FRENCH NEOCLASSIC

Neoclassic

Under the reign of Louis XVI, a revived interest in the classic forms of Greece and Rome as this period coincided with the discovery of the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. This was illustrated by the use of graceful lines rather than the straight lines, perfect proportions and restrained ornamentation, and the use of classical motifs particularly architectural details.

Classicism

refers either to the art produced in antiquity or to later art inspired by that of antiquity

Neoclassicism

always refer to the art produced later but inspired by antiquity.

Classical Revival

Art and architecture in the style of Ancient Greece and rome, as that of Italian renaissance and the classical movements in England and in the united states in the late 18th and early 19th century.

FRENCH REVOLUTION

a watershed event in modern European history that began in 1789 and ended in the late 1790s with the ascent of Napoleon Bonaparte. During this period, French citizens razed and redesigned their country's political landscape, uprooting centuries-old institutions such as absolute monarchy and the feudal system.

Napoléon Bonaparte

French general, first consul (1799-1804), and emperor of the French (1804-1814/15), one of the most celebrated personages in the history of the West

-The discoveries of Pompeii and Herculaneum

-Antiquities of Athens

-the arrival of the Eglin Marbles

What influenced NEOCLASSICAL ART

Heraculaneum

an ancient roman town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows in 79 a.d., located in the territory of the current commune of ercolano, in the italian region of campania in the shadow of mount vesuvius.

James Stuart and Nicholas Revett

English archaeologists who published the Antiquities of Athens (1762)

Elgin Marbles

Sculptures from the pediments and metopes and interior architraves of the Parthenon

Jacques-Louis David

an influential French painter in the Neoclassical style. considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in taste away from Rococo frivolity toward a classical austerity and severity, heightened feeling chiming with the moral climate of the final years of the Ancien Régime.

-Mdme. Recamier

Oath of the Horatii

the painting immediately became a huge success with critics and the public, and remains the best known painting of neoclassicism

THE DEATH OF MARAT

a painting of the murdered french revolutionary leader jean-paul marat. it is one of the most famous images of the revolution. the painting shows the radical journalist lying dead in his bath on 13 july 1793 after his murder by charlotte corday. painted in the months after marat's murder, it has been described by t. j. clark as the first modernist painting, for "the way it took the stuff of politics as its material, and did not transmute it".

Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres

One of David's most successful pupils, and the inheritor of his role as leading interpreter of the classical tradition.

he considered himself to be a painter of history in the tradition of Nicolas Poussin and Jacques-Louis David

Grande Odalisque by Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres

considered a neoclassical painting even though the subject matter is a turkish odalisque, is not typical of neoclassicism.

The turkish Bath

summation of the theme of female voluptuousness attractive to Ingres throughout his life, rendered in the circular format of earlier masters

Nicolass Poussin

French painter and draftsman who founded the French Classical tradition. He spent virtually all of his working life in Rome, where he specialized in history paintings—depicting scenes from the Bible, ancient history, and mythology—that are notable for their narrative clarity and dramatic force.

Greatest neoclassic painter of the French classicist who Sought the ideals of form and with figures of light with color and mood.

A Dance to the Music of Time

a painting by Nicolas Poussin in the Wallace Collection in London. It was painted between about 1634 and 1636 as a commission for Giulio Rospigliosi (later Pope Clement IX), who according to Gian Pietro Bellori dictated its detailed iconography

Antonio Canova

the dominant figure in the history of neoclassical sculpture. He sought to capture the severity and ideal purity of ancient art.

La Madeleine, Paris

English Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Paris church designed by Pierre -Alexandre Vignon in 1806. Together with the Arc de Triomphe (1806 -08) and the Vendôme Column.

one of the monuments with which Napoleon sought to turn Paris into an imperial capital. Built in the form of a Roman temple surrounded by a Corinthian colonnade.

reflects the taste for Classical art and architecture that predominated in France during the Empire phase of the Neoclassical movement.

Church of Les Invalides

Remodeled by Louis Le Vau - Patterned after the Greek cross plan with famous dome derived from st. Peter's - a home and hospital for the aged and unwell soldiers; on the north front of the building, Hardouin -Mansart's chapel dome is large enough to dominate the long façade, yet harmonizes with bruant's door under an arched pediment.

Style Etrusque

Under the reign of Louis XVI, there was a revived interest in classicism with the excavation of the ruins of Herculaneum in 1738. This was also known as?

George Jacob

Founded the dynasty of cabinet makers during the French Neoclassic Period.

Henri Riesener

A Parisian cabinet maker and student of Oeben, designed many pieces for Marie Antoinette

Ovals, ellipses and circles

curves used in interiors and furniture during the French Neoclassic Period.

boiseries

Slim panels on the walls; carved woodwork with picked out in gilt were popular

- straight or tapered

-crowned by a square block ( rosette)

-vertical or spiral fluting

-Classic Greek and Roman Columns

Characteristics of furniture legs during the French Neoclassic Period.

tapestries

textile wall hangings that were woven, painted, or embroidered with colorful scenes

brocades

a rich silk fabric with raised patterns in gold and silver

silk

a valuable cloth, originally made only in China from threads spun by caterpillars called silkworms

damask

a fabric of linen or cotton or silk or wool with a reversible pattern woven into it

Brocatelle

A tightly woven Jacquard fabric with a warp effect in the figure, which is raised to give a puffed appearance.

-Stripes

-plain

-pictorial

-floral

French Neoclassic upholstery Patterns

-mahogany

-walnut

-satinwood

-sycamore

wood commonly used during the French Neoclassic Period

Mahogany

popular wood during the French Neoclassic Period.

-natural

-bleached

-soft gray

-ivory

-white

-enamel

French Neoclassic Wood finishes

Verre Eglomise

Technique involving painting on the reverse side of glass, then applying gold and silver as backing

manchettes

padded armrest

Fauteuil

Chair with a square / medallion back that did not extend to the rail seat; often slightly concave.

Louis XVI bergere

with scrolled top rail (chair back) and having tapered and grooved square legs; bergere having upholstered sides and retaining its original painted and gilt finish

Chauffeuse

Low armless chair that enable people to get closer to the fireplace. A.k.a Nanny's chair

Voyeuse

Straddle chair in which the sitter faced the chair back and rested his arms on the upholstered top rail.

Lyre back chair

Open backed chair used in dining rooms, had a caned or leather seat with lyre back

CANAPE

Usually had 8 round tapering legs and the back usually rectangular or curved, often did not extend to the seat rail

Settee

A formally styled settee/ smaller than canape

Chaise Lounge

A one piece version, a version made into 2 piece of equal length which looked like 2 small chaise lounge a version which was made of two unequal pieces, containing a bergere and a bench seat and a version which was 2 bergere with a stool in the middle

Tables

tapered, fluted legs sometimes connected with rising, crossed stretchers

Secretaire a abattant

Tall French writing desk, the top part of which resembles an armoire, having a door at its base. The top is often flap-fronted to provide a larger writing surface when open.

tricoteuse

sewing table

Secretaire a la tronchin

a writing desk provided with a mechanical device to raise the raising table

Bouillote

Table used for various card games

Trictrac table

A backgammon table with a removable top that had one side covered with leather and the other covered with bause (loosely woven with soft filling yarns); inside was the backgammon board and space for candles , dice and counters

Chiffonier

A five to six drawer commode had a brass gallery. The cabinet which was intended to house collections of precious objects was an item of furniture used only by the very wealthy.

Console table

A table usually supported by two legs, with a stretcher between the legs, . It was either rectangular or shaped like a half moon.

Dining table

First introduced in this period and followed the design for other tables

-pineapple

-finial

a common ornament added to french neoclassic period beds

angel bed

has a canopy attached on the wall

alcove bed

bed in a niche on the wall

Lit a la Duchesse

angle bed; canopy hung from a tester attached by chains to the ceiling

Lit a la Turque

French Empire: Bed placed horizontally against a wall

Polonaisse bed

A bed where the head and feet are the same size

touile-de-jouy

blue and white domestic scenes.

refers to a fabric that was first manufactured at a factory in Jouy-en-Josas, a village located southwest of Paris, near Versailles.

Festoons

decorative feature consisting of a length of flowers or leaves linked together or a chain of colored paper or ribbon hanging in loops between tow points

PATERA

round or oval elliptical ornament resembling a shallow disk made of wood and metal or inlaid delicately carved with foliage, geometrical or fan-like design

GADROON

an ornamental molding marked by the use of notches or carved work

Early Neoclassic & Late Neoclassic

2 distinct phases of french neoclassic

early neoclassic

feminine style, reign of XVI and wife Marie-Antoinette

late neoclassic

Reign of Emperor Napoleon; French Revolution; masculine style