from Roman history

• Clear composition and calm gestures

• Simplicity over luxury → core Neoclassical ideal

Palladism

Palladianism (also called Neo-Palladianism) is an architectural style based on the ideas and buildings of Andrea Palladio

• Architecture should be rational, harmonious, and morally uplifting, following the rules of classical antiquity (Ancient Greece and Rome).

• Italy → Villas and churches (Palladio himself)

• Great Britain → Country houses (e.g. Chiswick House)

Palladianism in Architecture

Italy: Antonio Canova – Temple at Possagno

• Designed by Canova as both a Catholic church and personal mausoleum, inspired by the Pantheon and Greek temples.

Great Britain: Palladian Tradition

• British Neoclassicism favored domestic architecture, adapting Palladio’s ideas for aristocratic country houses.

• Symmetry and proportion

• Classical orders

• Architecture: Richard Boyle & William Kent – Chiswick House

  • A manifesto of British Palladianism, directly inspired by Palladio’s Villa Rotunda.

• Interiors: Gresham & Robert Adam – Osterley House

  • Robert Adam transformed the interiors using a refined Neoclassical decorative language. Elegant plasterwork and classical motifs, Light color palette, roman oriented ornaments.

The Picturesque & Classical Landscapes

Henry Flitcroft – Palladian Bridge, Pantheon & Temples (Stourhead)

• Classical structures placed within landscaped gardens to evoke ancient ruins and idealized nature.

• Inspired by Roman temples

• Landscape as a painted composition

• Emotional contemplation of antiquity

José de la Ballina – Temple of Bacchus

• A garden folly inspired by Roman temples, built for leisure and classical fantasy.

• Decorative, not functional

• Mythological reference (Bacchus)

• Antiquity as pleasure and imagination

Greek Revival Architecture - Europe and America

Karl Friedrich Schinkel – Altes Museum (Berlin)

• A public museum inspired by Greek stoas, symbolizing education and civic culture.

• Greek Doric influence

• Enlightenment ideals of knowledge

William Strickland – Tennessee State Capitol

• Greek Revival adopted in the United States as a symbol of democracy.

• Greek temple form

• Political symbolism

• Association with ancient democracy

Architecture of John Soane (British Architecture)

Bank of England

• Soane designed the bank as a walled, inward-looking complex, emphasizing security and light.

  • Complex spatial planning

  • Use of skylights and lanterns (a small structure with mirrors all around the base)

  • Abstracted classical forms

  • Innovation within Neoclassicism

Joseph Gandy – Imagined Ruins

• Gandy visualized Soane’s buildings as future ruins, inspired by Giovanni Battista Piranesi.

  • Melancholy and time

  • Reflection on history and decay

Soane’s Home & Museum (Lincoln’s Inn Fields)

• Soane’s house functioned as a living museum, merging architecture, light, ruins, and collections.

  • Experimental spatial sequences

  • Use of mirrors and skylights

  • Display of antiquities and casts

  • Neoclassicism + imagination