Classicism

Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period,
classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the
classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthetic attitude
dependent on principles based in the culture, art and literature of ancient Greece
and Rome, with the emphasis on form, simplicity, proportion, clarity of structure,
perfection and restrained emotion, as well as explicit appeal to the intellect.[1] The
art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir
Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint and compression we are
simply objecting to the classicism of classic art. A violent emphasis or a sudden
acceleration of rhythmic movement would have destroyed those qualities of
balance and completeness through which it retained until the present century its
position of authority in the restricted repertoire of visual images."[2] Classicism, as
Clark noted, implies a canon of widely accepted ideal forms, whether in the
Western canon that he was examining in The Nude (1956).

Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii, 1784, an

icon of Neoclassicism in painting
Classicism is a force which is often present in post-medieval European and
European influenced traditions; however, some periods felt themselves more
connected to the classical ideals than others, particularly the Age of
Enlightenment,[3] when Neoclassicism was an important movement in the visual
arts.

General term

Fountain of the Four Rivers,

Bernini, 1651.

Classicist door in Olomouc,

The Czech Republic.

Classicism is a specific genre of philosophy, expressing itself in literature,

architecture, art, and music, which has Ancient Greek and Roman sources and an
emphasis on society. It was particularly expressed in the Neoclassicism[4] of the
Age of Enlightenment.
Classicism is a recurrent tendency in the Late Antique period, and had a major
revival in Carolingian and Ottonian art. There was another, more durable revival in
the Italian Renaissance when the fall of Byzantium and rising trade with the Islamic
cultures brought a flood of knowledge about, and from, the antiquity of Europe.
Until that time, the identification with antiquity had been seen as a continuous
history of Christendom from the conversion of Roman Emperor Constantine I.
Renaissance classicism introduced a host of elements into European culture,
including the application of mathematics and empiricism into art, humanism,
literary and depictive realism, and formalism. Importantly it also introduced
Polytheism, or "paganism" , and the juxtaposition of ancient and modern.

The classicism of the Renaissance led to, and gave way to, a different sense of
what was "classical" in the 16th and 17th centuries. In this period, classicism took
on more overtly structural overtones of orderliness, predictability, the use of
geometry and grids, the importance of rigorous discipline and pedagogy, as well as
the formation of schools of art and music. The court of Louis XIV was seen as the
center of this form of classicism, with its references to the gods of Olympus as a
symbolic prop for absolutism, its adherence to axiomatic and deductive reasoning,
and its love of order and predictability.

This period sought the revival of classical art forms, including Greek drama and
music. Opera, in its modern European form, had its roots in attempts to recreate
the combination of singing and dancing with theatre thought to be the Greek norm.
Examples of this appeal to classicism included Dante, Petrarch, and Shakespeare
in poetry and theatre. Tudor drama, in particular, modeled itself after classical
ideals and divided works into Tragedy[5] and Comedy. Studying Ancient Greek
became regarded as essential for a well-rounded education in the liberal arts.

The Renaissance also explicitly returned to architectural models and techniques

associated with Greek and Roman antiquity, including the golden rectangle[6] as a
key proportion for buildings, the classical orders of columns, as well as a host of
ornament and detail associated with Greek and Roman architecture. They also
began reviving plastic arts such as bronze casting for sculpture, and used the
classical naturalism as the foundation of drawing, painting and sculpture.

The Age of Enlightenment identified itself with a vision of antiquity which, while
continuous with the classicism of the previous century, was shaken by the physics
of Sir Isaac Newton, the improvements in machinery and measurement, and a
sense of liberation which they saw as being present in the Greek civilization,
particularly in its struggles against the Persian Empire. The ornate, organic, and
complexly integrated forms of the baroque were to give way to a series of
movements that regarded themselves expressly as "classical" or "neo-classical", or
would rapidly be labelled as such. For example, the painting of Jacques-Louis
David was seen as an attempt to return to formal balance, clarity, manliness, and
vigor in art.[7]

The 19th century saw the classical age as being the precursor of academicism,
including such movements as uniformitarianism in the sciences, and the creation
of rigorous categories in artistic fields. Various movements of the Romantic period
saw themselves as classical revolts against a prevailing trend of emotionalism and
irregularity, for example the Pre-Raphaelites.[8] By this point, classicism was old
enough that previous classical movements received revivals; for example, the
Renaissance was seen as a means to combine the organic medieval with the
orderly classical. The 19th century continued or extended many classical programs
in the sciences, most notably the Newtonian program to account for the movement
of energy between bodies by means of exchange of mechanical and thermal
energy.

The 20th century saw a number of changes in the arts and sciences. Classicism
was used both by those who rejected, or saw as temporary, transfigurations in the
political, scientific, and social world and by those who embraced the changes as a
means to overthrow the perceived weight of the 19th century. Thus, both pre-20th
century disciplines were labelled "classical" and modern movements in art which
saw themselves as aligned with light, space, sparseness of texture, and formal
coherence.

In the present day philosophy classicism is used as a term particularly in relation

to Apollonian over Dionysian impulses in society and art; that is a preference for
rationality, or at least rationally guided catharsis, over emotionalism.

In the theatre
 Molière in classical dress, by
Nicolas Mignard, 1658.

Classicism in the theatre was developed by 17th century French playwrights from
what they judged to be the rules of Greek classical theatre, including the "Classical
unities" of time, place and action, found in the Poetics of Aristotle.

Unity of time referred to the need

for the entire action of the play to
take place in a fictional 24-hour
period
Unity of place meant that the
action should unfold in a single
location
Unity of action meant that the play
should be constructed around a
single 'plot-line', such as a tragic
 love affair or a conflict between
honour and duty.
Examples of classicist playwrights are Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine and Molière. In
the period of Romanticism, Shakespeare, who conformed to none of the classical
rules, became the focus of French argument over them, in which the Romantics
eventually triumphed; Victor Hugo was among the first French playwrights to break
these conventions.[9]

The influence of these French rules on playwrights in other nations is debatable. In

the English theatre, Restoration playwrights such as William Wycherley and William
Congreve would have been familiar with them. William Shakespeare and his
contemporaries did not follow this Classicist philosophy, in particular since they
were not French and also because they wrote several decades prior to their
establishment. Those of Shakespeare's plays that seem to display the unities, such
as The Tempest,[10] probably indicate a familiarity with actual models from
classical antiquity.

Most famous 18th-century Italian playwright and libretist Carlo Goldoni created a
hybrid style of playwriting (combining the model of Molière with the strengths of
Commedia dell'arte and his own wit and sincerity).

In literature
The literary classicism drew inspiration from the qualities of proportion of the
major works of ancient Greek and Latin literature.[11][12]

The 17th–18th centuries significant Classical writers (principally, playwrights and

poets) include Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, John Dryden, William Wycherley,
William Congreve, Jonathan Swift, Joseph Addison, Alexander Pope, Voltaire, Carlo
Goldoni, and Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock.

In architecture
 Villa Rotonda, Palladio, 1591

Classicism in architecture developed during the Italian Renaissance, notably in the

writings and designs of Leon Battista Alberti and the work of Filippo
Brunelleschi.[13] It places emphasis on symmetry, proportion, geometry and the
regularity of parts as they are demonstrated in the architecture of Classical
antiquity and, in particular, the architecture of Ancient Rome, of which many
examples remained.

Orderly arrangements of columns, pilasters and lintels, as well as the use of

semicircular arches, hemispherical domes, niches and aedicules replaced the
more complex proportional systems and irregular profiles of medieval buildings.
This style quickly spread to other Italian cities and then to France, Germany,
England, Russia and elsewhere.

In the 16th century, Sebastiano Serlio helped codify the classical orders and
Andrea Palladio's legacy evolved into the long tradition of Palladian architecture.
Building off of these influences, the 17th-century architects Inigo Jones[14] and
Christopher Wren firmly established classicism in England.

For the development of classicism from the mid-18th-century onwards, see

Neoclassical architecture.

In the fine arts

For Greek art of the 5th century

B.C.E., see Classical art in ancient
Greece and the Severe style
Italian Renaissance painting[15] and sculpture are marked by their renewal of
classical forms, motifs and subjects. In the 15th century Leon Battista Alberti was
important in theorizing many of the ideas for painting that came to a fully realized
product with Raphael's School of Athens during the High Renaissance. The themes
continued largely unbroken into the 17th century, when artists such as Nicolas
Poussin and Charles Le Brun represented of the more rigid classicism. Like Italian
classicizing ideas in the 15th and 16th centuries, it spread through Europe in the
mid to late 17th century.

Later classicism in painting and sculpture from the mid-18th and 19th centuries is
generally referred to as Neoclassicism.

Political philosophy
Classicism in political philosophy dates back to the ancient Greeks. Western
political philosophy is often attributed to the great Greek philosopher Plato.
Although political theory of this time starts with Plato, it quickly becomes complex
when Plato's pupil, Aristotle, formulates his own ideas.[16] "The political theories of
both philosophers are closely tied to their ethical theories, and their interest is in
questions concerning constitutions or forms of government."[16]

However, Plato and Aristotle are not the seedbed but simply the seeds that grew
from a seedbed of political predecessors who had debated this topic for centuries
before their time. For example, Herodotus sketched out a debate between
Theseus, a king of the time, and Creon's messenger. The debate simply shows
proponents of democracy, monarchy, and oligarchy and how they all feel about
these forms of government. Herodotus' sketch is just one of the beginning
seedbeds for which Plato and Aristotle grew their own political theories.[16]

Another Greek philosopher who was pivotal in the development of Classical

political philosophy was Socrates. Although he was not a theory-builder, he often
stimulated fellow citizens with paradoxes that challenged them to reflect on their
own beliefs.[16] Socrates thought "the values that ought to determine how
individuals live their lives should also shape the political life of the community."[16]
he believed the people of Athens involved wealth and money too much into the
politics of their city. He judged the citizens for the way they amassed wealth and
power over simple things like projects for their community.[16]
Just like Plato and Aristotle, Socrates did not come up with these ideas alone.
Socrates ideals stem back from Protagoras and other 'sophists'. These 'teachers of
political arts' were the first to think and act as Socrates did. Where the two diverge
is in the way they practiced their ideals. Protagoras' ideals were loved by Athens.
Whereas Socrates challenged and pushed the citizens and he was not as loved.[16]

In the end, ancient Greece is to be credited with the foundation of Classical

political philosophy.

See also

Art
portal

Classical tradition
Quarrel of the Ancients and the
Moderns
Weimar Classicism

References

1. Caves, R. W. (2004).
Encyclopedia of the City.
Routledge. p. 112.
2. Clark, The Nude: A Study in Ideal
Form 1956:242

3. Walters, Kerry (September

2011). "JOURNAL ARTICLE
Review". Church History. 80 (3):
691–693.
doi:10.1017/S00096407110009
90 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2F
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4. Johnson, James William (1969).
"What Was Neo-Classicism?".
Journal of British Studies. 9 (1):
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5. Bakogianni, Anastasia (2012).
"Theatre of the Condemned.
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"History of the Golden Ratio in
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7. Galitz, Kathryn (October 2004).
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Raphaelites". Bulletin of the
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JSTOR 4301128 (https://www.js
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9. NASH, SUZANNE (2006).
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11. Baldick, Chris (2015).
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(2012). "Neoclassical poetics".
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Paintings (October 2002).
"Architecture in Renaissance
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"Masculine and Unaffected:
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16. Devereux, Daniel (2011-09-02).
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Further reading

Kallendorf, Craig (2007). A

Companion to the Classical
Tradition (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=sSSIL2b6b9QC&q=in
 title:companion+intitle:to+intitle:th
e+intitle:classical+intitle:tradition+
inauthor:Kallendorf) . Blackwell
Publishing. ISBN 9781405122948.
Retrieved 2012-05-06. Essays by
various authors on topics related
to historical periods, places, and
themes. Limited preview online.

External links

Renaissance & Classicism from

encyclopedia (http://www.encyclo
pedia.com/doc/1E1-classici.htm
l)
Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Classicism&oldid=1248776912"

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