Neoclassicism

<p>Neoclassicism took hold in the second half of the 18th century, fueled by renewed interest in ancient Greece and Rome following the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum. It was also a deliberate reaction against the frivolity of Rococo, replacing pastel colors and playful subjects with sober compositions built around order, clear outlines, and moral seriousness.</p> <p><a href="/apps/masterpieces/artist/jacques-louis-david"><strong>Jacques-Louis David</strong></a> became the movement's central figure in France, using classical restraint to serve revolutionary politics. His <a href="/apps/masterpieces/art/the-death-of-marat"><strong>The Death of Marat</strong></a> turned a murdered radical journalist into a Christ-like martyr, painted with cool precision despite its violent subject. David later became Napoleon's official painter, applying the same classical grandeur to imperial propaganda.</p> <p>His student <a href="/apps/masterpieces/artist/jean-auguste-dominique-ingres"><strong>Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres</strong></a> pushed Neoclassical line and idealized form toward something more sensual, most famously in <a href="/apps/masterpieces/art/grande-odalisque"><strong>Grande Odalisque</strong></a>, a reclining nude whose deliberately elongated spine drew criticism at the time for breaking anatomical rules in service of pure elegance. <a href="/apps/masterpieces/artist/elisabeth-vigee-le-brun"><strong>Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun</strong></a> worked in a related, softer classical style as court painter to Marie Antoinette, producing portraits that balanced Neoclassical composure with real warmth. Neoclassicism dominated European painting for decades before Romanticism's emotional intensity began to displace it in the early 1800s.</p>